Fast times, but no records broken in 70th Newport to Ensenada race

No records were broken in the 70th Newport to Ensenada race, but there were two boats that finished under six hours after Friday’s start in Newport Beach.

Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD70 Phaedo3 and Howard Enloe’s ORMA60 Mighty Merloe crossed the finish line with times of 5 hours, 45 minutes, 52 seconds and 5:49:28 respectively (unofficial times).

Last year, Orion crossed the finish line in 5:17:26, breaking the former record of 6:46:40, set by the late Steve Fossett on the yacht Stars and Stripes in 1998 by more than 1 hour, 29 minutes.

Mighty Merloe, which previously claimed best elapsed time honors, made it with only a 12 minutes and 30 second difference than last year.

Despite Friday starting with a wind advisory for the Huntington Beach area winds dissipated as boats converged on the start at 10:30 a.m.

By 12:30 p.m. and the final start, big swells remained but wind had slowed to between just 6-8 knots, according to a press release.

By 7 a.m., only 18 boats had crossed the finish line.

Last years’ monohull record-breaker Aszhou, Steve Maheen’s 63 Reichel Pugh clocked in with a time of 15:06:14.

Bill Gibbs Wahoo, last year’s Tommy Bahama Trophy winner for best corrected time, all boats, arrived with a time of 18:53:01.

By 10:30 a.m., only boats in PHRF A had an arrival or two, all others were in transit.

All Fast 50s were accounted for.

Other unofficial times are:

Zephyrus, 16:16:34

Pyewacket, 16:32:58

It’s OK, 17:55:01

Flaquita, 19:49:42

Final results and corrected times are pending.