A Bon Voyage for the Masses

When the bankruptcy crisis was at its apogee, everybody in Orange County had a yacht.

At least that’s what one might have concluded from watching TV. The irony fairly dripped: Here was one of the wealthiest counties in the nation (camera pans down line of enormous seagoing vessels docked in Newport Harbor) and its pockets were turned inside out.

And wasn’t this, after all, where John Wayne used to park his converted Navy minesweeper, the Wild Goose?

Yes, Orange County was a place where one went yachting. But sailing for fun? Unpowered boating for the far-less-than-wealthy? Did it even exist here?

Did and does. Orange County may be the home of champagne-stained dress Top-Siders, but it’s also the home of the Beercan Regattas, sailing firefighters, the doughty little Lido 14, and the largest and most unbuttoned ocean race on earth.

It’s also home to a handful of open-to-the-public sailing clubs, considered by many to be an alternative to boat ownership and yacht club membership, where novices can learn to sail and experienced sailors can charter ocean-worthy sailboats.

Once you’ve got enough time on the water and enough calluses on your hands, you may be ready to participate in the world’s biggest seagoing free-for-all, the Newport-to-Ensenada yacht race. The largest international ocean race in the world, the race is sponsored by the Newport Ocean Sailing Assn. This year, the 50th anniversary race saw 554 boats at the starting line, sailed by millionaires and working stiffs, all with the same thought in mind: get to the party as quickly as possible.

“So many people get in this race who normally don’t race or who don’t even sail,” said Brad Avery, director of marine programs at Orange Coast College.

“I sailed in my first [Newport-to-Ensenada] race when I was 13, and I’m 58 now, so it’s been quite a while,” said Ernie Minney, owner of Minney’s Ship Chandlery in Newport Beach. “I’ve probably made 30 out of the 50 races. It’s a lot of fun to get out there with friends and prove to each other who’s king of the mountain. It’s really like a neighborhood here, and for a lot of people that race is their tradition. If you’re sitting in Newport Beach when all the boats head south, it’s kind of weird.”

The race is 125 miles of water with lunacy at both ends. Racers, from all points of the geographic and economic compass, party with determination the night before the race, jockey behind the starting line off Newport Harbor like darting bats the next day, spend all night plowing south through the darkness, and end up carousing in Ensenada the next day.

“We’re exhausted, usually,” Minney said. “Years ago we partied and got crazy, but now that we’re more mature we go for the race rather than the party.”

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As egalitarian and inclusive as the Newport-to-Ensenada race is, it is no less jolly than one of the most exclusive ocean races in the area, the annual firefighters’ race to Catalina. Sponsored by the Anaheim Fire Department, the race has been staged for almost 15 years and now includes firefighters from as far away as Arizona and Washington state, said Lee Woolever, a Long Beach firefighter and sailor.

“You don’t even have to have a boat,” Woolever said. “You can borrow someone else’s. The only real requirement is that a firefighter is at the helm at the beginning and the end of the race. It’s all taken in a very light spirit.” The race begins off the Long Beach breakwater, continues to a buoy near San Pedro and turns west for Twin Harbors on Catalina, where the finish line is located. The race is followed by dinner and dancing on shore, and the next day, after breakfast and the awards presentations, “a group will invade Avalon with a bunch of boats,” Woolever said.

“We usually get about 50 boats of all sizes and types,” he said, “mostly from Newport Harbor and Long Beach.”

Far more local, far shorter and far more frantic is the Thursday evening Beercan Regatta. Held each week during the summer months and sponsored by the Balboa Yacht Club, the regattas have been running for more than 40 years, and they are a curious combination of sailing skill and pure indolence.

It’s a simple out-and-back race, starting near the Balboa Pavilion, continuing to a buoy near the Cannery restaurant and then turning back on the same course. With the usual prevailing winds, this means quick, furious tacking during the first half of the race and slow, leisurely, straight sailing during the second half.

It’s that second half, when the crew has little or nothing to do, that gives the race its name. The trophies, said longtime local sailor Gerry Moulton, “really are gilded beer cans. I can remember scraping away at one of those one time and I found out it was a Coors can.”

How does one get in on all this, without inheriting a yacht and a crew to go with it? Orange Coast College’s Avery and his colleagues have been responsible for turning hundreds of county landlubbers into sailors by plunking them into one of the county’s best-known nautical innovations, the Lido 14 sailboat, for 20 hours of instruction over five weekend sessions.

The Lido 14, originally designed by Newport Beach-based Schock Boats, has been skipping around the harbor for decades. A single-masted dinghy, it can hold two comfortably and carry as many as four.

“It’s a very good learning boat,” said Avery, who presides over Orange Coast’s fleet of 24 Lidos. “It’s very comfortable, very stable and it’s really responsive. One puff of wind and you’re moving. They’re also raced quite a bit here locally. If you win in the Lido classes around here, you’re considered hot stuff.”

In a continuing bit of irony, it is the small boats, from Lido 14s to the largest boats that can be routinely carried on a trailer, that may be the future of sailing in Orange County. Slip rental fees, say local sailors, have begun to force the less-than-well-heeled out of Orange County anchorages.

“A guy I sail with recently said that you just don’t see that many big boats in Newport anymore. There just isn’t enough money.”

Minney agreed. “We get about a call a week from people wanting to give us a free boat,” he said. “People are walking away from their boats. It’s sad to see what’s happening to the boats in the 20- to 25-foot range. There are not a lot of buyers out there. These days, you’re going to spend as much to tie your boat up to a dock as you did on the boat. A lot of people are sticking their boats on trailers and hauling them home, but if you want to tie up to a dock, it’s a minimum of $12 a foot. And that check goes out every month.”

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Learning to Set Sail in O.C. Waters

Here are a few places in Orange County where you can get your first sea legs in a sailboat:

Marina Sailing--located at the Balboa Fun Zone. Call (714) 673-7763.

A $495 club membership covers seven two-hour lessons and three two-hour practice sessions in boats ranging from 21 to 32 feet. Monthly dues are $27. Charters from the club’s fleet are available to non-members, but members receive a 50% discount on charter fees.

Newport Sailing Club and Academy--located at Lido Marina Village. Call (714) 675-7100.

A membership fee of $695 includes sailing instruction from beginning through advanced, a total of 46 hours of instruction. Charter boat fleet ranges upward from 25 feet. Monthly dues are $85, $75 of which goes into an account and can be applied to members’ charter fees. Members are entitled to join South Shore Yacht Club under special arrangement and are entitled to all club privileges other than sailing.

Lido Sailing Club--located at 3300 Via Lido at foot of Lido Island bridge. Call (714) 675-0827.

Membership fee of $250 includes 15 hours of basic instruction on 25-foot boats. Classes cost $175 per person for non-members. Instruction consists of five three-hour classes. Weekday lessons available for groups of two or more at same price. Monthly dues are $80, a portion of which is applied to members’ charter fees. Charter boats available from 18 to 44 feet.

Aventura Sailing Assn.--located in the middle of Dana Point Harbor adjacent to the bridge. Call (714) 493-9493.

Membership fee of $198 includes beginning sailing course (12 hours of instruction in the classroom and 12 hours on the water) and club membership. Classes are usually held over four weekend days. Private instruction also available. Class fee is $175 for non-members. Monthly dues are $30. Fleet consists of boats from 28 to 30 feet. Only members can charter boats. Reciprocal membership privileges at similar clubs from San Diego to Washington.

Orange Coast College--located on Pacific Coast Highway’s Mariners Mile north of Balboa Bay Club. Call (714) 645-9412.

Beginning classes in Lido 14s are held over five Saturdays or Sundays for a total of 20 hours of instruction. Class fee is $85. Morning or afternoon classes available.