Sail-World.com : Eight teams for Cal Maritime Invitational Intercollegiate Regatta
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Eight teams for Cal Maritime Invitational Intercollegiate Regatta |
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'Cal Maritime crew at work'
Jim Holdaway /Port of L.A.
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Mention college sailing and one- or two-person dinghies come to mind, but eight serious big boat teams from across the country are poised to meet next weekend, March 14-15, in the second Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup off Point Fermin.
It's the West Coast's only intercollegiate big boat regatta and the only one of four in the nation run on the open ocean. The Port of Los Angeles is the regatta title sponsor. The event is organized by California Maritime Academy and hosted by the Los Angeles Yacht Club in San Pedro.
The entries (listed alphabetically):
California Maritime Academy, Vallejo, Calif.
Cal State U. Channel Islands, Camarillo, Calif.
Chapman University, Orange, Calif.
Maine Maritime Academy, Castine, Me.
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, Ill.
Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.
U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn.
U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.
The regatta will be preceded by the Cal Maritime Sailing Benefit Dinner Friday night. The keynote speaker will be Alan Andrews, president of Alan Andrews Yacht Design, creator of numerous successful ocean racers---notably Magnitude 80, which has been on a binge of breaking West Coast race records the last few years. A silent auction starts at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7:30. Tickets are $50 per person.http://www.alumni.csum.edu/s/961/index.aspx?sid=961&pgid=395&cid=1021&gid=1&ecid=1021! Click_here!new for online reservations or phone 949.280.4876.
Maine won last year's inaugural regatta by snatching victory from the jaws of USC in the last of eight races, leaving the Trojans one point behind in a tie with the Naval Academy.
Also among the contenders is Cal Maritime, which has been in the business of educating professional mariners for 80 years and has a long history of ocean racing. But wasn't until 2003 when Charlie Arms-Cartee, the school's director of sailing, started an intercollegiate offshore team now coached by Jesse Cartee, her husband and a Cal Maritime Marine Vocational Instructor.
'We did a lot of dinghy sailing but nothing in big boats,' Arms-Cartee said. 'We had to borrow whatever [keelboats] we could find just to practice.'
Nevertheless, their ambitions knowing no bounds, the Keelhaulers---that's the school's sports moniker---ventured to the East Coast to compete for the Shields Trophy emblematic of the national Service Academy championship---and won.
Now they have won four Shields titles over six years, and when they're home they sail a boat they can call their own. Late in 2007 veteran Southern California racers Lew Beery and Andy Rose donated their 1D48, It's OK, to the academy when they moved on to a later design. The Keelhaulers race it in St. Francis YC's Big Boat Regatta and other competitions.
However, in this event all eight teams will fleet-race Catalina 37s chartered from the Long Beach Yacht Club Sailing Foundation.
Cal Maritime's president, Williams Eisenhardt, is pleased. As the organizing host, he said, 'I look forward to watching some close competition. On shore, we will all enjoy camaraderie and good fellowship. I extend my sincere thanks for the Port of Los Angeles for their generous support that has allowed this regatta to flourish, and to the Los Angeles Yacht Club for their excellent race management and hospitality.'
Arms-Cartee also hopes the wind blows harder than it did last year when Cal Maritime finished fourth among the eight boats. Paige Johnston returns as skipper, although his tactician, Piet van Os---also known as part of Roy E. Disney's movie-making Morning Light crew from the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race---has graduated.
'Last year was light air,' Arms-Cartee said, 'and we practice on the [San Francisco] Bay in stronger wind. It came down less to sailing than to good starts and tactics. This year we want 'Hurricane Gulch' to kick in.'
Hurricane Gulch is the famous inshore area where the normal southwest area breeze compresses its power. Kite surfers love it.
The race course will be about a half-mile offshore between the Angels Gate lighthouse entrance to Los Angeles Harbor and Point Fermin. The races may be viewed from the outer Cabrillo Beach or Point Fermin Park atop the bluff.
The three-foot tall Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup Perpetual Trophy will be awarded to the first-place team.
by Rich Roberts
2:06 AM Sat 7 Mar 2009 GMT
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