Sailors again started the Newport-to-Ensenada race under mediocre winds, meaning this will likely not be a record-breaking race.
Still, about 380 sailors set sail Friday afternoon for the 125-mile trek down to Mexico for the 61st annual Newport-to-Ensenada race, dubbed the “world’s largest international yacht race.”
The number of sailors is a bit down from previous years, possibly because of recent threats and warnings across the boarder, said race spokesman Rich Roberts.
Winds were clocking about 6 knots from the southwest direction when the big boats left at noon, and dropped to about 4 knots for the smaller boats, said Roberts.
Many of the bigger boats will be crossing the finish line sometime during the night. Vessels must reach Ensenada before 11 a.m. to qualify. Last year, more than half didn’t make it in time.
John Haupt’s eBay boat – which he bought in February for $780 – broke down on the way up to Newport late Thursday night. He planned on unofficially joining the other boats as they passed San Diego, if he could get the boat to work.

Richard Maure, skipper of Dawn Treader, a Cal 34, said they had a nice breeze, and everyone had their spinnakers up.
Maure, a member of Seal  Beach Yacht Club speaking via cell phone about two hours after the race started, said conditions should be better than last year, and the entire fleet is heading about 10-to-15 miles offshore.
“It’s a good, typical year,” he said. “We’re hoping it stays like this all night long.”

Read my previous post on the race here, and check out this segment I did on KDOC as sailors prepared to start the race.

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