Report By Rich Roberts

The last anybody checked, fun had not been outlawed during a recession—after all, wind is free and there was plenty of it Friday, and a thousand or so mostly working class sailors are making the most of it as Acura presents Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week this weekend.
 
“Today was about as much fun in sailboat racing as I’ve ever had,” Geoffrey Longenecker of San Diego said after the first of three days of racing. “Everybody’s competitive and sailing good boats. It was just a blast.”
 
Longenecker’s view may have been influenced by racing his Melges 30, Nemesis, to wins in both races in PHRF-1 class, which had a smorgasbord of 10 different kinds of boats with a fair range of handicaps. But few complaints about the weather conditions were heard from the 135 boats competing in 18 classes on three race courses inside and outside the Long Beach outer harbor.
 
Only 8 knots of wind was forecast for the first day of the West’s largest keelboat regatta, and that’s what everyone saw through the first race in early afternoon. But by Race 2 the southwest breeze had started to build and the better sailors went with it, bringing smiles to the faces of the volunteers from Alamitos Bay and Long Beach Yacht Clubs who are running the traditional event on and off the water.
 
Racing—three more Saturday and two Sunday starting at noon, conditions permitting—may not get any better the next two days, but everybody will settle for it.
 
Stacy Jackson, a principal race officer on the inside Charlie course, said, “I’ll take 90 per cent of what we had today for the rest of the weekend.”
 
Rick Goebel, sailing his J/105 Sanity from San Diego, would agree. He posted a pair of seconds to lead one of the stronger one-design classes by a single point over a past winner, Gary Mozer of Long Beach Yacht Club, who scored 4-1 on the day.
 
As whitecaps blossomed like a field of white sunflowers across the waters, Goebel and his crew—essentially the same one that placed third in this year’s traditional Lipton Cup regatta among Southern California clubs—adjusted for it by moving sail controls and trimming sails to spill excess wind and avoid overpowering their boats.
 
“We changed gears quickly,” Goebel said. “These boats are a little like your old Chevy. You just have to tweak them a little as you go along.”
 
Other early leaders included Susan Taylor from California YC, who won both races in a two-boat J/24 fleet, although a half-dozen other entries who couldn’t get off work Friday were expected to show up Saturday. Will Durant had it even easier as the only boat to appear in the J/120 class, giving him an unbeaten record to defend against the other nine entries.
 
A major battle looms in the marquee fleet of Farr 40s, where
David Voss’s sweep with Piranha took a hit at day’s end. Piranha was protested by Skian Dhu’s Dirk Freeland for an incident in the second race, and Voss chose to swallow a 40 per cent penalty in post-race arbitration rather than take a chance on suffering a total disqualification in the protest room. That left Jeff Janov’s Dark Star (3-1) in first place but only two points ahead of Piranha.
 
The regatta is the climactic event of the Ullman Sails Inshore Championship Series, following Ahmanson Cup at Newport Beach, Yachting Cup at San Diego and Cal Race Week at Marina del Rey. Longenecker firmed up his lead in the Sport/Sprit division.
 
Class leaders
 
Alpha course
PHRF-1 (10 boats)—Nemesis (Melges 30), Geoffrey Longenecker, Southwestern YC, 1-1, 2 points.
 
PHRF-2 (9)—Lugano (Beneteau First 40.7), Mark Stratton, South Bay Yacht Racing, 3-1, 4.  
 
J/120 (10)—Viva La Vida (J/120), Will Durant, Long Beach YC, 1-1, 2.
 
FARR 30 (6)—Tie among Clockwork, Marc & Monica Skipwith, Cal YC, 3-1; Frequent Flyer, Garrett Woodworth, New York YC, 1-3, and Wild Thing, Steve Brown, Bahia Corinthian YC, 2-2, 4.
 
FARR 40 (8)—Dark Star, Jeff Janov, California YC, 3-1.
 
FLYING TIGER 10 (5)—Mile High Klub, Payson & Philip Infelise, Newport Harbor YC, 1-1, 2.
 
Bravo course
PHRF-3 (8)—Cahoots (Etchells), Bruce Golison, Alamitos Bay YC, 1-1, 2.
 
J/105 (13)—SANITY, Rick Goebel, San Diego YC, 2-2, 4.
 
J/109 (5)—Electra, Thomas Brott, Seal Beach YC, 1-1, 2.
 
J/29 (5)—Sedona, Bruce Lotz, Dana Point YC, 1-1, 2.
 
J/180 (8)—Fired Up, Gary Kamins, Cal YC, 4-1, 5.
 
SCHOCK 35 (7)—Code Blue, Bob/Bruce/Marcus/Bennett, Seal Beach & Alamitos Bay YCs, 2-1, 3. 
 
Charlie course
J/24 (7)—Take Five, Susan Taylor, Cal YC, 1-1, 2.
 
CAL 25 (4)—Tie between Jane’s Addiction, Steve & Jane Horst, Bahia Corinthian YC, 2-1, and One Time, Art & Scott Melendres, Long Beach YC, 1-2, 3.
 
CATALINA 37 (3)—Team ABYC, Chuck Clay, Alamitos Bay YC, 1-2, 3.
 
OPEN 5.7 (11)—Il havic, Rich Festa, Cal YC, 2-1, 3.
 
VIPER 640 (6)—Sheriff Bart, David Morse, Alamitos Bay YC, 2-1, 3.
 
RANDOM LEG (10)—T-N-T (Tripp 47), Wes Selby, American Legion YC, 1, 1.