A CLOSER LOOK -- A race like no other

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Some might say it’s just a send-off.

After all, the paella festival and trophy ceremony for the 54th annual

Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race will attract thousands of

people 125 nautical miles down the coast and south of the border.

But when the 430-plus race boats and hundreds of spectator vessels

crowd Newport Harbor on Friday, it’s hard to argue with event organizers

that they’re putting on a show unlike any other.

“It’s quite a spectacle to see that many boats,” said Jerry Shandera,

who’s the commodore of this year’s race.

There’s the biggest boat with 100 feet, the small ones that measure

just 25 feet “and everything in between,” he said.

A winner right from the get-go

The race began back in 1947, when members of the Newport Ocean Sailing

Assn. decided to organize a small, “just-for-fun” event for sailors who

had returned from the battles of World War II. They’d expected about 30

skippers to show up. But when the race got under way on April 23, 1948,

117 boats lined up behind the starting line.

Winds estimated at 25 to 35 knots soon brushed away almost half of the

competitors and only 65 boats made it to Ensenada.

In a way, not much has changed, Shandera said. The winds still rule

supreme.

“It can be everything from tremendous excitement as you’re sailing,

having great winds, to very boring and tedious when there’s no wind,”

Shandera said, adding that he’s been a crew member in the past.

When asked how his team placed in the race, he said they “got there”

and leaves it at that.

Even a big-shot like Steve Fosset and his “Stars and Stripes” set his

record time of six hours, 46 minutes and 40 seconds partly because of

favorable wind conditions in 1998.

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s those who take more than 50

hours to reach the goal -- or never make it there at all.

Some “realize they are not going to make it to Ensenada,” said

Shandera, adding that the deadline to arrive is Sunday at 11 a.m. A few

turn around and head back home. Others turn on their engines to at least

join in the festivities.

For the teams that get in early, the party lasts until trophies get

awarded on Sunday at 2 p.m.

“For those that get in late, it’s a shorter party,” Shandera said.

With still a week to go, it’s a little early to tell what the winds

will be like this year -- “you know how forecasts are,” Shandera said.

But while it doesn’t look like there will be heavy winds this weekend,

“there should be some pretty good winds” nonetheless, he said.

“We’d love to have it be a very fast race, but there are no

guarantees.”

The fastest start ever

One thing Shandera and his fellow organizers do hope to guarantee is a

swift passing of the boats over the starting line.

What has taken at least two hours in previous years will hopefully be

reduced to one hour and 20 minutes. With three starting lines instead of

two to get the 27 classes on their course, Shandera said the last boats

should be off around 1:20 p.m.

That’s what event planners had hoped for last year after adding the

extra line. But problems with securing the orange plastic buoys held up

the fleet for more than an hour.

With newfound support from the experts, that shouldn’t be an issue

this time.

“We’ve enlisted the support of the Orange County Harbor Patrol,”

Shandera said. “They will be helping us to set the mark this year.”

As veteran racers can attest, a smooth start is highly appreciated.

“It gets a little hectic,” said Ed Quesada, who has raced for 27 years

in a row and will skipper his 46-foot sloop “Sirena.”

“You start playing bumper boats and it gets kind of hairy,” he said.

Why do it? Because it’s there

Quesada, who co-owns Boat Builders & Sailors in Newport Beach, says

the event is simply a “great race.”

But just to make sure that he and his crew members don’t lose their

excitement, he’s got a rule on his boat.

Every year, he takes along someone who has never been in the race

before.

“That way, we never get used to the race,” he said. “We see it through

the [newcomer’s] eyes.”

The race is challenging. There’s no way around it. And the lighter the

winds, the more strenuous it gets because the crew has to work harder to

adjust the sails, Quesada said.

No matter what happens, he’s aiming for first place in his class this

year.

“We’ve gotten every trophy,” he said. “Second, third, fourth and

fifth. We’ve been bridesmaids for too long.”

In any case, he’s trying to catch a lot of sleep Thursday night and

“hopefully the crew won’t party the night before very much” either.

That’s because he won’t get much sleep on the boat -- maybe an hour or

two -- Quesada said.

Vic Stern plans on a little more than that. Once a crack in the hull

of his 38-year-old catamaran, “Imi Loa,” is fixed and the 78-year-old has

touched up on a little paint here and there, Stern and his 43-foot boat

will enter the race for the 39th time.

Asked why he keeps coming back to Newport Harbor for the race every

year, his answer is simple.

“Because it’s there,” he said.

Apart from his role as skipper, Stern’s in charge of one of three

watches that lasts for three or four hours. He’s also the crew’s chef and

plans to treat his seven fellow sailors to Italian chicken dishes and

mushroom and ham omelets in the morning.

Stern competes in 18 races, including the Catalina Island series, each

year. As far as trophies are concerned, he’s certainly got enough

already. Most of them are stored away in boxes at his Long Beach home,

but he keeps the latest ones on his mantelpiece.

But that’s not going to stop him from racing for more. As long as his

trusted boat keeps on going, he’ll stay in the game.

And while the catamaran has already traveled 67,000 nautical miles

during her lifetime -- the equivalent of three trips around the equator

-- Stern said she’ll probably outlast him.

“I believe that I will give out before she does,” he said. “That’s

what’s going to be the case. I will be with ‘Imi Loa’ until I die.”

FYI

The 54th Annual Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race send-off

is scheduled to start at noon Friday. The Newport Ocean Sailing Assn.

will have a narrator explaining the event at Lookout Point on the bluffs

above Corona del Mar State Beach beginning at 11:30 a.m.

FUN FACT

Sometimes you’ve got to leave it up to the feel of the deck.

One of the big decisions en route to Ensenada is whether to pass the

Coronado Islands to the left -- i.e. between the coast and the islands --

or to the right -- i.e. in the open sea.

The route to the right is apparently shorter, but wind conditions make

all the difference when sailors get close to the small group of islands

about 14 miles south of Point Loma in Mexican waters.

Ed Quesada, who’s been in the race 27 times now, said that he usually

checks whether the boat’s deck is wet or dry.

“You try to get an idea if you have off shore or on shore winds,” he

said. “If the decks are dry, you go [between the islands and the coast].

If the decks are wet, you go outside and away from the land.”