2015 Heroes Regatta - Long Beach Police Dept. wins the regatta

by Rick Roberts on 24 May 2015 City of Long Beach police officer Johnny Dodson and his “Police 3” team won the second annual Heroes Regatta Saturday, hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and raced on their fleet of Catalina 37s to honor local first responders in the community.

10 teams evenly split between five Long Beach Police Department teams and five Long Beach Fire Department teams, made up of firefighters and lifeguards, raced with their skilled coaches who supervised and advised when needed.

A beautiful spring day greeted the teams with manageable breezes of eight to twelve knots unlike the challenging weather that greeted the world’s top match racers one week ago in the Congressional Cup which saw a mix of very strong breeze, no breeze whatsoever and monsoon-like rain storms.

Dodson gave credit to his key coaches Chris Macy and Steve Comstock and commented on the regatta.

“This was an amazing experience,” Dodson said, “one that we are proud to be a part of.”

Dodson recognized his teammates Toby Benskin, Larry Fleet and Christopher Zamora and his entire team for their hard work today.

“There were a lot of people involved in this,” Dodson said. “They were all very helpful and made everything safe.”

The event was created by LBYC’s Yachting Committee who three years ago created a similar regatta, the Patriot Regatta, honoring all branches of the U.S. military with service members actually sailing these sleek race boats.

Members of LBYC felt that local first responders should also be honored with their own regatta. Last year’s inaugural regatta was won by the Long Beach Fire Department Lifeguards.

Regatta Chairperson Judy Meyer passionately supports our first responders and sees this regatta as one way to show our support for members of our local fire and police departments.

When asked for her thoughts on the Heroes Regatta, Meyer simply said, “This is the best way I know how to say, thank you.”

Final Results

1. Long Beach Police 3 Team, 2-1-3-1-1, 8 points
2. LB Police 1 Team, 3-2-2-3-2, 12
3. LB Fire 2 Team, 1-4-6-8-3, 22
4. LB Fire 4 Team, 7-6-1-7-4, 25
5. LB Fire 3 Team, 5-5-4-2-10, 26 (on tiebreaker)
6. LB Police 2 Team, 6-3-7-4-6, 26 (on tiebreaker)
7. LB Fire Lifeguards Team, 4-7-5-5-5, 26
8. LB Police 5 Team, 9-8-9-6-7, 39
9. LB Fire 1 Team, 8-9-8-10-8, 43
10. LB Police 4 Team, 10-10-10-9-9, 48