First Team Regatta a battle of eras

by Rich Roberts on 6 Jun 2007
The past, present and future of big boat grandeur on the West Coast of the U.S. will be on competitive display in the second biennial First Team Real Estate Invitational Regatta for the Hoag Cup Friday through Sunday.

The schedule calls for five races around a closed course---two Friday, two Saturday and one Sunday---starting at 1 p.m., conditions permitting. Racing may be viewed from the Newport Pier, the beach or spectator boats, a rare opportunity for this level of sailing seldom seen this close to shore.

The organizing Balboa and Newport Harbor Yacht Clubs have assembled a lineup of 15 boats that marks historic leaps from wood to fiberglass to carbon fiber and canting keels: at one end of the scale Ragtime, winner of consecutive Transpacific Yacht Races in 1973 and '75, plus three ULDB 70 'sleds' from the 80s and 90s, and at the top end Magnitude 80, which this year shattered the 22-year-old record for the Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta race. This will be a marked change of pace for some of them.

Doug Baker, Magnitude 80's Long Beach-based owner-skipper, said, 'Buoy racing in these boats is not always easy if there's a lot of traffic, and they want traffic because it's good for the spectators. Caution is the byword [with] a lot of big fast boats, and when you're racing around the buoys things can happen pretty quickly, so you need to be on your toes.'

The tight maneuvering also requires more manpower.

'We'll probably have 20 people on the boat, while for Transpac we'll have 14,' Baker said. 'You need four grinders when you're going around the buoys. It's not our usual thing, but I'm looking forward to it.'

Another entry brings a social statement for sailboat racing. Morning Light, a Transpac 52, will be raced by a crew of 15 young men and women selected from 538 applicants to sail Transpac this summer as part of a documentary theater film being produced by Roy E. Disney, the Class 1 winner in 2005 who is honorary chairman this time.

Other top competitors include Oscar Krinsky and Chris Redman's 1D48, Chayah, which won Class 3 in the inaugural First Team Regatta in 2005, and Doug Ayres' Santa Cruz 70, Skylark, third in Class 2.

Ragtime's latest owner is Chris Welsh of Newport Beach. Theoretically, with ORR handicap ratings computed, his 42-year-old classic will be racing on even terms where finishing first isn't as important as correcting out on handicap time. Mag 80, for example, will be giving everybody time, although specific ratings are as yet undetermined.

Three rivals are new boats that hit the water just this year with familiar names but new manifestations. Two years ago Roger Sturgeon's Rosebud was a Transpac 52 that finished second in Class 2; this time it's an STP 65 in its maiden regatta.

Jim Madden, the event chairman this year, raced a J/145 called Stark Raving Mad in Class 3; now it's Stark Raving Mad III, a Reichel/Pugh 66 competing at a higher level.

In 2005 Lew Beery of Balboa sailed a different It's OK, a 1D48, to second place behind Chayah; now it's an Andrews 50 with Beery taking on local veterans Andy Rose and Tom

Purcell as co-owners under the flag of Tres Gordos Sailing LLC.

The new It's OK may be a cut apart from its rivals.

'All the other boats we’re going to be racing against are stripped out,' Beery said. 'But my partner, Andy Rose, said if I'm gonna build a boat it's gonna have comfort. We have hot and cold running water, a shower, a refrigeration unit, a microwave, a dinette and everything. It's a comfortable boat.'

Normally, adding the weight of such luxuries would mean sacrificing speed for comfort. They aren't likely to need a dinette this weekend.

'We built it for the [overnight] Mexican races and Transpac,' Beery said. '[So far] we find it's very good at running [downwind] and reaching'---but maybe not so good upwind, which is called for about half the time in this event.

'We have no idea at all how we'll do,' Beery said.

The collaborative effort among First Team Real Estate, Hoag Hospital Foundation, Newport Harbor Yacht Club and Balboa Yacht Club will benefit Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute, which realized more than $250,000 net proceeds from the 2005 regatta.

As the facilitating yacht clubs, Newport Harbor and Balboa YCs will provide on-the-water race management. First Team Real Estate is the title sponsor. Other sponsors include Accretive, Bank of America, Countrywide, Warmington Homes, Wells Fargo Bank, Mellon Bank and MKA Capital. West Marine is also a supporter.

More information: www.firstteamregatta.com