Long Beach Race Week 2023 registration open
by Long Beach Race Week 3 Jun 2023 16:28 PDT
June 23-25, 2023
Long Beach Race Week © Tom Walker
Registration is now open and early bird pricing is still available for all classes planning to race in the 18th edition of Long Beach Race Week scheduled for June 22-25, 2023. A favorite west coast regatta with three days of racing and fabulous post-racing parties by hosts Long Beach Yacht Club (LBYC) and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (ABYC), this year promises to be as good as it ever gets. Sign up now at www.lbrw.org .
Registration is open through June 20, 6:00 PM. Race Day one begins Friday, June 23 with a weather briefing at 10:15 AM by Ullman Sails, and a skipper's meeting at 10:30 AM upstairs at LBYC. The first race warning will sound at 12:55 PM on Friday, and at 11:55 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Conditions permitting, it is expected that two races will be sailed in most classes on Friday, three races on Saturday, and two races on Sunday.
This year, LBRW is open to multiple classes and additionally, is proud to host the Catalina 37 National Championship, the Schock 35 Pacific Coast Championship, the Viper 640 Pacific Coast Championship, and the J/70, J/80, J/105, J/109, and J/120 Southern California High Point Series.
The event is grateful to the generosity and support of its 2023 sponsors including Ullman Sails, Evans, Clarke Marine Insurance, Cabrillo Boat Shop, The Oriana Shea Group, Tom Walker Photography, Pirates Lair, Durant Design and Construction, and Mount Gay Rum.
Bruce Cooper, owner of Ullman Sails Newport Beach, brings Ullman back again as lead sponsor, maintaining that if you do one regatta, it should be the Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week.
"LBRW is everything you would ever expect for racing in Southern California," Cooper smiled. "My experience is as both a sponsor and competing in it for many years, and it always delivers the best competition, best conditions, and the best parties. I like to brag about the two yacht clubs who work together to make this event happen and someone is missing out big if they don't experience it. It's simply the best destination regatta ever!"
For Cooper, LBRW is his busiest week of the year; he competes, he's involved at the yacht clubs for the sponsor deliverables, he offers overnight sail repairs to competitors - he's usually behind a sewing machine later that night working until all the repairs are done.
"It's my hardest week of the year for sure but I'm convinced that Long Beach is the ultimate venue," he added. "We have three circles that the fleets race on - two ocean courses - an upper and lower course - and an inside course. You get all the flavors if your class is migrated from one course to another throughout the regatta, so sailors get to check it all out. It is fun being part of this regatta!"
With most of California having this year endured a cold wet winter and spring, by the end of June, racers can look forward to the typical prevailing conditions for LBRW: clearing westerlies every day and about 75-78 degrees. Jim Bailey has registered to race with his three sons Charlie, Danny, and William on his relatively new to him OD35, Destroyer.
"I started going back to LBRW after a 25-year+ hiatus of sailing while raising my kids," said Bailey, who is from Laguna Hills and sails out of Newport Harbor Yacht Club. "The last time I had sailed LBRW was in the '80s, sailing a Schock 35. Fast forward to last year, with my boys on Destroyer we were fortunate enough to win the PHRF B class and take home the Golison & Kent Family Trophy. We had a really great time, great breeze, perfect conditions, and we definitely wanted to return this year!"
Parties featuring music and dancing will be hosted by ABYC on Friday night, then Saturday & Sunday night at LBYC. Prize giving will be held at LBYC on Sunday at 5:30 PM. Competitors are invited to enjoy both clubs' services and amenities including the ice machine, and free water taxi service between the clubs until 9:00 PM Friday and Saturday. For full details on entry, schedule, mooring requests and more, go to www.lbrw.org.