Campbell Cup regatta makes its debut

by Rick Roberts on 23 Oct 2009
A new fall spectacle for big boat inshore racing in Southern California will debut this weekend when six West Coast 70s and 10 Farr 40s compete in the first Campbell Cup, hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and sponsored by North Sails.

The event is named in honor of longtime racing enthusiast Mike Campbell, who passed away mid-October last year.

The 70s include Al and Vicki Schultz's Andrews 70, Vicki; Peter Tong's Santa Cruz 70, OEX; Ed McDowell's SC70, Grand Illusion; Tom Corkett's SC70, Mirage; Brack Duker's SC70, Holua, and Per Peterson's Andrews 70, Alchemy.

Tong, owner and skipper of the fastest rated boat for this event and winner of the 2008 Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race, is looking forward to the regatta as a continuation of a tradition.

'I think this is a nice tribute to Mike,' Tong said. 'He started this years ago [2006] with a bunch of guys that live to race and had been racing together for decades. To come together again and do this is great.'

The West Coast 70s will be racing under the Offshore Racing Rules (ORR) rating system which, depending on the wind, can be either good or bad for a boat's corrected time. OEX is what is referred to as the 'scratch boat' or basically the rabbit that everyone will be trying to beat, at least on corrected handicap time.

'In the old days we were all rated equally,' Tong said. 'We were all a One Design fleet. Now it's not the same with changes that have been made to the boats over the years. My boat is designed to do offshore long-distance racing … but this race will be fun, sailing close together.'

The Farr 40s will start separately and race boat for boat, without handicap considerations. Boats entered are Frederic Scheer's Far Niente, David Voss' Piranha, Zoltan Katinszky's White Knight, Tosh Neminsky's Ohana, Huston Palmieri's Woolly Bully, Ray Godwin's Temptress, Steve Murphy's JoAnn, Dennis Rosene's Radical Departure, Dirk Freeland's Skian Dhu and Jeff Janov's Dark Star.

Godwin, an LBYC member and local sailor, is impressed at the turnout.

'You know,' Godwin said, 'there were only eight boats that showed up at the Farr 40 Nationals on the Great Lakes this year. Our fleet is growing faster than any other fleet in the area.'

Comments from the entrants have all been positive, especially about scheduling the event in the fall. There has been a long gap in regattas for big boats between St. Francis Yacht Club's Rolex Big Boat Series in mid-September to Cal Yacht Club's Cal Cup in late-May.

'We're glad the regatta is in honor of Mike,' Godwin said, 'and we were just talking about how there isn't an event in the fall to fill in that void in the race schedule for our class. But now there is, and it's a high-class regatta.'

Racing will be off of Seal Beach starting at noon each day. Five races are scheduled, three on Saturday and two on Sunday.

The winner of the West Coast 70 class will be awarded the new Campbell Cup perpetual trophy. Additional trophies will be provided by North Sails for both classes.

Mike Campbell was a huge supporter of big boat racing. He owned and raced a series of sleds including his most recent, the Tim Kernan-designed 70-foot Peligroso. In October 2006 he sponsored a 70s regatta at LBYC, bringing together seven West Coast boats: Holua, Grand Illusion, Vicki, Skylark, Alchemy, Westerly and---of course---Peligroso.

The regatta was not run in 2007 or 2008 because of the conflict with the Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race. It resumes as an appropriate tribute of the fall regatta that Campbell started in 2006 and will be run annually. In Cabo race years, such as 2010, the Campbell Cup will run before the Cabo race.

Entry list, Notice of Race and other race information is available online at www.lbyc.org