Skilled in any vessel

A warm calm wind pushed a school of 57 little sailboats through Newport Harbor and into the annals of Newport’s sailing history books.

The competitors in the 72nd Annual Flight of the Lasers race will have the honor of being listed among the many sailors, past and present, who have participated in the yearly race since it’s inception in the 1930s.

The wind was calm — never going above 10 m.p.h. — but it was plenty of power to keep the small 12-foot Laser sailboats scooting along. According to Race Chairman Seymour Beek, who owns the Balboa Island Ferry, everyone on the water came in with a smile.

“I think everybody had a really good time,” Beek said.

The first to reach the finish line was Adam Deermount, of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. He completed the 7-mile race in 1 hour and 15 minutes. He was followed by second-place winner Nathan Dunham, who was unaffiliated, and third-place winner Philip Thompson, also of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. All the boats finished within 20 minutes of each other.

The Flight of the Lasers has other traditional sub-contests. The honor of being the first parent/child team to finish was scooped by Mark and Rory Gaudio for the second year in a row. They placed sixth overall. The Best Costumes award went to Brooke Sharp and Dana Lujan, who wore Corona Del Mar Sea King cheerleading outfits.

The award for Best Decorated Boat went to Madison Vitarelli and Kristina Baker, who sported a large skull and crossbones on their sail, though it seemed to be more inspired by Paul Frank than Blackbeard. They also wore orange pirate-esque bandanas.

The Oldest Skipper award went to Peter Gantz, who in his 80s unseated 90-year-old Roy Woolsey, who won the title 17 years in a row. Woolsey started the race but decided to bow out early.

Beek said one of the things he loves about the race is how it brings together people of all racing abilities, even some top-notch competitive sailors.

“The top people are good sailors; they’d be good in anything, any vessel,” Beek said.

Everyone in the competition uses Laser sailboats, which replaced Kite boats in the early ‘70s. The Kites replaced Snowbird sailboats which were what was used in the race’s earliest incarnations, which was originally called the Flight of the Snowbirds.

The use of the same style of boat ensures the winner won on ability, not on how much better one boat was over the other.