A bluff with a view

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT HARBOR -- If you can’t bring the fans to the yacht race, bring

the yacht race to the fans.

With no bleacher seats close to the starting line of the 54th annual

Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race, organizers decided to

station an announcer on the Corona del Mar bluffs, where fans of the race

have traditionally gathered to watch the start of the regatta from afar.

Armed with an amplified public-address system, that man will be race

veteran Michael McMahon. If all goes well, McMahon plans to call out boat

names, sprinkle in some color commentary and field any questions as the

boats leave the harbor.

“For years, we’ve noticed that people have been coming there

faithfully,” McMahon said. “We thought it would be good for the local

area to have someone answering questions.”

The race is scheduled to kick off at noon Friday, but McMahon said

there will be enough activity in the hour leading up to it to merit some

explanation.

More than 440 boats in 27 classes will line up in three starting lanes

for the 125-mile boating marathon. It will take more than an hour for all

of the boats to cross the starting line.

Leading up to the crack of the starting pistol, the vessels will

jockey for position for the best wind.

“In this race, there is a lot of strategy,” McMahon said. “It’s

getting into the prime position to get clear air.”

This will be McMahon’s first year calling the race from the bluffs.

That’s if you don’t count the failed attempt last year, when a generator

conked out just as McMahon began working the microphone.

McMahon’s no stranger to the race.

The 66-year-old McMahon, who lives in Garden Grove, sailed in the race

himself in the 1980s with Catalina 30, a boat he recently sold.

He has also been involved with the race sponsor -- the Newport Ocean

Sailing Assn. -- for more than a decade.

FUN FACT

The bluffs at Corona del Mar have always been a popular place to watch

the start of the Newport to Ensenada regatta. The reason -- the place’s

prime view.

“That’s the best place we have,” announcer Michael McMahon said. “I

wish we were closer to the action, but that’s the best place locally to

view the start.”