J/121 Blue Flash eclipses Newport to Ensenada Race

2024 Newport to Ensenada Race © Lisa Bronitt

Hosted by the Newport Ocean Sailing Association, the beloved 125-mile Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race sailed last Friday, April 26 for the 76th time. The fleet of 146 sailboats crossed the start line starting at 11 a.m. off the Balboa Pier.

With exciting weather forecasts correctly predicting mostly consistent winds in the high teens to low 20 knots and choppy seas, the age-old N2E decision to go inside or outside the Coronados was not as clear as in previous years. That decision would determine wins or losses on this 125 nm adventure by only minutes and seconds.

PHRF ULC Division

In the PHRF ULC Division of 13 boats, it was Scott Grealish's J/121 BLUE FLASH that took the honors by 16 minutes on corrected handicap time. John Staff's J/111 OBSIDIAN finished sixth, while the other two J/111s ended up 9th and 10th- Ed Sanford's CREATIVE and Derek Heeb's GURLI, respectively.

PHRF ULD Division

Apparently, Minnesota cultivates some good sailors. Since 2017, Brian Kerr has been sailing his J/92 DOUBLE DOWN in N2E with Grant Bartee. Meeting through a California Yacht Club event, the friends discovered that they had both moved to Los Angeles from Minnesota and raced against each other as children.

The boat has consistently placed well, claiming one best-in-class win, but this is the first time the two sailed the J/92 double-handed.

"Off the dock, the strategy was conservative," said Kerr. The breeze built off the start line, and albeit lulls off Dana Point, and at 3:00 AM, they saw a constant 17 knots and decided to stay inside for lots of power reaching.

No modifications were made to the J/92's rigging for the two-man sail before the race. And, they decided not to make any sail changes in the heavier seas. It was the right call, said Bartee, despite losing by just 8 seconds to FANDANGO, one of the three J/92s.

DOUBLE DOWN may have finished second in PHRF ULD, but Kerr took the Volvo Trophy for best corrected double-handed...

J/Teams Results:

• CUCHULAINN (J/105) - skipper Rob Dekker - 7th overall, 2nd in Race B class, 2nd in First Time - 13:29:35 Corrected Time
• DOUBLE DOWN (J/92) - Skipper Brian Kerr - 1st Doublehanded, 2nd UL-D, 1st UL-D / ORR-EZ - 13:52:33 Corrected Time
• FORGIVENESS (J/124) - Skipper Scott Torrance - 1st Race A class / ORR-EZ - 15:38:07 Corrected Time
• RHUMB RUNNER (J/29) - Skipper Chuck Bowers - 1st Race C class / ORR-EZ - 16:47:59 Corrected Time
• OBSIDIAN (J/111) - Skipper John Staff - 1st UL-C / ORR - 14:56:56 Corrected Time
• CREATIVE (J/111) - Skipper Ed Sanford - 2nd UL-C / ORR - 15:15:07 Corrected time
• BLUE FLASH (J/121) - Skipper Scott Grealish - 1st UL-C - 12:33:56 Corrected Time
• PATRIOT (J/44) - Skipper Paul Stemler - 1st Race A (SAN DIEGO) - 10:24:44 Corrected Time

For more Newport Offshore Sailing Association sailing information visit nosa.org.