SAN DIEGO -- The 55th annual Over-The-Line tournament started Saturday at Fiesta Island, with tighter restrictions on drinking and new transit routes in place.

Sonny Peterson of the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club estimated that about 20,000 people came to watch 1,200 three-person teams compete Saturday.

Over The Line is a San Diego tradition, a form of softball where three-person teams compete by having one member loft a softball to a teammate, who then tries to hit it to a place in the sand where the other team's three members can't catch it.

Bystanders might argue that the true San Diego tradition is to drink as much beer as possible, ogle members of the opposite sex as they drink as much beer as possible, and laugh at frequently-obscene team names and other shenanigans.

Teams will compete in 10 divisions organized by sex and age. Players aged 18 to 80 have signed up from as far away as Germany, Japan and Iceland.

This is the first OTL tournament since the city of San Diego banned the consumption of alcohol on local beaches. OMBAC obtained a waiver which permits drinking only on the playing fields on Fiesta Island, in the OMBAC recreational vehicle parking lot and in the OMBAC reserved parking lot.

"We have signs all over the island telling people where they can drink," Peterson said. "It's not a problem. We have people stationed around the island reminding people."

Officials with the San Diego Police Department and lifeguards said they haven't heard of any problems associated with the event.

Peterson said the weather has been excellent, if a little humid.

Regarding the women -- Ms. Emerson, the event's often-busty beauty queen, will be crowned next Saturday, he said.

New shuttle bus routes were established this year, and Peterson said he's heard no complaints.

Since parking on the island is limited, OMBAC officials suggest riding shuttle buses from the west end of the Bonita Cove parking lot near Belmont Park, the Napa Street transit station, the Sun Runner lot off Pacific Highway and SeaWorld Drive, and the Fiesta Island entrance.