20 | May 13 - May 26, 2022 | THE LOG
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Laurie Morrison for NOSA
Sailing
Boats mix it up and jockey for position for the start of PHRF-UL-A and UL-Maxi. John Raymont’s Ker51M Fast Exit II (BYC) is to the left and Good Energy, George Hershman/ Mark Comings RP/63 (CBYC) is on the right. Coming right at us is the winner of the BEST ORR Overall Trophy - LBYC’s Doug Baker’s Peligroso, a Kernan 68.
By: KATHERINE M. CLEMENTS ENSENADA, MEXICO — April 22 kicked off the 75th Newport to Ensenada Races. Weather reports for the April 22 start accurately predicted windy and wavy conditions. Many racers on all three courses took on Mother Nature in an epic showdown; most reported personal best times, numerous records, and came ashore with tales of blustery sailing adventures. Rio100, a custom Bakewell White, and its crew, led by owner Manouch Moshayedi, set a new N2E elapsed time record for a monohull at 7:02:17. In addition, six out of seven boats in the Maxi Class clocked in faster than the previous record set in 2016. George Hershman and Mark Coming’s Good Energy, a Reichel Pugh 63, sistership to former record-holder Aszhous, arrived second at 8.32.49, shaving 1:02:45 off the old record. Despite missing the record by four minutes, Saga’s finish time of 9:39.01 earned the TP52 a trip to the podium to claim PHRF UL-Maxi class honors. With a corrected time of 12:31:13, owner John Brynjolffson earned the Amigo Trophy for the fasted corrected time for a first-
time N2E skipper. Bill Gibbs Wahoo, whose arrival at 9:23:19 was slightly ahead of Fast Exit (9:29:00) and Zephyrus (9:29:59), set multiple personal bests aboard his Schionning GF 1400 Catamaran. Not only did NOSA’s Staff Commodore sweep the top three trophies, but he did so for the fifth time. In 2004, 2010, and 2013 Gibbs and a crew of friends collected the coveted Tommy Bahama Trophy for Best Corrected Overall with Afterburner, a 1987 52-foot Tennant Bladerunner-designed catamaran. He returned to the podium in 2016 after Wahoo’s inaugural N2E on the Schionning, which he modestly refers to as a lightweight cruising boat. “My boat lights up at 20 knots of wind,” said Gibbs in an N2E press release from April 25. “This was the best wind of my 21 N2E races, by far. But you have to do all the races in order to be there for the special ones like this.” Despit e blow ing out a spinnaker off San Diego, the crew bested Wahoo’s previous record by 90 minutes. In addition, it was reported that Wahoo got to sail in optimal conditions for much of the race, under 25 knots, TWS sailing
Laurie Morrison for NOSA
N2E, A Year of Record Winds, Wins, and Personal Records
The PHRF RACE A competitors approach the start of N2E74 with Mike Sudo’s Macondo, a Beneteau 47.7F (DRYC) to the right, Frederic Hayem’s Mister J, a J/46 (NSBYC) in the center, and Jim Puckett’s Amazing Grace a custom Farr 57 on the left. Amante (sail 77077) is in the background. downwind. “Thanks to my great crew without whom this would not have been possible,” said Gibbs. Sailing back to the podium, Gibbs also collected the Stern Choy Trophy for Best Corrected – Catamaran, the Alice Pursell
Perpetual Trophy for First to Finish Multihull, and the President of NOSA Trophy for Best Corrected Multihull. Gibbs will have his name etched 31 times onto five N2E trophies. Please see N2E, PAGE 21
