Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week day 2

by Rich Roberts on 26 Jun 2011 Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week, hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club, is being held between June 25 to 27.

When Jim Madden and his Newport Harbor Yacht Club crew on Stark Raving Mad arrived at their boat Saturday morning for the second day of racing they ditched the dismal forecast for continuing light wind and proceeded to pack heavier sails.

'We saw the sun was out,' Madden said, knowing that in Southern California rising inland desert temperatures tend to suck in offshore sea breeze for sailing like a vacuum cleaner.

True to form, after fourth and third place finishes Friday, their J/125 sprang to life to sweep its three races Saturday and jump into a tie with the Richley family's Choate 48, Amante, in the PHRF-2 class. Most impressive was that as the scratch boat in the class, Stark Raving Mad, with a plus-3 rating, owes from 12 to 33 seconds per mile to its six rivals but finished far enough ahead in all three races to correct out on handicap time.

Of the wonderful wind, Madden said, 'We were reading 15 and 16 knots and a couple of puffs to 17' - about double the forecasts which, incidentally, call for 9 knots from the west-southwest Sunday after the sun breaks through for the two races remaining starting at noon.

The bigger boats are racing on two courses outside the breakwater, the smallest ones inside near the beach.

Two other racers posted perfect days: Deneen Demourkas of Santa Barbara on Groovederci in the Farr 30 class and Steve Ernest of Dana Point on Aimant de Fille in the Beneteau 36.7 class.

Demourkas' closest competitor is her husband John, pressing hard from three points behind with no finish worse than third. She almost gave it up to him in Saturday's second race when her spinnaker broke loose prematurely at the last windward mark. The boat stalled, but the crew retrieved the chute before it touched the mark, which could have required a penalty turn, and she ooched the boat around to retain a comfortable lead.

Jeff Janov's Dark Star continued its Farr 40 runaway with a 1-2-4 day that stretched its lead to 12 points and resigned the 11-boat class to a battle for second place among five boats within three points of one another. Dave Voss's once dominant Piranha won Saturday's middle race to join that scrap.

David Team of Newport Harbor YC won the day's Random Leg race again on Rebel Yell and leads another TP52, Manouch Moshayedi's Rio of the Scuttlebutt YC, by four points.

Boat for boat, the TP52s finished behind John Sangmeister's catamaran Gladstone's Long Beach - the only multihull among 150 boats in 15 classes and Bob Lane's Andrews 63, Medicine Man, but edged them by less than three minutes on handicap time in the 21-mile race.

Ullman Sails is the title sponsor. Other sponsors and supporters are DISC Sports and Spine Center, Gladstone's Long Beach, West Marine, EFG Bank, Open Sailing USA, Ayres Hotel Seal Beach, Mount Gay Rum, The Pirates Lair, the Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine Bureau, and Long Beach the Aquatic Capital of America.

Class leaders (after two of three days)
Farr 40 (11; West Coast Championship)---Dark Star, Jeff Janov, California Yc, 2-1-1-2-4, 10 Points.
Phrf-2 (7)—Tie Between Stark Raving Mad (J/125), Jim Madden, Newport Arbor Yc, 4-3-1-1-1, And Amante ((Choate 48), Richley Family, Lido Isle Yc, 2-1-2-2-3, 10.
Phrf-3 ( 7)---Nemesis (Melges 30), Geoff Longenecker, Southwestern Yc, 3-1-1-2-2, 9.
Phrf-4 (16)---Rival (J/35), Dick Velthoen, Ventura Yc, 3-1-2.5-5-1, 12.5.
Farr 30 (7)---Groovederci, Deneen Demourkas, Santa Barbara Yc, 3-1-1-1-1, 7.
J/120 (10)---Cc Rider, Chuck Nichols, San Diego Yc, 3-1-2, 24.
Open 5.70 (21; West Coast Championship)—Ii Havic, Rich Festa, California Yc, 3-1-4-1-2, 11.
J/80 (5)---Avet, Curt Johnson, California Yc, 1-2-1-2-2, 8.
Catalina 37 (7)---Team Abyc, Chuck Clay, Alamitos Bay Yc, 1-2-1-1-5, 10.
Viper 640 (15; National Championship)---Viral, Tim Carter, Abyc, 1-1-1-2-1, 6.
J/105 (9)---Triple Play, Dave Vieregg, San Diego Yc, 2-1-1-6-6, 16.
Random Leg Phrf (9)---Rebel Yell, David O. Team, Newport Harbor Yc, 1-1, 2.
Beneteau 36.7 (7; Southern California Championship)---Aimant De Fille, Steven Ernest, Dana West Yc, 1-4-1-1-1, 8.
J/24 (12; District 21 Championship)---Hot Pursuit, Michael L. Johnson, Seattle Yc, 1-3-1-3-1, 9.
Schock 35 (7; Pacific Coast Championship)---Mako, David Michaelis, Alamitos Bay Yc, 3-2-1-1-2, 9.

Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week website