Walt Elliott Harbor Challenge Trophy
by Rick Roberts 29 Jun 2018 07:06 PDT
16 June 2018
2018 ASPBYC Walt Elliott Harbor Challenge winner © Rick Von Heydenreich
Kevin Brown, Commodore of the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, and his ABYC team won the 2018 Association of San Pedro Bay Yacht Club's Walt Elliott Harbor Challenge on June 16, in a closely-fought regatta against five other teams participating in this annual event.
This year's regatta was raced with a three-race format on LBYC's fleet of Catalina 37s, with Commodore Bill Durant of the Long Beach Yacht Club taking second place (only one point behind ABYC), Rear Commodore Zoltan Katinszky of the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club settling for third on a tiebreaker, Commodore Damon Guizot of the Los Angeles Yacht Club in fourth, Commodore Jeanette Borgen of the Buccaneer Yacht Club of San Pedro taking fifth and Commodore Owen Provence of the Shoreline Yacht Club of Long Beach finishing out the day in sixth place.
This the fourth time that ABYC has won this event and Brown commented on the racing and his team's performance.
"The wind was very shifty today with very tight racing," said Brown. "The lead changed every race. It's great racing on the Catalina 37s, but you can't relax. On the last race before the weather mark we got ahead of LBYC, and that was the end."
Durant took second in Race 1, first place in Race 2 and then a fourth-place finish in Race 3.
"ABYC and CBYC were incredibly fast today," said Durant. "There were really shifty conditions out there today. They both did good on picking up on the shifts. I think ABYC earned the regatta. We're going to come back next year!"
The Association of San Pedro Bay Yacht Clubs has been holding this regatta since 1968 among member yacht clubs in the greater Los Angeles and Long Beach area. Yacht clubs that have won the regatta are open to be challenged the following year. The challenging club chooses the type of boat, be it One-Design or a handicap rated boat. This year's challenge came from the Long Beach Yacht Club who chose the Catalina 37s.
Walter Elliott was one of the top yachtsmen on the west coast who, during the 1940s and 1950s, skippered his 46' racing sloop, Escapade, in many local regattas and ocean races. Among his racing accomplishments he won the 1941 Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac), was a four-time winner of the SCYA Lipton Cup, class winner in the Newport to Ensenada Race and had multiple wins in the SCYA Midwinter Regatta... to only name a few.
He was commodore of the Los Angeles Yacht Club, the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, headed the Pacific Coast Yachting Association and was an honorary lifetime commodore of the Southern California Yachting Association.
The Walt Elliott Harbor Challenge Trophy was dedicated to the memory of her father by Mrs. Betty Elliott Field.
Overall Results:
1. Kevin Brown, ABYC, 1-2-3, 6 points
2. Will Durant, LBYC, 2-1-4, 7 on a tiebreaker
3. Zoltan Katinszky, CBYC, 3-3-1,, 7
4. Damon Guizot, LAYC, 4-4-2, 10
5. Jeanette Borgen, Buccaneer YC, 6-5-5, 16
6. Owen Provence, Shoreline YC of Long Beach, 5-6-6, 17
Complete results are also available at www.lbyc.org.