Sailors prepare for annual regatta

Young yachting enthusiasts from around the Southland are making the final preparations for their entry this weekend in the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club’s Corinthian Cup Regatta in Newport Harbor.

This is the club’s fourth annual competition. At the time of the Corinthian Cup Regatta’s creation, the yacht club wasn’t hosting any other junior regatta. The club’s members saw a need to enhance the club’s prominence while showing off its facilities and offerings.

The Corinthian Cup is a perpetual trophy that is passed on to each winning team. The winners also receive Olympic-style gold medals.

The winning team is determined through a point system. Teams with more well-performing sailors have a better chance of winning the Cup.

The competition uses the One-Design racing method, where all competitors who have highly similar boats race together in their own race, based on a single start time.

There are five One-Design sailboat classes in the competition: Sabot, Laser Redial, Laser, CFJ and 420. Each class is scored and awarded separately.

The club celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, when it also received the Southern California Yachting Assn.’s Yacht Club of the Year award.

There will be five to seven boat races throughout the weekend, depending on the wind, organizers said.

All of the junior sailors who are members of Southern California Youth Yacht Racing Assn. clubs are eligible to participate in the regatta.

Bill Long of the Yacht Club said there also will be many other races on the harbor this weekend for spectators to view, with about 200 boats total.

If You Go

What: Fourth annual Corinthian Cup Regatta

When: Saturday and Sunday

Where: Newport Harbor

Information: (949) 644-9530 or byoc.org