Newport to Ensenada race - over for another year

by Rich Roberts on 30 Apr 2007
If Alec Oberschmidt or Mark Folkman and Mike Galloway had any complaints about the 60th Lexus Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race, it wasn't about the wimpy wind.

'The weather band was working for us,' Oberschmidt said after sailing Staghound, a venerable Reichel/Pugh 50, to first place overall among the big boats on handicap time to claim the President of Mexico trophy.

Meanwhile, Folkman and Galloway's Ono, an Olson 40 half the size of the fastest finisher, Doug Baker's Magnitude 80, won the President of USA Trophy by correcting out on all PHRF entries.

There were 449 entries but only 241 official finishers before the 11 a.m. cutoff Sunday. There were about 20 non-starters and an undetermined number of dropouts along the way. Some gave up the struggle in winds that reached double-digit velocity only briefly, while others---including many of the Cruising class boats that comprised one-third of the fleet---simply motored into Ensenada.

David Price, skipper of Tres Gordo from Newport Beach, won Spinnaker B in the Cruising Class and said, 'This is my 45th race and this was the slowest race in my memory.'

But Staghound persevered. After two bigger and faster rivals in the Maxi class crawled to the finish 2� hours ahead shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday, the wind filling during the interlude allowed the San Diego boat to correct out by about 19 minutes on Jim Madden's Stark Raving Mad III, which owed it 87 seconds per mile for the 125-nautical mile race.

Oberschmidt said, 'We do well in light air and we do well going to weather. That's the way we built the boat, so it's natural for us to win a race like this. And [for the last two hours] we had running wind [while] those other guys had been drifting [at the finish].'

That scenario also played out well for the top PHRF classes that sailed the last few hours in good breeze before the wind faded again at dusk. Folkman and Galloway's Ono finished in mid-afternoon Saturday to nip last year's overall winner, Mad Max, by 32 seconds on corrected time.

The racers from Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. didn't hang around for the awards ceremony, but Mad Max partners Max Rosenberg and Paul Wren did, and they briefly thought they had won again until the final handicap numbers were re-crunched.

'We were cheering for five minutes,' Rosenberg said.

But the final result wasn't too disappointing. Rosenberg recalled being befriended by Folkman when he sneaked into King Harbor Yacht Club when he was only 13 years old.

'He told me it was important to get a new sail every year because they were just a little bit faster,' Rosenberg said.

All Mad Max needed was 32 seconds, but Rosenberg didn't buy any new sails this year.

But he sailed the race well, hugging the shoreline where the breeze was all the way down and even using their spinnaker for more than six hours, while Mag 80 and Stark Raving Mad III never took theirs out of the bag.

'We were never more than two miles off the beach,' Rosenberg said.

Other notable competitors and their comments:

Dream Catcher skipper Bill Hankins from Ohio, who won the new Amigo Trophy for best first-time entrant: 'We've never raced before. So what is this trophy anyway and why did we win it?' Crew Fred Kinsinger: 'We saw lots of dolphins all along the way. They were great.'

Shockwave skipper Mike Grijalva from Arizona, winner of Cruising Class Genoa A: 'We followed most of the other boats along the beach. These little birds kept coming on our boat all along the way. We fed them crackers.'

Intrigue skipper Joe Hoffman of San Diego, winner of Cruz Genoa B class: 'You just hang in there and sail. We had great food. Pot roast, lasagna, New Zealand wine. We ate well.'

Latitudes skipper Marc Marois of Irvine, winner of Cruising non-spinnaker B class: 'We used our motor only 4 hours and used the wind lifts as much as we could.'

First 24 finishers

1. Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, elapsed time 21 hours 4 minutes 23 seconds/corrected time 27:00:38.
2. Stark Raving Mad III (Reichel/Pugh 66), Jim Madden, Newport Beach, ET 21:16:52/CT 25:45:37.
3. LoeReal (Jenn trimaran), H.L. Enloe, San Diego, and ET 21:27:28/CT 27:36:13.
4. Peligroso (Kernan 70), Mike Campbell/Dale Williams, Long Beach, ET 22:45:06/CT 27:01:21.
5. Staghound (Reichel/Pugh 50), Alec Oberschmidt, San Diego, ET 23:40:14/CT 25:26:29.
6. Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Los Angeles, ET 23:51:44/CT 26:40:29.
7. Cat Attack (Reynolds 33 catamaran), Randy Reynolds, Long Beach, ET 23:55:03/CT 27:02:33.
8. Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Los Angeles, ET 24:09:36/CT 27:10:51.
9. Blue Blazes (R/P 50), Dennis Pennell, San Diego, ET 24:10:43/CT 25:31:58.
10. It's OK (Dencho), Lew Beery, Newport Beach, ET 24:11:20/CT 26:35:05.
11. Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach, ET 24:25:11/ CT 28:28:56.
12. Taxi Dancer (R/P 68), Yabsley/Compton/Parker, Santa Barbara, ET 24:27:55/CT 27:22:55.
13. Valkyrie (DK 46), Andy and Camille Rasdal, San Diego, ET 24:31:52, CT 25:34:22.
14. Chayah (1D48), Oscar Krinsky, Long Beach, ET 24:33:53; CT 25:36:23.
15. OEX (Santa Cruz 70), Peter Tong, Long Beach, ET 24:43:17, CT 28:2:02.
16. Velos (73 sloop), Kjeld Hestehave, San Diego, ET 24:45:32, CT 25:29:17.
17. Delta Vee (Corsair catamaran), Michael Leneman, Fresno, ET 25:21:10, CT 27:01:10.
18. Falcon (Tripp 50), Ernie Pennell, San Diego, ET 25:33:52, CT 26:36:22.
19. Ohana (Farr 40-2), Tosh Neminsky, Dana Point, ET 25:36:49; CT 25:11:49.
20. Cheetah (Choate 68), Chris Slagerman, Redondo Beach, ET 25:43:45, CT 27:55:00.
21. Temptress (Farr 40-2), Ray Godwin, Long Beach, ET 25:44:50, CT 25:19:50.
22. Horizon (Santa Cruz 50), Jack Taylor, Dana Point, ET 25:49:01, CT 25:55:16.
23. Triumph (Santa Cruz 52), Richard Williams, Long Beach, ET 25:50:29, CT 26:27:59.
24. Deception (Santa Cruz 50T), Alex Blankfield, Ventura, ET 25:54:28, CT 25:54:28.