Down the sea stretch they’ll come

June Casagrande

In sailboat racing, as in life, there’s no excitement like one-on-one

excitement.

A longtime local regatta is riding this wave of the future,

changing over to a new “match racing” format in which sailboats race

one on one instead of all the competitors racing one another at once.

“It’s a very exciting way to race and it’s very

spectator-friendly, too,” said Jeff Gordon, one of the organizers of

the Pacific Life Yacht Club Challenge Match Race, taking place

through Sunday at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club.

The name also reflects an important change for the biennial race,

which has been at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club since the 1980s. For

the first time, the biennial race, formerly called the United States

Yacht Club Challenge, has a namesake corporate sponsor.

“We had to do some soul-searching to decide whether to go with a

sponsor,” Gordon said.

Yacht club officials finally decided to go with a corporate

sponsor because the financial backing allows them to make the race a

more enticing event for competitors who fly in from across the

country to participate. Elegant dinners, top-notch sailing equipment

and other professional touches sealed the deal.

Every other year, the race pits teams from nine or 10 of the top

yacht clubs in the country, said Phil Ramser, chairman of the

committee that selects the yacht clubs to receive invitations to

participate.

“A lot of people in our club are very active in sailing all around

the country, so we have a lot of people with a lot of understanding

of who the top clubs are, and we invite those clubs to make

application,” Ramser said.

This year’s competitors include clubs from New Orleans, San

Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Detroit, Rochester, N.Y., and of

course, Newport Beach. The two local clubs in this year’s race are

the Newport Harbor Yacht Club and returning champions the Balboa

Yacht Club.

Setting sail in identical, rented Catalina 37s, the teams of about

seven take turns in head-to-head competitions until one team emerges

as overall winner.

“This year, I’d say it’s anybody’s race,” Gordon said.

Members of the public are welcome to view the race from one of the

spectator boats free on a space-available basis. For information and

reservations, call the Newport Harbor Yacht Club at (949) 723-6869.