And the winning skipper is . . .

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT HARBOR -- Jim Madden and his seven-member crew set sail in the

Newport To Ensenda International Yacht Race last week 20 minutes behind

the biggest and fastest boats. Somehow, he still managed to beat several

of them to the Mexican harbor.

Stark Raving Mad -- a 53-foot, J-160 sailboat -- took the overall win

in the 54th annual race.

Things didn’t look that way at 6:20 a.m. Saturday when it was the 11th

vessel to glide across the finish line. It came out on top after all of

the handicaps were considered and corrected times were posted.

“We hoped we’d win, but we beat three 70-foot boats across the finish

line,” said Madden, standing proudly on the immaculate deck of his boat,

docked outside the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, where he is a member. “So

they started 20 minutes before us, and at 5 a.m., as the sun started to

rise, we were about a mile out and we could see several of the bigger

guys behind us.”

It was just before the finish line, Madden said, with the vessel’s

bright pink spinnaker billowing, that they passed the Christine, which at

100 feet long was the biggest boat in the race.

While the heavy silver trophy proclaiming his team the ultimate

victors -- which Madden will keep for a year -- is the most coveted prize

of the race, it is not the only trophy they earned.

Stark Raving Mad also captured the win for first “PHRF” boat across

the line, which excludes the ultralight vessels, such as Disney’s

Pyewacket, that are designed for speed.

Besides being about 20 feet shorter than their ultralightcompetitors,

Madden said there are few other major differences. His personal favorite

is the below-deck luxury he is afforded on the Stark Raving Mad.

“I don’t know what they were eating on the Pyewacket, but we had

homemade lasagna, an excellent Bordeaux and cheesecake for dessert,” he

said with a grin.

Although the 39-year-old Newport Beach resident first learned to sail

when he was 9 in Long Island, N.Y., once he went off to college, he

didn’t sail again until three years ago, when he bought his first boat.

That year marked the skipper’s first race to Ensenada. After that, he

had the bug and decided he wanted to race competitively.

He sold his first boat and bought the Stark Raving Mad. In his second

year, he and his crew took second in the Ensenada race, second in their

class in the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico race, which covers

1,000 nautical miles, and first place in the Santa Barbara to Kings

Harbor race.

Madden, who obviously likes to surround himself with winning crews, is

already grooming his 9-year-old daughter, Jennifer, for a future position

on his team.