Two Gates Pursuit Race - Lane & Meier win for second consecutive year

by Rick Roberts on 9 Jan Bob Lane and co-skipper Lisa Meier became two-time winners of the Two Gates Pursuit Race Sunday on Mr. Lane’s Andrews 63, Medicine Man, a repeat of their win in last year’s race.

“The fleet was very diverse,” said Lane. “Having Zephyrus (Damon Guizot’s Reichel-Pugh 77) out there was nice.

“This was an easy race today with no tacking on the first two legs. (Ray Godwin’s Farr 40) Temptress was still ahead at the last mark. We were staying right with them when the wind dropped and our boat just stopped. The wind picked up again and Temptress tacked… we didn’t, and we pulled away.”

Co-skipper Lisa Meier said, “We want to thank the race committee for very efficient work. The mark set people and everyone else on the water did a fantastic job.”

This Long Beach Yacht Club traditional first-of-year Two Gates Pursuit Race is named for the course layout which winds in, around and through Long Beach and Los Angeles Harbors entrances or “gates”. However, with sometimes inconsistent winter winds the 13.2 nautical mile primary course is too long for the participants to finish within a reasonable time.

The current Southern California storm systems are bringing us much needed rain but this weekend, the usual moderate to strong Long Beach breezes didn’t show.

For the second year in a row, the race committee wisely chose to use the alternate 5.17 nautical mile short course when, near the scheduled start time, two - three knots was all the wind there was going to be for the day. 18 competitors started, and then meandered their way around Long Beach Harbor ultimately finding their way to the finish line.

LBYC re-invented their long-standing Two Gates Invitational race in 2012 and turned it into a pursuit race keeping the traditional 13.2 nautical mile course.

Top finishers overall

1. Bob Lane\Lisa Meier, Long Beach YC, Medicine Man
2. Raymond Godwin, LBYC, Temptress
3. Damon Guizot, Los Angeles YC, Zephyrus
4. Paul Casanova, South Bay Yacht Racing Club, Flaquita
5. Gordon Leon, Farr 40, Foil

Top finishers in their class

Class A

1. Bob Lane\Lisa Meier, LBYC, Medicine Man
2. Raymond Godwin, LBYC, Temptress
3. Damon Guizot, Los Angeles YC, Zephyrus
4. Paul Casanova, SBYRC, Flaquita
5. Gordon Leon, Farr 40, Foil

Class B

1. Bob Zellmer, LBYC/Transpac YC, Flyingfiche
2. Guy Rosenlof, Navy YC of LB, Lodgehall
3. Robert Marcus, Alamitos Bay YC, Code Blue
4. Dave Weil, LBYC, Hurrah
5. Michael Gebb, ABYC, Zimmer

Class C

1. Thomas Mendenhall, ABYC, Suicidal Bird
2. Martyn Bookwalter, ABYC, Bastante
3. Timothy Carter, ABYC, Cobra
4. David Booker, Seal Beach YC, lulu
5. Don Weimer, Seal Beach YC, Bilbo Baggins

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