The annual Newport-to-Ensenada International Yacht Race has long been to competitive sailing what Olympic swimming would be if Michael Phelps shared the pool with a gaggle of guys in inner tubes towing a keg of beer.
Some take what's billed as the largest international yacht race seriously. Most, however, treat it as a floating party. Running out of wind at sea is an obstacle second to running out of adult beverages.
Not this year. The sinking economy and a fear of Mexico's drug violence have buffeted the 62nd annual race. The number of entries is down -- about 270 are expected compared with nearly 400 last year -- and the crowd of people who have traditionally driven to Ensenada for a weekend of partying is expected to be considerably thinner.
If the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and spiraling narco wars weren't enough, organizers are dealing with a third headache: a long-simmering feud between a handful of sailors that will boil over into public view at 11 a.m. Friday, an hour before the race begins.
That is when more than 100 boats will take off from Newport Beach in the inaugural Border Run. Billed as the beginning of a "new tradition," the race, which finishes with a party in San Diego, is the outgrowth of a dispute between a Huntington Beach boat designer and the nonprofit Newport Ocean Sailing Assn., which denied him entry into its Ensenada race.
At issue is whether Randy Reynolds' R33 twin-hulled catamaran -- likened to a Ferrari on water -- is unsafe because it is prone to capsizing. The Newport sailing association believes it is. Reynolds insists it is not.
Ensenada race officials say the Border Run -- which has been promoted, in part, as being "safer" than venturing into Mexico -- is a crass and bitter attempt by Reynolds to undermine a venerable Southern California tradition.
Reynolds said he is only trying to promote competitive sailing by offering an option that welcomes all boats. He dismisses the men who run the Newport sailing association, who are on the down slope of middle age and use the salutation "commodore," as "the blue blazers" -- an old-guard out of touch with today's adrenaline-fueled action sports.
"We're the crazy people," said Reynolds, who is 53 but comes across as having the aggressiveness of a 23-year-old. "We like speed."
Critics say Reynolds is being uncorinthian -- a smack-down that would leave most landlubbers reaching for a dictionary.
