Little Ensenada Classic

Now we know why the boys on J-Bird are known as Terror's on the water. Also if you look really close through the port wheel, that is DC in his RP 50 getting smoked, although the final results ultimately told a different story......

The Little Ensenada is a classic short distance open ocean race from San Diego to Ensenada , Mexico, roughly 60 miles. It attracts a wide cross section of monohulls even though not great in numbers. Since the borders of this great country are certainly more secure than they were a month ago it was probably still a deterrent to a lot of the regular participating yachts, so numbers were down. I was lucky enough to be on J Bird a Transpac 52, and our class ranged from Magnitude a Turbo 70 to Cita a Shock 40. This is a pretty wide spread in ratings (PHRF) for any race any probably isn't fair to either end of the rating scale.

The wind was extremely light, and it was a marvel that we finished in the 7 o'clock hour. After a crappie start by Magnitude they blew by us and literally sailed over the horizon on all the boats. The 52's were pretty close in speed and Stars and Stripes was in close pursuit. With some Major brain trust on our boat we tried to out think an otherwise strait forward sail (9 times out of 10) to Ensenada. As is the case every year I have sailed this race you sail to the Todo Santos Island lay line make one jibe and head strait to the Ensenada harbor entrance. Well, we didn't adhere to this philosophy, we jibed on every 10 degree shift and got smoked by the boats that we were faster than. As the wind crapped after the fist 4 boats finished it was a struggle for the remaining boats to get across the finish line.

Magnitude finished first therefore correcting first,Yassou, the Nelson TP 52 finished second therefore correcting second, we finished third but corrected forth. Stars and Stripes finished close behind us in fourth but corrected third.

I didn't go to the prize giving so I don't know how other boats faired but I think there were not a lot of people that had fun battling the light air no matter how they finished. After we motored back to the harbor and hit the dock, I'll bet the race to the bar was probably more exciting than the race itself. I am looking forward to next year's race if they move it to March!

Over and out,

Billy Bob
October 8, 2001 7:08 AM