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the Water The Whole Enchilada SA has two of the biggest winners of the Newport to Ensenada race writng articles for us. Tomorrow we'll have the on board report from Ashley Perrin who sailed on the first to finish R/P 86 Pyewackett, and here is the report from the overall corrected time winner, Max Rosenberg sailing his Hobie 33 Mad Max. Hey So Cal sailors, who brings it?  The
weather for this year's Ensenada race shaped up to be light at best. Forecasts
for 10 knots or less during the day and 4 knots or less at night did not
bring smiles to the crew of "Mad Max". To top it off there was
a chance for fog. Even as we bought food for the race we contemplated if
a second dinner would be in order. I kept reminding myself that distance
racing is my favorite and night sailing off the California coast (drifting)
is always, gulp, fun.The start looked ugly. Overcast, with a south wind, set the stage for an upwind slog to Enchilada. While watching all the maxi boats, with their high tech weather software computers telling them where to go, we noticed that all of the big boats were sailing offshore on port. We (Myself, Jack Lemaire, Tim Harris and Paul Wren) started at the inshore line, inshore pin, tacked to port, and sailed across all 26 boats in our fleet (having to duck a few). We made our way into the group of boats on the offshore startline, sailing amongst the faster fleet of boats (ducking half of that fleet as well) and proceeded to work our way outside initially. It was risky to sail 90 degrees to course while most of our own fleet sailed down course; however, it was to our advantage to align ourselves with the bigger boats, as there may be at least a steady breeze outside. Within only one hour of the start, we tacked back to starboard (after only 30 minutes on port) and set the spinnaker. With a tight spinnaker reaching in 4-8 knots of wind, this would be our point of sail for the next 12 hours. At least it was puffy! As night fell we were inside most of our fleet and leading. The rating spread in our fleet was only 15 seconds so we felt good about the afternoon's work and settled into night mode. Dolphins in large packs of 50 or more constantly buzzed us and were competing so fiercely for our bow wave that periodically they bumped the bow of the boat. As a matter of fact, when they were thrashing in front of us it actually slowed us down about 4/10's of a knot from the turbulence from their fins. As darkness set in we were lucky to see bait balls ignite the water with unbelievable phosphorescence. In all of my years of night sailing, I have never seen such an underwater light show. We would sail into and spook a school of fish 100 meters square and the entire area surrounding the boat was in a glow of electric green. All night long we were torpedoed by Dolphins. Amazing! Sailing through the night, the wind kept puffing and put a premium on sailing the boat hard. With each puff we would ease and push down. As a result, we were barely laying the Coronado Islands. In fact we were worried about kelp as we skimmed about 300 yards worth outside the light at the island. Most of our fleet was outside of us and we could only see a few boats inside. As we passed the Coronado's at 3:30 a.m., the wind picked up to a pleasant 12 knots and the boats outside of us surged forward, much to our displeasure. As day broke we worried that the outside boats would be able to cross us when the gybed. At about 8 a.m. and much to our delight, we were lifted 30 degrees and the decision to gybe was forced on us. Because of our positioning inside we were able to get down course and in front of our competition, most of which were outside of us drifting. Our initial heading put us smack into the too-soon Lagoon and we worried that this would be the end of Mad Max. As we approached the shoreline the breeze freshened and we were able to stay off land. The breeze continued to freshen until we were sailing in 14-16 knots of breeze and running straight into Hussong's at mid day. Finishing in the mid day hours is a curse and a blessing. The breeze generally fills in but allows the boats behind to catch up. Of course the fact that there is wind usually erases all of the light air sailing from the night before. We were unsure of our standing due to the large number of cruising class boats around us, but knowing that a lot of them had just finished motoring all night with the pedal to the metal, and the fact that we were next to them, we had a feeling we were doing all right. VMG with the engine on is very good. Very few racing boats were within sight. As we approached the last 5 miles of the race we got the news we needed to finally settle down about our placing. We were able to verify that "Belly Dancer," a very well sailed J 105 with Art McMillan and Steve Grillon were coming out from the beach just behind us. Art and Steve have trophied and or won their class 4 out of the last 5 years, and although I have trophied 3 of the last 4, skippering a J-92 "Puka Wai" in windier rhumbline races, I knew then we were in good company near the beach. We were sailing a 21 second per mile faster boat this year and there they were approaching the finish line near us again. On top of this "Ragtime" was barely crossing us with 2 miles to go and we realized we were doing just fine. We crossed the line at 1:30 p.m. and when we motored into the Corral Marina we had the pleasure of NOT seeing any J Boats in the Marina. "Doctor No," the winning J-120, motored in front of us into the marina and they received news that they were the first J boat to finish. My crew was very stoked and I was starting to warm up to the feeling that we may have done very well. Cruising into the Bahia we had the delight of being there with very few people and a finish board that was mostly blank. Our time was posted and there it was in black and white. We were the first boat to finish in our fleet and all of the boats owed us time - we had won our class! As the day wore on we realized that the Overall Trophy, the much coveted grand prize may be ours too. But as many of us know, boats trickle into Ensenada for hours, or even days later, that may correct out and snatch a overall victory. So it wasn't until about midnight on Saturday at Hussong's, infused by tequila, that we realized we had won the race overall! Unless some 82 foot schooner snuck in, with an America's Cup skipper, we were going home with the Big Enchilada! Hanging at the Bahia before trophies, we met lots of people who congratulated us and asked us "which way did you go?" I realize now what I have known for a long time. Sailing is really all about the people. It is camaraderie at it's finest. Major kudos go to the volunteers. There are volunteers who make sure the race packets get assembled. There are volunteers who start the race, finish the race and post the race results. There are volunteers who throw the Bahia Corinthian Pre-Race party. There are volunteers who run the safety inspections (BTW we were inspected!). The sponsors, Lexus, Mount Gay Rum, West Marine, Driscoll and North Sails all make contributions generously give to this sport that we all love so much. The Ensenada Race is a volunteer and sponsor organized heavy regatta and a very smooth operation. Well done NOSA! See all of you next year, hopefully not waiting for us at the finish board! And just in case you have not figured it out yet, we went inside. Something I rarely do! Happy sailing, Max Rosenberg 05/02/06 |