Catalina 30 loads Newport-Ensenada overall prizes

by Rich Roberts on 27 Apr 2009 Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 had the record and H.L. (Loe) Enloe's Loe Real trimaran had line honors for finishing first in the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's (NOSA) 62nd Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race, but who left town with the largest collection of hardware?

Cleve Hardaker on his Catalina 30, Sojourn, from Silver Gate Yacht Club in San Diego.

Hardaker, 60, and his crew of four made the most of conditions favorable to smaller boats to win (1) the President of Mexico Trophy for first place overall in the race on corrected handicap time, (2) first among PHRF boats, (3) first in PHRF-K class for the highest-rated boats, (4) first Catalina boat and (5) a $5,000 Corum watch for first overall.

Hardaker's only problem: hauling it all home.

'I'm worried about that,' he said, smiling. 'It's a small boat.'

Awards were distributed Sunday afternoon in the sun-drenched---and still windy---courtyard of the Bahia Hotel Sunday.

Although the economy and security concerns apparently drove down the number of boats in the final count to 270 entries this year and only three boats dropped out after the start. There were 260 starters and 257 finishers who enjoyed ideal sailing conditions. In 2008 there were 380 starters and 307 finishers, and in 2007 there were 449 starters but only 241 finishers when the wind quit and the finish deadline closed at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

This year all boats had finished by 4 p.m. Saturday. It was a good year to race to Ensenada.

Sojourn started at 1:10 p.m. Friday an hour after the big boats and finished at about 8:30 Saturday morning, when some of the early finishers were already home. Its elapsed time was 20 hours 43 minutes 20 seconds. Mag 80's new record is half that, 10:37:50, but throw in Sojourn's handicap rating of 192 seconds per mile and it clocks in at 14:01:44, lowest in the fleet.

Mag 80, for example, owed Sojourn---get this---5 minutes 57 seconds per mile.

Tuning up in Silver Gate YC's Around the Coronados race a week earlier, Sojourn also worked the numbers to win overall, despite trailing the leaders boat for boat.

'We just don't get the [first-to-finish] gun very often,' Hardaker said.

This was his seventh Ensenada race with Sojourn, which he has owned for 18 years. Along the way he has learned that when the wind dies after the faster boats finish, the trailers' handicap numbers go down the drain. That didn't happen this year.

'Conditions were good for us,' Hardaker said. 'The wind blew with some power all night long, so we didn't lose time to the big boats.'

And his strategy was similar to theirs: sail a rhumb line route inside the Coronado Islands at the border, which is a shorter route but usually carries a high risk of losing the sea breeze. Mag 80 and Loe Real went the same way.

Mag 80 crew member Keith Kilpatrick said earlier, 'I've done 32 of these races and I remember going inside the Coronados only twice now.'

Crewmate Mike Elias, who logged his 26th Ensenada race, said, 'It was one of the straightest courses I have ever been on in the race. Also, it was one of the easiest races: start with masthead jib, change to 1A kite and finish!'

Again, it was similar for Sojourn's crew of Kathy Spinner, the primary driver; Mark Spinner, Buz Boyd and race rookie Brendan Inglis. They never tacked and their only jibe was the left turn into Todos Santos Bay.

'Now,' Hardaker said, nodding to Inglis, 'he thinks they're all this way.'

Baker knows otherwise. Although finishing first the last two years he suffered slow death in the bay.

'I'm in shock,' he said. 'If you had told me we could set a record in this race averaging 10 knots [actually, 11.8 knots] I wouldn't have believed it.'

Although Mag 80 never saw more than 11 knots of wind, there were no light spots, even in the bay as the race against Pyewacket III's record for monohulls set in 2003 came down to nervous numbers. Mag 80 got it with only 7 minutes 3 seconds to spare.

'I don't have any fingernails left,' Baker said. 'I've been doing this for 40 years and I'm still amazed by what happens out there.'

Loe Real, averaging 14.3 knots, was first to finish in a faster time by nearly two hours: 8 hours 45 minutes 3 seconds, second only among multihulls to the late Steve Fossett's record of 6:46:40 on the Stars & Stripes catamaran in 1998.

Notable prizewinners

OVERALL CORRECTED TIME (President of USA; all PHRF)---Sojourn (Catalina 30), Cleve Hardaker, San Diego, 14:01:44.

ELAPSED TIME (NOSA; all boats)---Loe Real (Jenn 60 trimaran), H.L. Enloe, San Diego, 8 hours 45 minutes 3 seconds.

ELAPSED TIME (Lahaina Yacht Club; PHRF boats)---Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, Calif., 10:37:50 (breaks record of 10:44:54 by Pyewacket III, Roy E. Disney, 2003).

CRUZ (Sec. of Foreign Relations, Mexico; corrected time all Cruz Div. boats)---Windswept, Karlin Scott, Newport Beach, Calif., 13:56:59.

MAXI (President of Mexico; corrected time)---It's OK (Andrews 50), Tres Gordos Sailing, LLC, 15:56:26.

ORCA (President of NOSA; corrected time)---Minnette (Multi Mari), Michael Leneman, Marina del Rey, Calif., 15:26:30.

FIRST ALL-FEMALE (Caroline Starr; corrected time)---Cruz Control (Santa Cruz 27), Annette Cook, Women's Ocean Racing Sailing Assn., 16:02:03.

DOUBLEHANDED (Volvo; corrected time)---Carpe Domani (Catalina 27), Larry Wilson, Navy Yacht Club San Diego), 14:35:50.

HIGHEST CORRECTED (Brass Spittoon; all boats)---C.C. (Columbia 29.2), Chris Meyers, 20:46:24.

Complete results: http://www.nosa.org