Ready to race

Mike Sciacca

The rigors of training on the open sea have done nothing to dampen

the enthusiasm of a team of five local women who will compete this

weekend in the 2004 Tommy Bahama Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race.

Two members of the all-female team, Lisa Schick and Stacey Miller,

are from Huntington Beach.

The 57th annual race, one of the largest international yacht

races, sets sail Friday from Newport Beach.

The race is hosted by the Newport Ocean Sailing Assn. This year’s

event is expected to draw a record number of boats for the

competition.

The three-day event will conclude with an awards ceremony Sunday

in Ensenada, Mexico.

Of the 456 boats that entered the race as of Tuesday, one of

them, a Dufour 38, named, FoxSea, will be skippered by Schick.

The 40-year-old will skipper a boat of five women that includes

Miller, Marcella McSorley of Seal Beach and Patty Cochran and Amy

Jones of Newport Beach.

None of the women own a boat.

Amy Garrard, a friend of Schick’s visiting from Mississippi, will

go along for the ride, Schick said, serving as the team’s official

photographer.

Also on the boat, in the role of advisor, is racing coach Dave

Tomlinson, who trained the women for the race.

Tomlinson is president of Club Nautique Sea Time, Inc., which has

three locations, including one in Newport Beach, where the women

train.

The FoxSea is a boat kept in the sailing club by owners Chris and

Danielle Fox.

Tomlinson said that the team aboard the FoxSea is one of three

all-female teams entered in the race.

The race is the first event for the recently launched women’s

sailing program at Club Nautique.

“These women have completed U.S. Sailing instruction and they have

really been training hard for this race,” Tomlinson said. “They

didn’t know each other four months ago but have really bonded to form

a really great team.

“They’ve been training two days a week, working on everything from

navigating to tactics, as well as holding an overnight race. They’ve

just done a tremendous job in their preparation. They’re very, very

excited to be competing and that enthusiasm is a great tool. I think

it’s great for women to get involved in a race such as this, and

these women have made me proud.”

Of the five women aboard the FoxSea, only Schick has done the

Newport-to-Ensenada event before. She served as a crew member nine

years ago.

Training for the race, she said, has been intense. Practice

sessions included work on tacks, jibes and sail trim.

“Precision sailing is a very physical sport,” Schick said. “When

you do 20 or 30 tacks in a row, it takes a lot out of you. We all

have very sore muscles after each outing, so we have added additional

physical training to our daily regime.”

The women have dedicated numerous hours to this race.

“Training has been pretty intense,” said 32-year-old Miller, who

will man the foredeck. “It’s taken up our weekends, from 10 in the

morning, to five or seven at night, for the past few months. I come

to work every Monday pretty sore.”

The team went through a race simulation last Friday, in an effort

to create what the race atmosphere might be like.

“We wanted everyone to get a feel for what it would be like on a

boat for 24-hours straight,” Schick said. “We set up watch schedules

and rotations. We simulated what we think we will experience in the

race, such was wind conditions and directions, could we sail the

rhumb line with the wind conditions and if not, figure out where

would be have to be to maximize our time and speed.

“For most of the women, this was the first time they had ever

sailed over night. There are certain things one should be aware of at

night, versus day time sailing, and most are safety related.”

The all-female team is comprised of an eclectic group of

professionals.

Schick sells software for IBM, McSorley is a pharmaceutical

scientist, Miller is in the banking business, Cochran is a mortgage

broker and Garrard is a home contractor and designer.

The start to the race, which had 461 entries in 2003 and 438 in

2002, will be broken into 24 classes.

Some of the big names in sailing have participated in past races,

including former America’s Cup winners, Dennis Conner and Bill

Ficker.Roy Disney is said to have his new sailboat launched in time

for the weekend race.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of this extra special venture,” Schick

said. “The club is extremely supportive of our efforts and it is

awesome to be able to participate in the competitive sailing arena

without owning a boat.

“We would like to make this an annual event for our team. We’re

all really pumped for the weekend. It’s going to be great.”

Miller did Schick one better.

“We’re going to win,” she said. “Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.