Campbell Cup to Holua

by Rick Roberts on 26 Oct 2009
The inaugural Campbell Cup Sunday was won by Brack Duker and crew of his Santa Cruz 70 Holua. The regatta was hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, sponsored by North Sails and had challenging light breezes, close encounters at the marks and the rescue of a baby seal.

Before the start of the first race Saturday, a baby seal jumped up on the back of Per Peterson's Andrews 70 Alchemy, obviously in distress.

Will Stout, driver of the boat, explained, 'The baby seal just jumped up on the transom and then crawled into the cockpit. He had fishing net wrapped around him and was choking. It was an extreme situation.

'We immediately got on the radio trying to get the Coast Guard, lifeguards or someone to help us. We finally got hold of the Harbor Master's office who asked us to bring it to their dock so they could transfer it to Animal Control. They took it to Marine Animal Rescue in San Pedro from there.'

Impressed by Alchemy's humanitarian efforts, Principal Race Officer John Busch kept the race in postponement until they could return to the course to start the race with the rest of their fleet.

During the Sunday afternoon trophy presentations, Busch---Vice Commodore of LBYC---presented the crew with a 'Campbell Cup Humanitarian Award' for their compassionate efforts to rescue the seal.

There was no immediate update on the condition of the baby seal at press time.

As for the racing, Duker dominated the regatta by finishing first on overall corrected handicap time in three of the five races. The event was challenged by light breeze at the beginning of both days, causing a postponement for two hours Saturday waiting for the wind to come in.

Holua's boat captain, Sam Heck, said, 'Brack is a great sailor. He's great upwind and downwind. You know, he's racing all these pros that are on the other boats and doing a great job. He had a great time and is glad we were here. We had Bruce Nelson giving tactics and a crew of 18 people that had never performed together before.

'We tried to get a Friday practice in, but only seven people showed up. I was sick and others had their kids soccer practice or other things going on. Still, we went out Saturday and worked well together. Brack even had his 13-year-old grandson on board working the foredeck and wrestling with sails and everything. He was great.'

Several competitors throughout the weekend expressed how grateful they were that the event was created in tribute to Mike Campbell highly successful racing boat owner who passed away a year ago.

'Mike was a dear friend of mine,' Heck said. 'I worked for him for 10 years and I have many fond memories.'

Second overall in the West Coast 70 class was Ed McDowell's SC70 Grand Illusion driven by Patrick O'Brien. This turned out to be an uphill battle after they took a scoring penalty for an incident with Alchemy on Saturday.

'We seemed to be in close quarters with Alchemy for most of the day Saturday,' O'Brien said, 'too close at times and that's when we ending up taking a three-point scoring penalty.

'We were tied with Alchemy going into Sunday and we knew we needed to get at least second place. We were hoping for first, but couldn't get first enough times to beat Holua.'

Third place overall was Peter Tong's SC70 OEX, which was rated the fastest boat in the ORR handicap system fleet despite being set up more for offshore ocean racing than for this inshore buoy event.

'This is a great beginning,' Tong said about organizing the regatta in Campbell's honor. 'We were not the top of the heap, but this was a lot of fun… especially in Mike's memory.'

Taking first-place overall in the Farr 40 class, and showing that consistency pays off, was Frederic Scheer's Far Niente. The boat didn't win a race all weekend but finished the regatta with three second-place finishes, a third and a fifth… good enough for a four-point lead over the second-place boat overall, Dirk Freeland's Skian Dhu.

Scheer was not able to attend the event, suffering from a recent back injury, and under the class rules the owner/driver must participate in the event.

Chuck Kallal drove Far Niente in Scheer's absence.

'This is an owner/driver fleet,' Kallal said, 'and since he wasn't able to come this weekend we asked the fleet for a special variance. The owners are all good friends and it wasn't a problem.

'To be able to this regatta in Mike's memory is really great. I've raced for and against Mike for many years and this is very special.'

Also onboard Far Niente for the weekend was Scott Dickson, Congressional Cup competitor and 11-time Ficker Cup winner who move to California in 1994 from his home country of New Zealand. To him, this regatta meant a great deal.

'Mike Campbell is the reason I came to California in the first place,' Dickson said. 'When I got here, I stayed with Mike and Victoria for a while until I got settled. He was pretty special to me and now it's special to be a part of this winning team.'

Dirk Freeland, second overall in the Farr 40s, posted two first-place finishes in the regatta but had to settle for second, bowing to Far Niente's consistent performance.

'They were pretty much in front of the fleet,' Freeland said, 'and we were able to come back to get second and we're pleased.

'I think we traveled the farthest, coming from Santa Barbara. But this was really a fun event and glad we now have this to come to in the fall. As a fleet, we've talked about finding a mid-October event to race in.'

Giving final thoughts on the weekend and the tribute to Campbell, Heck said it best.

'Mike was a huge sailing philanthropist,' Heck said, 'and he is more than worthy of any recognition we can give him.'

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Entry list, Notice of Race and other race information is available online at www.lbyc.org