Last weekend’s regatta launched a fine tradition

Although Roy Disney’s Pyewacket finished first, there were surely no

losers in the First Team Real Estate Invitational Regatta, held last

weekend in Newport Beach.

The three-day race just off shore drew some of the biggest,

fastest sailboats in the world to Newport’s waters -- a perfect

setting for a perfect yacht race.

Unlike other regattas, in which boats start from here and sail off

to a distant finish line, much of this race was visible from land.

It was a beautiful scene -- the kind of event that makes Newport

Newport -- and all to benefit the Heart and Vascular Institute at

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. It just doesn’t get much better

than that.

First Team Real Estate has signed a six-year agreement to sponsor

the race, which will be held every other year. So plan to stake out a

choice spot on the pier in two years to watch this regatta. It’ll be

worth the wait.