86th SCYA Midwinter Regatta- ABYC to host 2500 sailors for annual race

by Rich Roberts on 17 Feb 2015 86th SCYA Midwinter Regatta - Sailboat racing has expanded its character in recent times to the professionals who chase the America's Cup or seek Earth's far corners in the Volvo Ocean Race from the building block where they all started: weekend sailing for amateurs.

So as the AC looks to Bermuda in 2017 and the VOR pounds toward the Southern Ocean, up to 2,500 other sailors are eagerly firing up for their annual (mostly) saltwater outing: the Southern California Yachting Association's 86th Midwinter Regatta Saturday and Sunday.

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach is among a couple of dozen clubs from Ventura to San Diego that will host more than a hundred classes from dinghies to ocean racers, including multihulls.

One of the busiest venues will be Long Beach Harbor where ABYC will run up to a dozen classes---505, A Class catamaran, C-15, Cal 20, F-18 cats, Finn, I-14, Laser Masters, Viper 640 and Lido 14 A and B---mostly inside the breakwater in Long Beach Harbor, except for the Lidos in the bay.

The neighboring Long Beach Yacht Club will run Farr 40s and Cal 25s.

Racing will start at noon each day, conditions permitting.

Kellie Fennessy, chairperson of the SCYA 2015 Midwinter Regatta, noted in a message to area sailors, 'Your participation in the event will support SCYA, which has been serving the sailing community for over 90 years. Activities include publishing the annual Race Calendar and Yacht Club Directory, sponsoring boating safety seminars, presenting honor awards to the member clubs and individuals, providing a service center to assist all our member clubs and providing a presence to public agencies having influence over the boating community. SCYA is a service oriented, non-profit organization.'

Online registration for ABYC's classes and a current entry list include the Laser Masters for singlehanders age 35 and over. Last year's winner was Keith Davids, 45, who had six first places and a throwout second in seven races but, with a smaller handicap based on age, barely edged Bill Symes, a 66-year-old Great Grand Master from Oregon's Willamette Yacht Club, on a tiebreaker.

Another winner was Pease Glaser, a 2000 Olympic silver medalist who won the Formula 18 catamaran class.

One of the few local luminaries missing will be multiple-class world champion Howie Hamlin, who lives just down the street but won't be defending the 505 title he won with Andy Zinn as crew last year. Hamlin, a man of both sailing worlds, is in Sydney, Australia competing in the JJ Giltinan 18-ft Skiff world championship.

First staged in 1928, the SCYA Midwinters are the longest-running regatta in Southern California, surviving the Great Depression, a full range of weather and interrupted only by World War II. SCYA and the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce teamed up in 1928 to sponsor the first Midwinters in L.A. Harbor, which was promoted as the sports 'paradise' that Southern California offered in the winter. Until the 1960s all the boats were wooden but some of the sailors were legendary. Humphrey Bogart sailed his Santana to second place in a handicap class in 1947.

Last year's winners at ABYC

LASER MASTERS (17 boats; age 35+ with progressive handicap points)---Keith Davids (age 45), Mission Bay YC, 1-1-1-1-(2)-1-1, 18 (def. Bill Symes, Willamette Sailing Club, Oregon, on tiebreaker).

5-0-5 (5)---Howie Hamlin/Andy Zinn, Alamitos Bay YC, (2)-1-1-2-1-1-2, 8.

CORONADO 15 (3)---John Richardson/Steve Miller, Santa Barbara YC, 1-1-1-1, 4.

F-18 (7)---Pease Glaser/Scott Miller, ABYC/Mission Bay YC, 2-(6/DNC)-1-1-1-1-2, 8.

FINN (6)---Henry Sprague, Long Beach, 1-(6)-1-1-1-2-1, 7.

INTERNATIONAL 14 (8)---Brad Ruetnik/Garrett Brown, San Diego YC, 2-2-2-2-(3)-1-1, 10.

LIDO 14-A (8)---Stu Robertson/Sammy Elsharhawry, ABYC, 1-(5)-1-3-2-3-1, 11.

LIDO 14-B (7)---Bill Moore/Melody Wong, ABYC, 1-1-1-1-1-2-(8/DNC), 7.

Snapshots from past Midwinters