Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week - Package deal with breeze thrown in

by Rich Roberts on 13 May 2010 Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week has been playing the discount game for years in order to remain the West Coast's largest keelboat regatta.

The three-day event co-produced by the neighbouring Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Yacht Clubs is scheduled June 25-27. A $50 discount fee applies for online entry before June 1, and that ain't all. Other perks:

Free mooring or docking, courtesy of the City of Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine;

Nightly parties with complimentary hors d'ouevres;

Free water taxi transportation between the sponsoring clubs;

Free breeze for the racing.

The latter, reaching 20 knots on the final day last year, was enjoyed by 132 boats in 18 classes but especially by winners from San Diego like Chuck Nichols in J120s. Chris Snow in J24s and Mark Surber who won PHRF-1 on his J/125, Derivative. Also, David Voss's Piranha from Marina del Rey devoured the charged-up Farr 40 class to win Boat of the Week honors.

'The conditions were fabulous,' Voss said.

'It was the first regatta where I've crossed the finish line when we were winning but was disappointed that it was over. We were having so much fun in that last race in particular that I was sorry to see it end.'

Nichols said, 'We've had the same crew [of 10] for seven or eight years and our average age is over 50, so it's good to know we can still sail in heavy air. I think we were the only one in our class that didn't wipe out.'

Derivative ran off two seconds and three firsts in the windiest races over three days.

'The windier it is the better it is for us,' Surber said. 'It's what makes Long Beach a great event.'

And Voss offered a parting tip for this year's competitors.

'We saw what [Skian Dhu] did to win the first race Sunday,' Voss said, 'so we did it in the second race: start at the favored left end of the line, go up a couple of hundred yards and come across because there was more wind on the left side of the course. The traditional 'go right in Long Beach' in the big breeze did not work at all on Sunday. Since they filled in the Pier 400 and Pier J [to the west], the far right corner doesn't have the same velocity. We won going left-center.'

The inshore regatta is open to keelboats with Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) ratings of 222 or less. One-designs may race boat for boat as fleets with a minimum of six entries.

Catalina 37s---the same boats match-raced by world-class teams in the Congressional Cup---are available for charter.

The regatta is the climactic event of the Ullman Sails Inshore Championship Series, following the Ahmanson Cup at Newport Beach and Cal Race Week at Marina del Rey.