Catalina Island Series first race

by Rick Roberts on 15 Apr 2008 Saturday and Sunday marked Long Beach Yacht Club’s first of five weekend series of races out and back to Santa Catalina Island. Santa Ana winds of 8-10 knots blew offshore both days which warmed the air and gave the 33 competitors an extra challenge in finding their way to and from Long Point near Avalon Bay.

One boat however, Rick Brizendine and Bill Durant’s Santa Cruz 52, Relentless, had a bigger problem after Saturday’s start than dealing with the fluky winds.

'We lost our rig,' said Brizendine. 'We were on port tack heading out to the wall [breakwater] in only about 8-10 knots of breeze when the mast exploded about 10 feet above the cabin.

'It was instantaneous. Everything came down and when the mast hit the lifelines it broke into three pieces. Everyone was okay and that’s the important thing.'

Fortunately, no breakages occurred in Sunday’s race as the warm Southeasterly of 8-10 knots gave way to the traditional Northwesterly of 13-14 knots in the afternoon, just as boats were arriving from the island to cross the finish line back in Long Beach.

Scoring two firsts on the weekend in PHRF A was Ed Feo’s Andrews 45, Locomotion who leads his class on corrected handicap time.

Currently first in PHRF B on corrected handicap time is Wes Selby’s Tripp 47, T-N-T which is only one point ahead of second place White Knight, Zoltan Katinszky’s Farr 40. As a matter of fact, there are only 2 points separating first through fourth in the class.

'Saturday we started in a dying offshore wind,' said Selby, 'and kept swapping the lead back and fourth. Sunday [the breeze] started filling in from the west and it was a typical race back.'

First place leaders on corrected handicap time in the other classes are, Rick Gorman’s Swan 53, Incredible in PHRF C; Steve Stanec’s Beneteau 32, Bandit in PHRF D; and leading in the multihull ORCA class is Dan Frenette’s Corsair F-27 trimaran, Alien.

The next race in the series is to Santa Catalina Island’s beautiful Emerald Bay, June 7-8.

Selby added, 'We just love this race so much and can’t wait until the next one.'

Entering the series this year has been made easier with the availability of online entries through the LBYC website. As in years past, participants can choose their level of participation, whether they want to race the whole series or maybe just two or three weekends.

Originally started in 1967, LBYC was already running several races throughout the year to the island and decided to combine them, creating the Catalina Island Series. Over the 41 years, the tradition of competing in the Catalina Island Series has grown, often with next-generation family members carrying on what their elders started.

Race results are available at: www.lbyc.org

Event details, online entry and Sailing Instructions are available at: www.lbyc.org