Hats off to the race

June Casagrande

It’s the must-have fashion accessory of the season: an official Mount

Gay Rum Newport to Ensenada cap.

But not just anybody can have one.

“One time, a guy called and said he lost his cap and that he

needed us to give him another one because he said he could replace

his wife, but not his Mount Gay cap,” said Nicolas Guillant, brand

manager for Mount Gay Rum, co-sponsors the annual yacht race. “You

know they’ve become an icon when you hear something like that.”

The rum maker has been producing the caps in limited numbers for

about 20 years for the Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race. This year,

about 1,300 of the red caps will be produced. Each boat entered in

the race gets two caps. The remaining 300 or so are distributed to

some lucky people whose connection to the race warrants the special

honor, including members of the 10 or so local clubs deemed

“extraordinary supporters” of the race.

“A lot of maneuvering goes on to get the extra hats,” said Fred

Slocum, commodore of this year’s race.

In addition to the company logo and the name of the annual race,

the red caps this year will feature an extra logo on back to mark the

Mount Gay’s 300th anniversary of making rum. And that should make the

caps even more of a hot-ticket item.

Slocum said that the hats sometimes show up for sale on EBay.

There are never enough to meet demand, as the phone calls fielded by

the rum company show.

“We’ve seen crazy things from people offering us things like their

rings, necklaces,” Guillant said. “You wouldn’t believe it.”