Who wants to be part of our sailing history?

N2E is not just another pretty race

When the Newport Ocean Sailing Association (NOSA) was founded in 1947, members set out to host races that promoted the sport of ocean racing, seamanship and the development of sailing activities for all those interested in Southern California, the group also provided support to junior programs and the sponsorship of accomplished amateurs to support that mission.

New NOSA members called the first race the Governor’s Cup. Via telegraph, they invited California Gov. Earl Warren to present the first trophy in the small fishing village of Ensenada, Mexico.

These were the years just after the war. Couples who launched the baby boom generation were moving into the state and looking for homes, at an average cost of $7,700. The bikini was gaining popularity, as was television. A gallon of gas was 16 cents. The fastest and most modern

sailboats had wooden hulls and flew natural-fiber sails.

One hundred and seventeen boat owners paid $22.50 each to register for that just-for-fun race on April 23, 1948. Newport Harbor Yacht Club kindly hosted. Thanks to winds estimated to have blown at a swift 25–35 knots, only 65 of the boats finished the 125-nautical mile contest.

It was a grand kick-off to a race that is historically known for its blustery winds. In the 68 years following, the renamed Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race offers a full and rich history that is far more than a list of trophy winners. It’s the story of an event that exceeded goals set by those founding members. It’s an ongoing narrative of mankind’s quest to take to the water and pit sailboat against nature in the quest of conquering competitors and breaking records, and it’s an ongoing record of innovations in sailing.

Yes, the names of those trophy winners are significant. Today, the most recognizable names in the sailing world are etched onto highly coveted trophies; those for best elapsed time and best corrected time and many others for those scoring the fastest times in more than 45 classes and categories.

Arguably, the winningest and most famous sailor of the race is Dennis Conner. Conner and crew claimed top honors seven times between the years 1989 and 1996 on the 60-foot America’s Cup catamaran Stars and Stripes. Two years later, adventurer Steve Fossett captained Stars and Stripes to Ensenada in a record time of 6:46:40. That 1998 record remains intact.

Multihull yachts have done quite well in N2E, having claimed to date more than 70 percent of first-to-finish honors. The multihull revolution started in 1955.

Real estate development replaced oil and agriculture as the state’s leading industry. Disneyland opened, polyester sails debuted and Warren Seaman raced a new kind of ride. Tokerau was neither a catamaran nor a trimaran, but a Hawaiian outrigger canoe-inspired proa. Seaman and Rudy Choy were partners of CSK; both pioneering multihull designers. Choy is credited with creating many winning catamaran designs and scored N2E wins aboard Imua in 1963 and 1964. On Aikane X5, Choy earned trophies in 1985, 1987 and 1988.

Other multiple race winners include Bill Gibbs’ Afterburner, the 52-foot catamaran that swept wins from 2002 through 2004 and again in 2011; The 60-foot trimaran that was featured in the movie “Waterworld,” renamed Loe Real and helmed by Loe Enloe, won elapsed time honors in 2009 and 2010. For the last two years, Enloe’s 60-MOD Mighty Merloe has been dueling with Orion, a Multi One Design or MOD 70, in an attempt to break Fossett’s record, or at least finish before dark.

In 2014, businessman Tom Siebel’s Orion set the second fastest finish ever with a time of 7:40:38. Ironically, the best corrected time that year went to yacht designer Pete Melvin who sailed a 30-foot trimaran he built in New Zealand. Melvin was also part of the design team that helped Fossett set records in some of those other speedy trans-ocean races.

James Arness, of the TV show “Gunsmoke,” has his name on the Alice Purcell trophy. In 1968, his 58-foot catamaran Sea Smoke was fastest in the west. Through the years, many other of Hollywood’s finest have raced. They sought the same thrill of victory as racers whose new affordable fiberglass boats began filling marinas opening in Marina del Rey, Long Beach and Dana Point.

Actors Humphrey Bogart and Buddy Ebsen, news anchor Walter Cronkite and comedienne Vicki Lawrence were just some of the celebrities who have participated. Movie producer Milton Bren and Pulitzer Prizewinning cartoonist Paul Conrad also raced alongside a growing fleet of Performance Handicap Racing Fleet racers and against competitive wouldbe legends like Bill Ficker and Dave Ullman.

It was 1975 before Ragtime, one of the most storied wooden monohulls, finished first and broke the string of multihull wins. A 1963 New Zealand build yacht, Ragtime took the sailing world by storm, even upsetting the 1973 Transpacific Yacht Race with a record-breaking finish. Ragtime won N2E for a second time in 1977. That same year, the 67-foot Merlin, one of an emerging class of ultralight displacement boats (ULBDs), set a Transpac record that would stand for 20 years. But it took four years before Merlin, or any other monohull, beat the multis again.

In 1983, a record 675 boats entered the race; securing the moniker of World’s Largest International Yacht Race. Sail lofts were producing laminated sails that were lighter, stronger and more stretch resistant than single layer Dacron. Also that year, Motorola introduced the first mobile phone.

It was not the celebrities nor the chance to race in the company of the sailing elite that drove participation. The more people took part, the more participants experienced the camaraderie sailing is famous for. They discovered an experience that took strangers and made them best friends and turned yacht club members into families. With an average of 400 to 500 boats competing every year, it is the just-for-fun sailors who repeatedly show up in search of the next great adventure who were and will always be the heart and soul of N2E.

As different styles of boats emerged, NOSA established new classes to accommodate and encourage further growth of the sport. Although new ultra-lights and maxi-yachts were

clearly the next big thing, NOSA equally welcomed cruising classes, offered divisions of non-spinnaker classes and even a class for ancient mariners; you know, the types of boats that sailed in that first race.

And for every new class, there’s a trophy. With the thanks and support of local manufacturers, brand-specific classes and trophies are offered. Women started taking the helm, so they got a class and a trophy, too. Today, NOSA had amassed a magnificent trophy collection.

Through the '90s, the Maxi class exploded with bigger, faster and lighter boats. By the late '90s, Roy Disney’s Pyewacket, the fastest in 1999, 2001 (and on the newer Pyewacket in 2006) dominated racing in Southern California and beyond. Although Disney broke a lot of records on Pyewacket, it is Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80 that set the current record for monohulls in 2009 with a time of 10 hours 37 minutes 50 seconds. The record setting race capped a three-race streak (winning in both 2007 and 2008) for the Andrews 80 from Long Beach.

Embracing the relationship with the Transpac Race, board members added a longer course around the San Clemente Island in 2015 to serve as an offshore qualifier. Since it is not exclusive for potential or existing Transpac participants, NOSA members hope that race veterans will want to challenge their yachts and their crews by taking the less scenic yet more challenging route. On the flipside in 2016, a well-received short-course is available for racers based in San Diego.

Certainly, times are different and much has changed since that first race. History, along with a host of friends and relationships has been made. But NOSA members tasked with continuing the traditions are still asking “Won’t you join us?”