Jessica Uniack Memorial Beach to Bay Race 2010

by Rick Roberts on 30 Jul 2010 Jessica Uniack Memorial Beach to Bay Race 2010.

More than 180 young sailors ranging in age from 6-14 ventured into the choppy waters of Long Beach Harbor Thursday in the 23rd annual Jessica Uniack Memorial Beach to Bay Race co-hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and part of the 2010 City of Long Beach Sea Festival presented by Charter Communications.

With a steady breeze of 10-12 knots and whitecaps all around, these intrepid young skippers were escorted by a flotilla of coach boats and volunteers from area yacht clubs, finding their way safely to the finish line off of the flag pole at LBYC.

This is the only junior sailing event of the year where the eight-foot-long Sabots ever venture out on the ocean on a five mile course from the east end of Shoreline Marina to Alamitos Bay.

Shannon Hughes of ABYC competed in the Sabot C3 class and won the perpetual Jessica Uniack Memorial Trophy for taking first in the largest class.

Other first place finishers included; Riley Gibbs, ABYC, in Sabot A; Bradley Clinton, ABYC, in Sabot B; Alex Dunn, ABYC, in Sabot C1; Austin Bullivant, Leeway Sailing Center, in Sabot C2; Robert Rice, ABYC, in Lasers; Alejandro Ruiz-Ramon, Davis Island Yacht Club, Tampa, Fla. and Christopher Killian in the Opti Class.

The event is named for Jessica Uniack, a tireless volunteer and supporter of junior sailing. When she died in 1994, her husband Bill and sons Billy and Alex carried on her work. The event, run jointly by LBYC and ABYC, began in 1988 and was renamed in her honor in 1995.

'Looks like this year’s race was a total success,' Bill Sr. said, 'with plenty of wind for the sailors. It seems to be growing every year with yacht clubs as far south as Dana Point and as far east [this year] as Tampa, Florida!

'San Diego [Yacht Club] has their Dutch Shoe regatta which is based on this, but we have more boats.

'We want to give thanks to all of the yacht clubs who helped pull this off, ABYC, LBYC, Dana Point, Leeway Sailing Center, Huntington Harbor, Dana Point Yacht Club and Seal Beach Yacht Club. They were all out there in their support boats helping keep the kids safe on the water. Every year it grows bigger and bigger and we couldn’t do it without everyone’s help.'

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Top Finishers

Sabot Class A
1. Riley Gibbs, ABYC
2. Steven Hopkins, ABYC
3. Jacob Rosenberg, ABYC

Sabot Class B
1. Bradley Clinton, ABYC
2. Richard Bell, ABYC
3. Matt Zimmerman, HHYC

Sabot Class C1
1. Alex Dunn, ABYC
2. Carl Olson, ABYC
3. Ethan Michaelis, ABYC

Sabot C2
1. Austin Bullivant, Leeway Sailing Center
2. Ryan Ayale, ABYC
3. Beth Golison, ABYC

Sabot C3
1. Shannon Hughes, ABYC
2. Brett Peoples, ABYC
3. William Shadden, ABYC

Laser
1. Robert Rice, ABYC
2. Eric Hanna, SlBYC
3. Nathan Gray, DPYC

Laser Radial
1. Alejandro Ruiz-Ramon, DIYC
2. Ian Markowitz, ABYC
3. John McInerney, ABYC

Optimist
1.Christopher Killian, BYC
2.Porter Killian, BYC

Complete results available at: www.lbyc.org