With the entry deadline coming on Tuesday at 5 p.m., the usual high-powered ocean racers are already lined up for Friday’s start of the 62nd Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race, led by last year’s two big winners.
David Janes and Bill Turpin’s Akela, a Reichel/Pugh 77 that won the 2008 Tommy Bahama Trophy for first overall on handicap time, and Doug Baker’s first-to-finish, record-chasing Magnitude 80 are among the Maxi Class fleet that sets the pace in the 125.5-nautical mile race, along with Roy Pat Disney sailing his dad Roy E.’s recycled Pyewacket II; Dennis Conner’s Farr 60, Stars & Stripes; several ULDB 70s, a handful of TP52s and the prototype of the latter global class, John MacLaurin’s Pendragon 4, a Davidson 52.
For the first time spectators on Balboa Pier at the new start line will have a front-row look at the two-hour sequence of starts beginning at noon. Former NOSA commodore Jerry Moulton will offer explanatory commentary from the roof of Ruby’s restaurant…Â DetailsÂ
After traveling all the way from Vega-Baja, Puerto Rico, for a few days of personal watercraft racing in Central Florida, Julio Rivera will be going home a record holder.
During the HydroDrag Spring Nationals on Sunday, Rivera blazed down the C-54 canal in South Brevard at 100.5 mph —
the fastest speed ever officially recorded by a personal watercraft rider.
“The feeling of going that fast . . . is indescribable. It takes a lot of nerve,” said the 36-year old Rivera. “The competition is really tough, and these races get better every year. The speed and the adrenaline rush keep me coming back for more.” …Â Details
IT’S 1pm on the second and final day of the 2009 Scottish Surfing Championships, and the best surfers in the country are gathered in a farmyard-cum-car park, overlooking the fabled reefbreak known throughout the surfing universe as Thurso East. In an ideal world there would be perfect, hollow waves spitting and reeling along this kelp-covered rock slab, but today: nothing. A few heats were held here early in the morning in smallish surf, but now the sea looks worryingly calm…Â Details & Video
The reigning world champion progressed up the field early in the race with some daring manoeuvres, but a number of spins and off-track excursions hampered his race.
The British driver was disappointed he did not taken advantage of the treacherous conditions but was satisfied with a points finish.
“I love racing in the wet and I would say that was one of my worst wet performances,†Hamilton said. … Details & Pictures
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