Catalina races have great turnout and great racing

by Rick Roberts on 12 Sep 2007 As the end of summer nears so does this year’s Catalina Island Series. Hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, 42 boats raced to picturesque Isthmus Cove and back on Santa Catalina Island Saturday and Sunday.

With only two of the scheduled ten races left to run, a couple of the class leaders look hard to beat.

In breezes of 8-10 knots, the big boat PHRF A class Rick Brizendine and Bill Durant’s SC 52, Relentless took a 7 point lead over second place Medicine Man, an Andrews 63 skippered and owned by Bob Lane. And PHRF B class has Wes Selby’s T-N-T, a Tripp 47 with a commanding eight point lead over always competitive Ray Godwin and his Farr 40, Temptress.

In PHRF D the lead is a little closer with Paul Turang’s Dawn Patrol, a Catalina 30, five points ahead of Cindy Bee, Matt Barrett’s SAN27 and closer still in PHRF C with Jim Brock’s Cal 40, Magic II leading Tom and Todd Wheatley’s NM 38, Gator by only 3 points.

The Cal 25s made their first appearance in this year’s series and Art Melendres’ One Time finished first in both Saturday and Sunday’s race. Second in the class went to Dennis Diem’s Mañana Iguana.

The next and final event of the year is a return to Long Point Oct. 13-14.

The Catalina Island Series began in 1967 when LBYC realized there were enough individual races to Santa Catalina Island during the year to form a series. Since that time the competition grew to include the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) and the Offshore Racing Club of America (ORCA) boats.

The events start on Saturday in the Port of Long Beach, finishing at different points on Catalina, returning home Sunday afternoon.

Overall Standings

CAL 25
1. One Time, Art Melendres, LBYC
2. Mañana Iguana, Dennis Diem, ABYC
3. Tiburon, Rick Basadre, SlBYC
4. Quiet Woman, Mike Newey, LBSSA

ORCA
1. Triple Time (F31R), Rod Goodman, SYC
2. Sea Smoke (F24), Bob Anderson, ABYC
3. Alien (F27), Dan Frenette, CBYC

PHRF A
(Finish positions in each race determined by corrected handicap time)
1. Relentless (Santa Cruz 52t), Will Durrant and Rick Brizendine, LBYC
2. Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, LBYC

Other overall class leaders

PHRF B: T-N-T (Tripp 47), Wes Selby, ALYC

PHRF C: Magic II (Cal 40), Jim Brock, LSF

PHRF D: Dawn Patrol (Cat 30), Paul Turang, SlBYC

PHRF E: Incredible (Swan 53), Rick Gorman, Los Alamitos

www.lbyc.org