Ensenada

When Tim Martin sets sail with his team in the annual Newport to Ensenada race today he knows he’ll have a tough time winning a trophy. But that’s OK. He’s more about teaching than competing. Martin is shipping out with a crew of five boys and one girl, all between 14 and 21 years old. All are Boy and Girl Scouts, and most are relatively new to sailing. For Martin and his crew, the race is less about winning — though he’s confident they may just take home the trophy — and more about grooming future yachtsmen and women.

Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway today will meet with the new mayor of Ensenada, Mexico, Dr. Jorge Catalan Sosa. The meeting between the leaders of the sister cities will take place at 11 a.m. at Newport Beach City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd. Catalan is visiting the city as part of the Newport Beach Sister City Assn. Okazaki, Japan; Antibes, France; and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, are also Newport Beach sister cities. Ridgeway met with Catalan for the first time last month to talk about advancing cultural and educational exchanges -- a topic the pair will revisit today.

Carole Karamanos More than 10 years ago, a cadre of ladies from TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa started a group called "Go-Go" -- "Girls Only Go Out." The group started having Bunko Parties, viewing movies together, meeting for dinner at special restaurants, getting together at spring break for outings in Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead and Palm Springs. We even take annual cruises to Ensenada, Mexico. Some women are married, some are single, and most now have grown children.

Since 1892, Hussong's Cantina has been a stop for many travelers heading to Baja California. The family-run Ensenada, Mexico, institution boasts that it invented the first margarita in 1941. The Hussongs, German immigrants, claim they poured the first glass of the tequila drink to Margarita Henkel, the daughter of Germany's ambassador to Mexico. Now, through the ingenuity of a Newport Beach lawyer and his business partner, the iconic bar might find its way to Orange County. Jeffrey Marks, a corporate lawyer who lives in Newport Coast, and his partner, Scott Frost, recently purchased the licensing rights for three of Baja California's most-frequented watering holes: The Giggling Marlin Bar & Grille, Papas & Beer and Hussong's Cantina.

Andrew Edwards The annual regatta from Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico, has linked the two coastal cities for 58 years. As mariners started the Lexus Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race Friday, officials from both cities met to discuss the possibility of strengthening the cities' bond. Ensenada Mayor Cesar Mancillas Amador led a delegation that met Newport Beach officials and members of the Newport Beach Sister Cities Assn. at a hilltop home overlooking the race Friday.

June Casagrande Not even the winners themselves get to behold all 48 Newport to Ensenada trophies in their historic splendor. The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum is putting together an exhibit that captures, for the first time, the legendary Newport to Ensenada yacht race's past. "This is just such a big event with so much history for Newport Beach that we're really excited to be doing this exhibit," said Glenn Zagoren, director of the museum.

June Casagrande Some say the Newport to Ensenada race's days of debauchery are long gone, vanished like the images of pornographic movies that used to be projected onto one yacht's sail. Others say that Newport to Ensenada hasn't outgrown the wild times, but that they themselves have grown into a more sober and serious racing experience. They're both right. While the 56-year-old race has been working to polish its image into one more consistent with the Tommy Bahama target market, there's still plenty of partying for those looking for it. "In the early days, for me, the race was a vehicle to go down and play," said Steve Schupak, a Costa Mesa resident who sailed his first Newport to Ensenada in the 1980s at age 16. His wildest memories include a certain Sunday in the late 1980s when cruise ship passengers, Ensenada racers and other revelers "turned Papas and Beer into 'Girls Gone Wild.

The water can be a calming presence for a sailor sometimes. Andy Rose surely found solace as a young sailor when he was 10 in Newport Beach. His father, Robert, died of a heart attack at age 48. Andy's mother, Lucy, entered young Andy in the junior sailing program at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, which at the time rented a small space from Balboa Yacht Club. Andy loved it. He found escape, some fun and eventually his life. "She just wanted something for me to do during the summer after my dad had died," said Andy, 61, a co-owner of It's OK, a high-performance Andrews 50. "Unfortunately for her it kept me busy more nights and days than she had ever intended.

Courtenay Dulak   A Fun Valentines Theme Evening!   The event is this Wednesday, at Port Restaurant, from 6-9 pm.  Port's address is 440 Heliotrope in Corona Del Mar and will include: appetizers & raffle ticket included, red hot shots, and raffle prizes. A $20 Entrance donation kindly suggested.

On board the yacht Gypsy in the Tommy Bahama Newport to Ensenada race, the crew was busy adjusting the sails, pulling on ropes and evaluating the course. They were serious about the race. And I was serious about my job. I ran back and forth on deck, shooting photos and jotting notes. "One hand on the boat," they repeatedly warned me. In one hand, I had my camera, and in the other, a notebook and a pen. I think sometimes I just gave them one more thing to worry about.

Organizers of the famed Newport Beach-to-Ensenada sailing regatta were stunned by the mysterious loss of four crew members aboard a 37-foot boat that disappeared in mid-race, marking the first fatalities in the event's 65-year history. While the U.S. Coast Guard was still investigating the accident, regatta organizers said they believed the boat was hit and demolished by a much larger ship - perhaps a freighter or tanker - passing in the dark early Saturday. The boat disappeared from the online tracking system around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

SAN DIEGO — The Coast Guard is set Sunday morning to resume an aerial search for a crew member who has been missing since a 37-foot sailboat was apparently struck by a larger vessel south of San Diego during an annual race from Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico, leaving three other people dead. Three bodies were recovered Saturday near the Mexican-controlled Coronado Islands. The dead were taken to the San Diego County medical examiner for identification. A Coast Guard cutter and a Mexican naval vessel searched through the night for the crew member of the sailboat Aegean.

For the second time in a month, sailboat crew members have died while racing off the California coast. Two weeks ago, five died when their 38-foot boat was swamped by two waves near the Farallon Islands, 27 miles from San Francisco. And now, four crew members are believed to have been killed when their 37-foot-boat disappeared Saturday on a race between Newport Beach and Ensenada, Mexico. The regatta sponsors believe the sailboat collided with a "much larger vessel" although theU.S.

Like a picturesque postcard Friday off the Balboa Pier, the beautiful large sailboats in 65th annual Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race got off to quick starts. A class started every 10 minutes at two flights, with 213 boats in 16 total classes. Overall, the starts of the races lasted 1 hour, 40 minutes, with several yachting fans and other curious onlookers breaking out their binoculars to watch the sailboats, which ranged from 28 to 70 feet. The boat that crossed the starting line the fastest among Maxi-class boats in the 125-mile race to the coastal town 72 miles south of Tijuana was the Medicine Man, with Robert Lane of the Long Beach Yacht Club as its skipper.

In the words of Dennis St. Onge, "Yellow is fast. " He's the captain of a 1940s Ford woody station wagon-turned-motorboat that will be hard to miss at the start of this weekend's 65th annual Newport to Ensenada yacht race. "And yellow is going to win this year. Mark my words!" he added, rooting specifically for the 1980s, yellow carbon fiber monohull Taxi Dancer, which placed in the race's top 10 in 2011. St. Onge, a San Diego resident and professional photographer, has shared the waters with Newport to Ensenada racers since 1993.

The water can be a calming presence for a sailor sometimes. Andy Rose surely found solace as a young sailor when he was 10 in Newport Beach. His father, Robert, died of a heart attack at age 48. Andy's mother, Lucy, entered young Andy in the junior sailing program at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, which at the time rented a small space from Balboa Yacht Club. Andy loved it. He found escape, some fun and eventually his life. "She just wanted something for me to do during the summer after my dad had died," said Andy, 61, a co-owner of It's OK, a high-performance Andrews 50. "Unfortunately for her it kept me busy more nights and days than she had ever intended.

The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum is getting closer to reaching its ambitious fundraising goals, according to museum President Rita Stenlund. The museum also has profile-raising community events coming up, from a kick-off party for the Newport to Ensenada yacht race Sunday to weekly family events starting in June. Stenlund told the Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that the museum now has about $8 million in an investment fund. That's up from the $6.6 million listed in its 2011 tax return and $5.1 million the year before.

What's more difficult to win: an America's Cup or the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race? Dennis Conner mulled over the question Sunday when it was confirmed that his Farr 60, Stars & Stripes, had scored a hat trick triple victory in the 64th Newport to Ensenada: first monohull to finish, first in the Maxi class and first in the entire fleet on corrected handicap time. The latter won him the race's biggest prize —-the President of USA Trophy — based on how well boats are sailed to their rated potential.

Editor's note: This corrects the day the crews were expected to arrive in Ensenada. NEWPORT BEACH – Amid a light breeze and sunny skies, racers set sail Friday afternoon in the 64th annual Newport-to-Ensenada International Yacht Race. Winning the first start was defending champion Taxi Dancer, a 68-foot bright yellow yacht from Santa Barbara. Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes, from San Diego, followed close behind. While the breeze showed promise early — at about 6 knots in the morning — by the time the gun fired at noon, it had dropped to about 3 or 4 knots from the west.

Since 1892, Hussong's Cantina has been a stop for many travelers heading to Baja California. The family-run Ensenada, Mexico, institution boasts that it invented the first margarita in 1941. The Hussongs, German immigrants, claim they poured the first glass of the tequila drink to Margarita Henkel, the daughter of Germany's ambassador to Mexico. Now, through the ingenuity of a Newport Beach lawyer and his business partner, the iconic bar might find its way to Orange County. Jeffrey Marks, a corporate lawyer who lives in Newport Coast, and his partner, Scott Frost, recently purchased the licensing rights for three of Baja California's most-frequented watering holes: The Giggling Marlin Bar & Grille, Papas & Beer and Hussong's Cantina.