The wind gods went crazy at LBRW Saturday

by Rich Roberts on 25 Jun 2006 The only breeze left after a day of deteriorating conditions at Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week Saturday was the general sigh of relief from the 160 competitors that it was over.

Even Paul Sharp of Newport Beach, who sailed his bright yellow Reichel/Pugh 68, Taxi Dancer, to two wins and a fifth place to remain in first place among the biggest boats in the PHRF 1 class, said, 'Three races in one day is a long day on a big boat.'

Most of the fleets settled for two races when the brisk breezes left over from Friday quickly dissipated and shifted so severely that the race committees on the other two courses were compelled to call off the sailing, hoping to run the last three of the scheduled seven Sunday. Principal race officers Chris Ericksen on the small boats' inside course and Bobby Frazier on the midsize outside course described shifts of 80 and more degrees to the right within a matter of minutes.

Ericksen said, 'The only water where we could have set the windward mark was the Belmont Pool'---in other words, upwind was suddenly toward the beach. 'And when we canceled racing for the day the entire fleet cheered,' Ericksen said.

The biggest boats ran all three of the day's scheduled races, but Frazier's fleets split. The Schock 35s, J/109s and Beneteau 36.7s all got off, but then the wind swung hard right as the Melges 24s got under way. Six of the eight crossed the line early and Frazier signaled a general recall---the only one of the event so far, and as much because of the conditions as the confusion.

'It wouldn't have been a fair race, anyway,' Frazier said, 'with the line so far from square.'

That was fine with Argyle Campbell, the Newport Beach veteran who had won the day's first two races to pull within two points of Dave Ullman, 60, for first place and two points ahead of Shark Kahn, 16, for second.

Until the wind 'just stopped,' Campbell, 57, said, 'We got good starts and sailed smart races. There are not too many boats, so it's pretty easy sailing around the course without getting buried. And Vince Brun being on the boat doesn't hurt, either.'

Brun, of San Diego, is a multi-world champion in the Melges 24 class, as well as several others.

At the same time, the developments put a crimp in the weekend for Chris Raab, who is driving Todd Wetherbee's J/109, Commotion, from Dana Point. Commotion had won the first four races but slipped to fifth in the ensuing upheaval, although holding onto first place overall by a solid seven points.

Raab requested redress on grounds that the conditions were unfair and that a committee boat displaying course changes was out of position, but his request was denied.

Course changes were certainly the order of the day. Mark Townsend, PRO on the big boat course, said, 'We had marks all over the place.'

At one time in the day's third race, he said, when the wind shifted from 235 degrees to 315 his windward marks for various classes were spread over 1 ½ miles, giving his mark-set assistant---his wife Robin---a busy day in her little boat.

Dennis and Sharon Case's J/105, Wings, from San Diego scored a first and fourth to slip into first place in the largest fleet of 20 boats by one point over Gary Mozer's Current Obsession (5-3).

'That's no lead at all,' Dennis Case said, 'but I'll take it. Those of us who were waiting to start [the day's third race] and watching that slow waltz the early starters were doing were not sorry the race was abandoned.'

Three boats remained unbeaten: the Todd Downey/Larry Spencer Olson 30, Blue Star; Roland Fournier's J/80, Blue Moon 2, and Will Durant's chartered Catalina 37. But Downey was wary of his nearest rival, a veteran dominant force of the class, Allan Rosenberg of Alamitos Bay YC, sailing Intense with son Darren.

'Mr. Rosenberg is always a concern,' Downey said. 'Any time we sail in a lighter breeze Allan's a bit faster than we are.'

After Friday's blowout breeze and Saturday's hall of wind mirrors, Sunday's weather appeared to be hanging in the balance.

Meanwhile, a correction on Friday's report: the J/80 that was temporarily grounded on the beach was Mitch Barney's Justa, not John Steen's Underdog, as reported. Justa suffered a spinnaker wrap while trying to douse the chute after finishing and couldn't stop before grinding onto the sand.

The is the last of four stops on the Ullman Sails Inshore Championship series, following the Ahmanson Cup at Newport Beach in April, Yachting Cup at San Diego in May and Cal Race Week at Marina del Rey three weeks ago.

Class leaders (after 4 or 5 of 7 races)


PHRF 1 (10 boats)---Taxi Dancer (R/P 68), Paul and Laura Sharp, Newport Harbor YC, 1-2-1-1-5, 10 points.

PHRF 2 (11)---Arana (Dencho 51), John Carroll, California YC, 1-1-1-3-3, 9.

PHRF 3 (16)---Tabasco (1D35), John Wylie, San Diego YC, 1-1-1-1-3, 7.

J/120 (7)---CC Rider, Chuck Nichols, San Diego YC, 3.5-1-1-1-2, 8.5.

REYNOLDS 33 (5)---Double Trouble, Bob Long, American Legion YC, 2-6-1-3-1, 13.

J/105 (20)---Wings, Dennis and Sharon Case, San Diego YC, 2-2-1-4, 9.

MELGES 24 (8)---Pegasus 505, Dave Ullman, Balboa YC, 2-1-2-3, 8.

SCHOCK 35 (10)---Whiplash, Ray Godwin, Long Beach YC, 1-2-1-2-1, 7.

OLSON 30 (6)—Blue Star, Larry Spencer/Todd Downey, Pacific Corinthian YC, 1-1-1-1, 4.

J/109 (7)---Commotion, Tony Wetherbee/Chris Raab, Dana Point YC, 1-1-1-1-5, 9.

BENETEAU 36.7 (8)---Tangerine, Tom Hirsh, Southwestern YC, 2-2-2-2-3, 11.

CATALINA 37 (5)---Cat 37, Will Durant, Long Beach YC, 1-1-1-1, 4.

PHRF 4 (19)---24 Carat (Wylie Wabbit), Greg Byrne, Cal SC, 2-6-1-3, 12.

J/80 (8)---Blue Moon 2, Roland Fournier, Long Beach YC, 1-1-1-1, 4.

J/29 (6)---Macs, Eric and Steve McClure, Alamitos Bay YC, 1-1-2-3, 7.

MERCURY (14)---Wingman, Mark Comings, Cabrillo Beach YC, 2-2-1-7-2, 14.

Complete results and more at www.lbrw.org