High winds and anxiety climax Acura - Ullman LBRW

by Rich Roberts on 30 Jun 2008
There's a lot of angst around when winners in three of 19 classes are settled on tiebreakers and three others by one point, but that's the way it usually is when Acura presents Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week, co-hosted by the neighboring Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Yacht Clubs.

A second day of big wind meant a rousing windup to the West's largest keelboat regatta that brought out 138 boats.

After seven races on three courses over three days concluding Sunday, Laura Schlessinger, the national syndicated call-in radio hostess from Santa Barbara, not only won the Sportboat class on her J/100, Perfect, but PHRF Boat of the Week honors for winning the most competitive class.

Jim Murrell's Mumm 30 class winner, Huckleberry2, was picked as One Design Boat of the Week in a small but tight class where the top three boats finished within one point.

Schlessinger's win was even closer. She managed a pair of fourth places Sunday on her black J/100, Perfect, to tie Aaron Feves and John O'Connor's 1D35, Lucky, with 15 points and get the nod on the basis of two first places to their none.

Other tiebreak winners were father-son Philip and Payson Infelise of Long Beach in Flying Tiger 10s, and Dick Velthoen and Paul Defrietas of Ventura Rival on their J/35, Rival, in PHRF-4.

It was an especially anxious day for the Infelises, who had to win both of the last day's races to overtake Eric Schlageter of Anacapa YC, who was second both times, at 15 points. They held the tiebreaker with four first places to Schlageter's two, but then endured Schlageter's protest over the next 2 1/2 hours before it was dismissed by the jury.
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Peligroso, a dynamic Kernan 70 owned by Long Beach's Mike Campbell and San Francisco's Dale Williams and driven most of the time by Eric Bohman, won the Fast 70 class for the biggest and fastest boats. Akela, David Janes and Bill Turpin's 11-year-old but highly modified Reichel/Pugh 77, finished first in every race but owed Peligroso 21 seconds a mile on handicap time, and when the numbers were crunched the latter was a runaway winner over John Kilroy's TP52, Samba Pa Ti, with Akela in third place.

Williams said, 'We had five firsts and two seconds [because] we were able to hang in with Akela. If we just stay in the same area code with them we're OK.'

Schlessinger did her own driving and was still charged an hour after stepping off her boat. Sunday's wind was slightly off Saturday's peak of 22 knots, but it was plenty for the 110-pound woman.

'This is the first time I've ever sailed a boat in 20 knots of wind,' she said, shaking her hand for effect. 'My hand on the tiller was like this. I had to move my whole body and shift my hips.'

She credited her friend, coach and tactician of five years, Ken Keading, for much of her success. Now she plans to go back to racing her J/125.

'Today was a perfect last regatta for this boat,' she said. 'She's going back to being a day sailer.'

John MacLaurin of Los Angeles split the driving chores with local pro Scott Dickson to win the Fast 50s on his Corvette-red Davidson 52, Pendragon IV, by four points over Oscar Krinsky's 1D48. Krinsky, a local veteran, returned to racing this weekend while still recovering from cancer.

Pendragon IV, despite owing Chayah 30 seconds a mile, won the last five of the seven races.

'The crew was flawless,' MacLaurin said. 'The whole secret is to make fewer mistakes than your opponents. We had good starts, and we had the speed to move away.'

He had no complaints, noting, 'I thought the race committee was spectacular. They give you all the information with the flags and on the radio, and they set the weather mark perfectly.'

Also, the RC continued a proud tradition with no general recalls on any of the three courses all weekend---an improvement over last year, when there was one.

Two boats were undefeated: John Riddell's Viper 640, Medusa, from Arizona, and Robert Tennant's Melges 24, Where's Bob, from San Francisco.

The Yacht Club Challenge Trophy was won by Alamitos Bay YC, led by Chuck Clay's victory in the Catalina 37s, in partnership with Tom and Todd Wheatley's Frers 38, Gator, and Nik Vales' Open 5.70, Boracic.

Class winners

FARR 40 (9 boats)---Piranha, David Voss, California YC, 2-1-4-1-1-1-2, 12 points.
CATALINA 37 (10)---Team ABYC, Chuck Clay, Alamitos Bay YC, 4-2-3-1-3-1-3, 17.
J/80 (6)---Tiamo, Glenn Darden, Fort Worth Boat Club, 1-3-1-1-1-1-1, 9.
J/105 (14)---Free Enterprise, Alex Rasmussen, Santa Barbara YC, 5-4-2-2-3-4-3, 23.
MELGES 24 (4)---Where's Bob, Robert Tennant, Treasure Island SC, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1, 7.
SCHOCK 35 (5)---JoAnn, Steve Murphy, Seal Beach YC, 1-4-2-1-2-1-1, 12.
FAST 70 (5)--- Peligroso, Mike Campbell, Long Beach YC, and Dale Williams, St. Francis YC, 1-2-2-1-1-1-1, 9.
FAST 50 (7)---Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, California YC, 2-6-1-1-1-1-1, 13.
FAST 40 (5)---Entropy (Tripp 41), Chris Hemans, Balboa YC, 1-2-1-2-2-1-1, 10.
SPORTBOAT (9)---Perfect (J/100), Laura Schlessinger, Santa Barbara YC, 7-3-1-2-1-4-4, 22 (won tiebreaker).
J/120 (8)---Caper, John Laun, San Diego YC, DNC-DNC-1-1-1-1-2, 24.
FLYING TIGER 10 (8)---Mile High Klub, Philip and Payson Infelise, Alamitos Bay YC, 7-1-2-2-1-1-1, 15 (won tiebreaker).
MUMM 30 (5)---Huckleberry 2, Jim Murrell, King Harbor YC, 3-3-1-1-2-4-5, 19.
CAL 25 (6)---One Time, Art and Scott Melendres, Long Beach YC, 2-3-1-1-1-3-1, 13.
OPEN 5.70 (7)---Havic, Rich and Tony Festa, South Coast YC, 1-3-1-1-1-1-5, 13.
J/29 (6)---Cherry Bomb, Steve Aichele, Seal Beach YC, 2-4-1-3-1-3-2, 16.
PHRF-4 (11)---Rival (J/35), Dick Velthoen/Paul Defrietas, Ventura YC, 4-3-1-3-1-6-2, 20 (won tiebreaker).
PHRF-5 (9)---Medusa (Viper 640), John Riddell, Arizona YC, 1-1-1-1-1-1-1, 7.
RANDOM LEG (4)---T-N-T, Wes Selby, American Legion YC, 1-1-2, 4.

Complete results www.lbrw.org

Ullman Sails Inshore Championship standings www.ullmansails.com