FALMOUTH – Started on a lark in 1928 by two brothers drinking bootleg whiskey, the Portland Yacht Club’s Monhegan Moonlight Regatta this year drew 170 sailors who were willing to crew through the night for a trophy and bragging rights.

“It started as a gathering of folks who had nothing better to do — people who enjoyed messing around in boats,” said Stephanie Helms, the Portland Yatch Club’s race officer. “The continuing allure is the sheer beauty of sailing at night — meteor showers, phosphorescence in your wake, the moon.”

The 78th running of Maine’s largest, longest and oldest offshore sailboat race began at 1 p.m. Friday, with the seas calm and the sails begging for wind.

Thirty-five boats — with names like C-C-Courage, Tittracate, Beausoleil and Go Dog Go — in seven classes set sail just off Town Landing in Falmouth.

The main course, more than 100-miles long, runs south from Hussey Sound to near Biddeford Pool, then northeast to Monhegan and back to Casco Bay. The boats sail overnight, with the crews sleeping in shifts — or not at all.

“A distance race is more a strategic race than a tactical race — how best to put the boat in position to benefit from the change in wind and find the optimum angle for speed,” Helms said. “It’s like playing chess on a board where the board is always moving.”

In Class A — the class with the fastest boats — Big Dog Party and Revolution XII got off to a swift start, despite the subtle winds of about five knots (5.8 miles per hour). Amhas figured to be one boat to watch because its Code Zero sail is designed to respond to minimal wind, Helms said.

Capt. Peter Price, 51, of Freeport and his Big Dog Party won last year’s Monhegan race. Price, who has been sailing since he was 16, has competed in the race for 28 years.

“It’s a great race,” he said. “It’s absolutely beautiful out there.”

According to tradition, the race coincides with August’s full moon. It is run on different courses for different classes.

The main Monhegan Island Race runs 103 or 128 nautical miles, depending on the wind. The Manana Trophy Race covers 83 miles, the Seguin Island Cruising Class is 67 miles and the Double-Handed Racing Class goes for 67 miles.

The boats have different handicaps, so the winner isn’t known until the times and numbers are crunched after the finish.

The race has had its share of bad weather — from fog and adverse tides to too much or too little wind — and the rare collision or broken mast. The speed of the race varies with the weather.

The record for the main course was set in 1980 by Patrick Malloy’s Intuition, which finished in 13 hours and 45 minutes. In 1978, with a lack of wind, the final boat took nearly 40 hours to finish.

Except for a few years during the Depression and World War II, the race has been hosted annually since 1928 by the Portland Yacht Club in Falmouth.

Participation is down from the 1970s and 1980s, when more than 100 boats competed. Long-distance racing has become a victim of economic and time pressures, Helms said.

While highlights of the race are the jokes and camaraderie — and sightings of whales and seals — the toughest parts come at night.

The wind typically dies down around 8 p.m. and doesn’t pick up again until after sunrise, making for a long, slow night, sailors said.

“You’ll do anything to keep the boat moving,” Helms said.

The biggest challenge for Price’s crew of 10, consisting mostly of friends, was to keep the boat moving toward the finish line. “Oftentimes these races are won or lost at night,” Price said.

The crew planned to sleep in shifts and eat out of dog bowls.

“It’s a race boat. There are no creature comforts,” Price said.

Capt. Eric Greven, 62, of Falmouth, racing Reflections in the Seguin Island Cruising Class, said sailing at night poses the greatest challenge because the wind is lighter and “at night you don’t have the benefit of looking at your competition around you.”

Greven didn’t plan to sleep much. “I will stay awake as long as I can,” he said.

At night, some sailors have mistaken distant lights for the mast lights of a competitor — only to learn later that the glow was from Jupiter.

Helms said, “Strange thoughts happen when you’re up all night.”

— Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this report.

Staff Writer Jessica Hall can be contacted at 791-6316 or at:

jhall@mainetoday.com