The Harbor Column

Terrance Phillips

The Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club was jammed to capacity Thursday night

with thousands of sailors celebrating the 53rd annual kickoff fiesta for

the Newport to Ensenada Race.

“What a bugger of a party this one is all right,” said Colin McKenna,

formerly from Sydney, Australia, but now a resident of Lake Forest.

McKenna relocated to Southern California eight years ago and works as a

carpenter. He has sailed all his life and mentioned that “everybody in

Australia has heard about this race.”

He and a sailing buddy were trying to hitch a ride on one of the nearly

500 boats that entered this years event. They were walking from boat to

boat telling skippers that they were willing to help bring boats back

from Ensenada -- it’s much harder to find a crew in that direction.

For Jerry Velitzek of Marina del Rey, this will be his 13th Ensenada race

and he has yet to crew on a winning boat. This year he’s aboard Free

Event, owned by Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club member Charles Wert.

“One of the best things about this race is the party. I mean look at

this, have you ever seen a party like this?” Velitzek said.

Free Event is a J120 that finished 10th in its class in last year’s race.

Wert’s son and crewman Chuck began sailing Sabots and FJs in the Bahia

Corinthian Yacht Club youth program some years ago. This will be Chuck’s

third Ensenada race and he looks forward to improving their finish

position.

There are 11 J120s entered in the class this year. With one J120 named

Stars and Stripes, skippered by a man named Dennis Conner. It appears the

Wert boat has some very tough competition.

“This year we’ve brought along a four-star chef. Well, actually he’s a

good cook and is our CPA, that should help a little,” Chuck Wert said.

The music was loud, the tequila and beer flowed freely and the bathroom

lines stretched from here to Ensenada. Over one commode read a sign:

“Diamond speed lane -- three beers or more.”

In spite of all the activity, there were still the weekend wonders

telling each other about their sailing prowess and heroic racing tales.

By the sound of their conversations, you would have thought they were all

Olympic sailing gold medal winners. In actuality, many were first-timers.

In fact, it appeared half of the crowd were not even in the race, but

rather there for the party.

Tom O’Conner and his wife, Mary Lynn, are members of the California Yacht

Club and own a Baltic 38 named Chimeria. The boat was named after a

fire-eating god in Greek mythology.

“There’ll be eight of us on this race,” said O’Conner who came in sixth

place in the PHRF-E class in 1999. “The party’s fine, but we come down

primarily to race.”

“We’re going to win tomorrow,” said Gail Richards of Corona.

When asked if she had been in the race previously, she replied, “Well,

no, in fact this is the first time I’ve ever been in a race.”

The serious sailors were probably getting some rest, leaving all the

beer, salt and lime wedges alone. But for most, the Mardi Gras atmosphere

at the Bahia Corinthian was why they were there. It reminded me of that

old saying, “I went to a party and a boat race broke out.”

* TERRANCE PHILLIPS is the Daily Pilot’s boating writer. You can leave a

message for him at (949) 642-6086 or via e-mail at

dailypilot@latimes.com.