Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race to Start Tomorrow – April 23. 


So Cal’s renowned Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race (N2E) is getting ready for its 63 running beginning tomorrow, April 23.   Since a front just worked its way through this week, winds might be favorable for the more than 215 boats that have entered. 



 


The N2E has been run since 1948 when it was called the Governor’s Cup and was designed as a fun race for sailors back from World War II.  The first 125 nautical mile race had 117 boats that each paid $22.50 to race from Newport Beach, California to Ensenada, Mexico.  It was a banner year for wind with 25-35 knots and only 65 boats finished that year.  Of course, since then, there have been races in which few boats have finished due to a lack of wind, a much more likely scenario in the usually calm waters off the California coast. 


The race has a rich history with celebrities like Buddy Ebsen, Humphrey Bogart, Walter Cronkite, and Vicki Lawrence have raced alongside world-class skippers like Dennis Conner, Bill Ficker and Dave Ullman.


Dennis Connors will be making an appearance again this year on his Farr 60 Stars & Stripes.  Missing in 2010 however, will be Pyewacket and its skipper Roy Disney who passed away in 2009.  Diseney was a familiar face on the N2E as well as the Transpac and his various Pyewackets were always beautiful boats sailed well.


With more than 20 classes, the race topped out in 1983 with 675 boats entered.  A more normal number for years was 400-500 boats.  In 2009, the total was 270 entrants with 260 coming to the starting line.  The economy is definitely reflected in the number of participants in So Cal’s long loved race.  However, a competitive race launched in 2009 is raced on the same weekend.  The Border Run race has certainly given N2E race organizers (NOSA) something to worry about having split the available boats about in half. 


The race record was set in 1998 by Steve Fosset’s multihull Stars and Stripes (6 hours, 46 minutes, 40 seconds).  The fastest monohull was an Andews 80 named Magnitude that completed the 125 nautical miles in 10 hours, 37 minutes and 50 seconds. 


Everyone’s hoping for the back side breeze to linger into Friday this year and help push everyone south of the border in time for party day on Sunday. 


 


 

Written by: Zuzana Prochazka
Zuzana Prochazka is a writer and photographer who freelances for a dozen boating magazines and websites. A USCG 100 Ton Master, Zuzana has cruised, chartered and skippered flotillas in many parts of the world and serves as a presenter on charter destinations and topics. She is the Chair of the New Product Awards committee, judging innovative boats and gear at NMMA and NMEA shows, and currently serves as immediate past president of Boating Writers International. She contributes to Boats.com and YachtWorld.com, and also blogs regularly on her boat review site, TalkoftheDock.com.