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Last year's race was the 58th annual Newport to Ensenada Race. This race last year marked Kennedy’s 16th year as official NOSA artist; a feat Kennedy says is well worth some celebratory acknowledgement.

“I still remember the first commission to do this race - a race that as a boy I knew I wanted to be a part of some day. Of course, I’ve raced the competition since then, but nothing compares to the joy of creating each of these 16 paintings,” said Kennedy recently, taking time from a plein air waterfront painting session in Ensenada, Baja California where he resides. “It’s a real kick to be walking the malecon here in Ensenada or the boardwalk in Newport Beach and see my paintings’ reproduction go by on a sailor’s or jogger’s back.”

Like the prior 15 years, the 2005 painting, “Puesta Del Sol Islas Coronados” (Sunset off the Coronado Islands) has a story behind it’s inception; one which often begins at or shortly after the race gun’s starting volley off Newport Harbor.

“Inside or outside, that’s the question. The Coronado Islands have always divided the track of racers into inside or out, depending on the navigator’s best call on where the best wind might be or how to avoid contrary currents,” said Kennedy.

NOSA Commodore Paul DeCapua suggested his desire for the 2005 image to incorporate spinnakers with light and color. "Of course, the Coronados are in themselves a welcoming sight to the racers as it means they’re nearly half-way there!”

Kennedy is currently writing a book of his years in Newport Beach and Southern California that incorporates his many artworks of that period. Filled with old landmarks, many of which no longer exist, he plans to have the volume completed for the Newport Beach Centennial.

Prints of Kennedy’s “Puesta Del Sol Islas Coronados” are available in the Online Store and were featured with past Newport Ocean Sailing Association (NOSA) works at his “Suite Sixteen” at the Bahia Hotel in Ensenada during the race weekend.

After painting watercolor studies of the islands from a nearby beach, Kennedy said he decided he needed a higher elevation to provide more ocean in the painting’s foreground. He found that in his own front yard, perched above the ocean south of Ensenada, offered just that setting.

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