E.E. Manning Regatta - New kid from Connecticut on the sailing block

by Rich Roberts on 8 Mar 2010 A flock of familiar names topped the winners' podium Sunday afternoon following the Southern California Yachting Association's annual E.E. Manning Regatta, organized and hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.

There were Nevin Snow and crew Marly Isler from San Diego in CFJs, Mark Gaudio from Newport Beach in Naples Sabots, Stu Robertson from Huntington Beach in Lido 14s and Ben Leibowitz from Connecticut---who from where?---in Lasers.

Leibowitz, 19, likely will soon become better known after defeating a strong group of locals with two firsts and four seconds in the two-day small boat classic that dates to 1935 and this time drew 174 sailors in 120 boats in five classes, all of 15 feet or less. He's going to love it here.

'It's beautiful, absolutely beautiful,' Leibowitz raved afterward. 'The big plus is the ability to sail year-round.'

He didn't plan to move cross-country just to sail, but when USC accepted his application to its business school the decision was made for him. Sailing was a bonus.

Light morning rain preceded both days of racing, generating a stiff chop with up to 15 knots of wind even on the Long Beach outer harbor inside the breakwater where the Lasers and CFJs sailed. The Lido 14s and Sabots sailed inside Alamitos Bay on smoother water but comparable breeze.

Leibowitz said, 'I've been training here the last few weeks. It's really nice breeze. You have to stretch out the legs because it's kind of hard to get through the chop.'

His coach is Rob Coutts from New Zealand, an older brother of Russell Coutts, the four-time America's Cup winner. But Leibowitz's competition---including veteran Laser racers Chuck Tripp, Vann Wilson, Jay Golison, Jorge Suarez and Chris Raab---also helped to push him over the weekend.

'The boat speed of some of those guys is awesome,' he said. 'I had to step it up a bit.'

Snow and Isler, now both 16, also fired up to repeat last year's win in the CFJs, but this time their victory also earned them first place in the four-event Shadden Series for Southern Californians. They defeated the defending Shadden champion, Chris Segerblom, by winning their first four races and finishing fourth in the fifth to clinch it all with a race to spare.

Segerblom and crew Francesca Cappellini placed second. The complete final Shadden results will be posted on the SCYYRA website

Snow is the son of world-class racer and sailmaker Chris Snow; Isler is the daughter of America's Cup veteran Peter Isler and two-time Olympic silver medalist JJ Fetter. Both are 16.

'I really liked it,' said Isler. 'The wind was great both days, even if it was a little cool.'

Despite their success as a team, they'll again soon be rivals racing with the Cathedral and Francis Parker high school teams.

Gaudio, a successful veteran of boats large and small, blitzed the Naples Sabots with five consecutive wins and, like Snow and Isler, sat out the last race.

Robertson, with crew Michael Anctil, was uncharacteristically deep in the fleet after the first day as one of six boats that rounded the Sabot windward mark instead of their own in the regatta's first race and subsequently took retired-after-finish (RAF) last-place scores. But that ultimately became their throwouts and they wound up in five of the top six places.

Only first-day leaders Bruce Golison and crew Becky Nygren stayed in the hunt and went into the final race tied with Robertson, who then finished third to his rival's sixth.

Class winners
(One throwout)

CFJ (44 boats)---Nevin Snow/Marly Isler, San Diego YC, 1-1-1-1-4-(DNC), 8 points.

LASER (16)—Ben Leibowitz, USC/Rob Coutts Sailing, (2)-1-2-2-2-1, 8.

LIDO 14 (15)---Stu Robertson/Michal Anctil, Alamitos Bay YC, (17/RAF*)-1-2-1-2-3, 9.
*--Retired after finishing.

NAPLES SABOT (18)---Mark Gaudio, Bahia Corinthian YC, 1-1-1-1-1-(DNC), 5.

SABOT C (27)---Andrew Mouacdie, BCYC, 3-2-3-(13)-4, 12.

http://www.abyc.org/event.cfm?id=372