MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---Del Rey Yacht Club's biennial International Yacht Race from Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta finishes right off the beach in front of the Regina Westin Hotel & Resort, where most of the racers stay. Now boats will be able to tie up on a new "Vallarta Row" on the other side of the hotel.
How good can it get?
The site just across the street from the main hotel entrance is part of the modernized Opequimar Centro Marino boat yard located along the channel leading into Vallarta Marina. New indoor and outdoor facilities include a yacht club hangout for racers with meal service, flat-screen satellite TV and free use of computers with high-speed Internet connection.
Racers will be offered complimentary guest memberships during their stay in Puerto Vallarta, providing them shoreside access to their boats without the necessity of a water shuttle or a long walk to the marina entrance.
Ron Jacobs, race chairman in 2005, checked out the new complex earlier this year and said, "The idea is to have slips or Med ties right on the channel there to give the racers much easier access to their boats."
Social events and other amenities at both ends of the 19th and longest enduring race to mainland Mexico (1,125 nautical miles) remain part of the entry package, and by the time they arrive in Puerto Vallarta the racers will have experienced another innovation: a new format for mini-races within the race.
With 21st century satellite technology, the race will incorporate the scope of several other popular races to Mexico. The approximate finishing points of those shorter races will be marked with navigational “crossing lines” along the Baja California coastline and beyond.
At each invisible line, satellite transponders will record each vessel's date and exact time of crossing. The Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas crossing lines will be set perpendicular to the rhumb line and extend 70 miles offshore so that tactical navigation is not compromised. Without stops or check-ins, the boats' times will be recorded automatically by signals to shore from the transponders mounted on the stern pulpits.
The segments will be Marina del Rey to Ensenada (159 nautical miles), Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas (669) and Cabo San Lucas to Punta Mita at the entrance to Banderas Bay (280).
From Punta Mita the boats will continue the final 17 miles into the bay to complete the race in front of the Westin Regina within earshot of tourists sipping margaritas amid the palm trees.
Prizes will be awarded in Puerto Vallarta to the boats with the best corrected handicap times between crossing lines, but the segments will not be factored into the overall results.
The traditional trophies and Corum watches will be awarded to the top overall finishers.
While Racing Division boats will not stop, Salsa Division competitors also will have transponders to report the time of their two scheduled stops when a boat crosses the finish line of Leg 1 at the north end of Cedros Island and the finish line of Leg 2 abeam of Cabo San Lazaro.
LONG BEACH, Calif.---Six years ago Kris Bundy and crew Jamie Hanseler of Seattle won the International 14 Class World Championship at Beer, England. This week they placed fourth and were delighted.
"This was windier," Bundy said, "and we were impressed by the depth of the fleet---what, six former champions and some pros? The top 10 would have been a good regatta for us."
With only two double-digit finishes in seven races in a 71-boat fleet, they were one point ahead of defending champions Lindsay Irwin and crew Andrew Perry of Australia, although just off the pace of runners-up wife and husband Tina and Trevor Baylis of Santa Cruz and third-place Samuel (Shark) Kahn and crew Paul Allen of Aptos, Calif.
The new champions, Howard Hamlin of Long Beach and crew Euan McNicol of Australia, did not race Saturday, having secured the title a day earlier.
Kahn and Allen won the last race in their favorite conditions: 18 knots of breeze blowing up a gnarly sea that left the competitors to sail through a minefield of whitecaps. Among the back markers capsizes were so common, especially at the reach and jibing points, that some crews were caught between racing and surviving, and three or four boats were often down at the same time.
That's why the Baylises, though leading the race that could have been their second consecutive win, throttled back a bit while leading Kahn and Allen, who earned the victory by continuing to push hard.
Trevor Baylis said, "We sailed a different race than if we'd had to stay ahead of them."
All they needed go do was to keep Kahn and Allen from putting four boats between them, and that was never close to possible. Their rivals passed them on the third downwind leg.
"They looked like they were having a lot of fun," Tina Baylis said.
The Baylises sailed all week carrying the weight of an OCS (on course side) starting violation in the first race last Sunday, which left them no room for another serious error.
"That made us start more conservatively," Tina said, "and then we had the race when we thought we might have been over the line but weren't and went back [to restart], anyway. At no time were we thinking, 'Oh, this is going to be an easy one for us.' "
Tina Baylis, a mother of two children ages 3 and 5, was one of two women skippers who placed well, along with Katie Nurton of Great Britain, who was 13th with Nigel Ash as crew.
"A lot of guys don't want to sail with women drivers," Tina said. "There is a learning curve when you aren't as big and strong and you have to adapt things for you. Every good woman sailor has a really strong crew."
Tina is 43 and Trevor 46. They returned to serious racing this past year.
Trevor said, "It was a decision about do we want to wait until the kids are older? But how much skiff sailing can you do when you're 50?"
They'll probably find out, as Hamlin, 53, has done so successfully.
With the final conditions so difficult, only 64 boats started, of which 49 finished. The tough job for the race committee was to account for boats that vanished from the 1.4-nautical mile long course with no way of reporting they were dropping out. All returned to port safely.
After the first day's 10 OCS calls, there was only one more all week---apparently, principal race officer Mark Townsend made everybody a believer---and there was only one protest all week, making for easy evenings for the international jury headed by Ralph Roberts of New Zealand.
Supporting sponsors for the International 14 World Championship were West Marine Products, Ronstan, North Sails, Glaser Sails, Irwin Sails, SailingProShop.com, Magic Marine, Acqua di Gio Georgio Armani, Shackle Dog and Labatt's.
FINAL LEADERS (71 boats, 7 races):
1. Howard Hamlin/Euan McNicol, Long Beach, 1-(4)-2-2-2-3, 10 points.
2. Tina Baylis/Trevor Baylis, Santa Cruz, Calif., (OCS)-5-5-3-5-1-2, 21.
3. Samuel (Shark) Kahn/Paul Allen, Aptos, Calif., 5-2-1-(14)-14-2-1, 25.
4. Kris Bundy/Jamie Hanseler, Seattle, 3-(25)-7-6-4-10-8, 38.
5. Lindsay Irwin/Andrew Perry, Australia, 9-1-9-(11)-11-6-3, 39
LONG BEACH, Calif.---Long Beach's own Howard Hamlin and crew Euan McNicol of Australia are looking more uncatchable than ever after five of seven races in the International 14 Class World Championship. Even the U.S. Navy couldn’t slow them down Thursday.
As Britain's Archie Massey and crew George Nurton sailed away into their own time zone in light wind for the third time in five days, Hamlin and McNicol held off Nurton's sister Katie and crew Nigel Ash for second place. They remained 11 points ahead of the next boat, but now it's Tina and Trevor Baylis of Santa Cruz, who finally unloaded the weight of last Sunday's starting disaster to leap from 17th to second place.
After five races, all boats dropped their worst finishes, including the 10 who were saddled with 72 points for non-start violations Sunday.
Massey and Nurton's second win in two days and their discard from Race 1 jumped them from 20th to sixth, while Katie Nurton went from 23rd to eighth.
Meanwhile, wind lovers Samuel (Shark) Kahn, 17, and crew Paul Allen suffered in only 8 or 9 knots with their second successive 14th to slip to fifth with hope that the breeze will return like it was Monday and Tuesday when they finished second and first.
Trevor Baylis said, "This morning we prayed for light wind to get rid of Shark. Now we'll be praying for [strong] wind to get rid of Archie."
The Baylises' fifth place was remarkable in that even as they started their discard race, they and three other boats returned to restart---the first OCS call since Sunday's turkey shoot---because they heard a second horn. In fact, the only boat ruled over the line was 1999 world champion Grant Geddes and crew Daniel Wilsdon of Australia, who also returned, then struggled to 13th but did throw out a disqualification.
Hamlin and McNicol started near the pin end, went for clear air to the left and then, as Baylis noted, "spent a lot of time stomping on other boats to keep them back. It's the right thing to do because, for them, Archie's not a factor."
The leaders' only problem was a U.S. Navy frigate that sailed out of Anaheim Bay and up the middle of the course during the race. First Massey and then Hamlin and Katie Nurton were compelled to jibe left to avoid the ship, which had no effect at all on the outcome.
"We saw him before the [windward] mark," McNicol said, "and we saw Archie jibe away, too."
Katie Nurton said, "We didn't see him until after the mark, then we decided to wait to see what Howie did."
What Hamlin and McNicol plan to do now is what they've been doing the last couple of days: "We'll try to be cautious at the start . . . just not get out too far but with good speed," Hamlin said.
As Baylis suggested, Hamlin isn't worried about Massey.
"Maybe Archie's getting his conditions," Hamlin said, smiling.
Massey's crew, George Nurton, explained their success in light wind.
"We have a very fast rig," Nurton said, "and we're very tall and thin."
"And very ugly," a nearby rival said.
Ignoring the comment, Norton continued, "It's the power to weight ratio. I'm 6-3 and 70 kilos (154 pounds) and Archie is 6-4 and 90 kilos (198).That means we're fairly light but have good leverage."
Explanation No. 2: "We don't really know. But we built the boat just this year and had very little wind while training in England. The Nationals were a drifter---so we won."
Racing continues daily through Saturday, starting at 2:30 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday.
Supporting sponsors for the International 14 World Championship are West Marine Products, Ronstan, North Sails, Glaser Sails, Irwin Sails, SailingProShop.com, Magic Marine, Acqua di Gio Georgio Armani, Shackle Dog and Labatt's.
STANDINGS (71 boats; after 5 of 7 races):
1. Howard Hamlin/Euan McNicol, Long Beach, 1-(4)-2-2-2, 7 points.
2. Tina Baylis/Trevor Baylis, Santa Cruz, Calif., (OCS)-5-5-3-5, 18.
3. Michael Lennon/Jon Blackburn, Great Britain, 4-8-3-5-(10), 20.
4. Kris Bundy/Jamie Hanseler, Seattle, 3-(25)-7-6-4, 20.
5. Samuel (Shark) Kahn/Paul Allen, Aptos, Calif., 5-2-1-(14)-14, 22.
LONG BEACH, Calif.---Archie Massey and crew George Nurton heard two sounds that that made their day Wednesday.
At the start of the fourth race of the International 14 Class World Championship, Massey said, "We stayed around the committee boat so we knew right where the line was, and we actually heard them shout, 'All clear!' "---meaning that all 67 boats started properly, unlike Sunday when Massey finished first by two minutes but forfeited his runaway win because of a starting violation.
And at the end of Wednesday's race, sailed in light winds similar to Sunday, they heard an even sweeter sound: the horn for the winner, which was painfully silent for the British sailors earlier.
Even better, Massey/Nurton and three others who fell victim to the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club race committee's sharp-eyed judgment Sunday but have sailed well otherwise will discard their disastrous 72-point scores after Thursday's fifth race. Those include Tina and Trevor Baylis of Santa Cruz, Calif., whose other finishes are 3-5-5; past champions Rob Greenhalgh of Britain (7-4-8) and Grant Geddes of Australia (3-11-9). Also, there is Britain's Katie Nurton (2-19-4), who dropped out of race 2 with a foot injury.
But Massey expects they'll need more help than that to overtake leaders Howard Hamlin and crew Euan McNicol, who finished second Wednesday.
"Oh, they're going to win," Massey said. "They haven't been out of the top four in any races. We're aiming for the top five."
Hamlin/McNicol (1-4-2-2) stretched their lead to 11 points because their nearest rivals---Team Pegasus buddies Shark Kahn, the 17-year-old skipper, and Paul Allen---stumbled to 14th place following Tuesday's impressive crash and recover victory, and they had to work their way back from 39th at the first mark to do that well.
"We had the worst start in the world," Kahn said.
They are now third, two points behind Britain's Michael Lennon and crew Jon Blackburn, who have been sailing a quietly consistent 4-8-3-5 regatta.
Following Monday's 22 knots and Tuesday's 15, the breeze started at 5 knots Wednesday and built to only 10 by the end of the 12-nautical mile race. The sea was relatively smooth so capsizing was minimal.
Massey/Nurton and Hamlin/McNicol started at opposite ends of the line and worked opposite sides of the course, which apparently made no difference.
"For a long time we didn't look that good out there," Hamlin said. "[Massey] came from the other corner and we rounded [the first windward mark] just ahead of him, but he likes the light stuff."
Massey/Nurton finished about 30 seconds ahead of Hamlin/McNicol, with the Baylises another 10 seconds back just ahead of Lennon/Blackburn.
The sailors on top have been competitive in both conditions, light and heavy.
Trevor Baylis said, "It's nice to hang with the flyweights and [also] go when it's heavy. We just have to beat Howie."
Racing continues daily through Saturday, starting at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday.
STANDINGS (71 boats; after 4 of 7 races):
1. Howard Hamlin/Euan McNicol, Long Beach, 1-4-2-2, 9 points.
2. Michael Lennon/Jon Blackburn, Great Britain, 4-8-3-5, 20. 3. Samuel (Shark) Kahn/Paul Allen, Aptos, Calif., 5-2-1-14, 22.
4. Lindsay Irwin/Andrew Penny, Australia, 9-1-9-11, 30.
5. Kris Bundy/Jamie Hanseler, Seattle, 3-25-7-6, 41.
Announcing the HSH Nordbank blue race 2007, from Newport, RI, to Hamburg, Germany. The transatlantic race is organized by Norddeutscher Regatta Verein with the support of the New York Yacht Club. It is the successor to the 2003 DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge (DCNAC), where 63 entries, ranging in size from 40 to 152 feet, competed.
The HSH Nordbank blue race will start next year on two dates: the first start is on Saturday June 16 and the second start on June 23 for the largest yachts entered. Pre-race activities are at Harbour Court, the New York Yacht Club’s on-the-water clubhouse in Newport, RI USA. The start is in Newport Harbor. From there the course will be routed south of Nantucket Shoals, south of “Point Alpha" – an ice limit, north of Fair Isle (Great Britain) to the finish line at Cuxhaven, Germany. Then the fleet will proceed up the Elbe River to Hamburg -- where the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein will handle post-race festivities.
Twenty yachts have already entered. Racing will be scored under IRC; yachts may also compete in an IMS division. Chartered yachts are welcome. Yachts will sail with a satellite-tracking locator that will be regularly updated on the event’s web site.
The first yacht to finish the 2003 transatlantic race was Zaraffa, skippered by Huntington “Skip” Sheldon. Wrote Sheldon, the overall winner in 2003: “The fleet was huge by ocean-racing standards: 63 entries. The course would include the Gulf Stream, a turning point (alpha), the sight of icebergs, a series of lows as expected, a few periods of calm and for us, luckily, winds mostly below 40 knots and from the south or southwest except in the final two days. We expected fog (had little), much spinnaker work (had less) and were prepared for a 21-day crossing, but were lucky to finish in 13 days, 15 hours..."
LONG BEACH, Calif.---Affirming the credo that no lead is ever too big, Shark Kahn and crew Paul Allen had to win Tuesday's race twice to pull to within one point of Team Pegasus teammates Howard Hamlin and Euan McNicol after three of seven races in the International 14 Class World Championship hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.
Kahn/Allen led Hamlin/McNicol by about a quarter-mile, and Hamlin/McNicol led everybody else by nearly that margin, until early on the last downwind leg when---wait, let them tell it.
"We did a major cartwheel," Allen said.
Kahn: "We were just sailing along trying to be conservative when a pretty innocent wave came up in front of us. We went straight into it . . . a perfect cartwheel."
As the boat pitched forward and went from 18 knots to a dead stop as quickly as you can say a four-letter word, they both wound up on the headstay and then in the water. By the time they leveraged the skiff upright, Hamlin/McNicol had flown past to lead by 50 yards at the last leeward mark, where the next race began with the former leaders in full attack mode.
Rather than follow their opponents, they tacked away, drawing Hamlin/McNicol into a tacking duel seldom seen in this class.
"We tried to cover them," McNicol said, "but unfortunately in the last tack they did a good job and rolled us."
Kahn and Allen won by about two boat lengths. At 6-3 1/2 and 170 pounds and 6-0, 190, respectively, they figured that in the day's prevailing breeze of 15 knots they had an edge over Hamlin (5-9, 153) and McNicol (5-10, 180).
"We're a little bigger, so we tacked on their lee bow and just sailed a little higher until we were ahead," Allen said.
Now Hamlin and McNicol have seven points to Kahn and Allen's eight, leaving proud papa Philippe Kahn's skiff team with about half as many points as anyone else. Could the final outcome be settled by wind conditions the rest of the week?
Hamlin said, "We're very happy with second today. We're not gonna beat 'em in that sort of breeze. We have to think in terms of the conditions. The lighter the better."
The wind was down from Monday's 22 knots but the carnage continued. Late in the race principal race officer Mark Townsend noted over the race channel, "There seems to be a scattering of upside-down boats around the course."
Twenty-five of the remaining 68 competitors did not start Tuesday, and among those who did there was a very wide gap. The leaders, including Great Britain's Michael Lennon and crew Jon Blackburn in third place Tuesday and overall, and Monday's winners, defending champion Lindsay Irwin and crew Andrew Perry of Australia, now in fourth place, lapped much of the fleet while sailing 14-nautical mile race---2 ½ times around a windward-leeward course with one reach leg.
Those are the only boats will all single digit finishes so far.
Some boats kept their spinnakers packed but none were seen cautiously opting for 270-degree "chicken" jibes instead of risking normal jibes, as several did Monday.
For the second day in a row, following Sunday's 10 disqualifications, there were no boats over early (OCS) at the start.
Racing continues daily through Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
STANDINGS (71 boats; after 3 of 7 races):
1. Howard Hamlin/Euan McNicol, Long Beach, 1-4-2, 7 points.
2. Samuel (Shark) Kahn/Paul Allen, Aptos, Calif., 5-2-1, 8.
3. Michael Lennon/Jon Blackburn, Great Britain, 4-8-3, 15.
4. Lindsay Irwin/Andrew Penny, Australia, 9-1-9, 19.
5. Bruce Edwards/John Vincze, Watsonville, Calif., 12-10-8, 30.
After last month’s article I decided to take my own advice and checked Irving Johnson: High Seas Adventurer from our local library. Reading about this dynamic couple can be impressive, but seeing footage of them is astounding!
As you may recall I mentioned 7 global circumnavigation’s the Johnson’s would embark upon during their marriage. The film focuses on two of these, as they are the most unique. These two voyages also became fantastic books, credited to Irving, but also penned by Electa Johnson.
The first book, and coinciding 1961-62 voyage, Yankee Sails Across Europe, follows the Johnson’s as they cruise the canals and intercoastal waterways of Western and Northern Europe. In order to make the canal portions of the journey, Yankee’s mast was modified so it could be laid lengthwise across her deck. This enabled the Johnson’s to maneuver through the tight tunnels lying ahead in their path. The film shows footage of one such tunneling. It is the one time you see concern on Captain Johnson’s face throughout the film. With less than a foot of clearance on either side, in a dark tunnel, utilizing navigation & flashlights, and crew to spot, Irving successfully makes the tunnel. (Gripping footage for any sailor, to say the least.)
The Yankee then made it’s way to Egypt. A following book, Yankee Sails the Nile (1966), documents this trip. Footage captures Yankee sailing right up to ancient monuments as she makes her way through the Nile. At one point, the vessel entered open water where the tide was falling drastically. Irving grounded the boat, tossed a ladder overboard, and scrubbed the hull on the sandy beach. When the tide came back up, Yankee was one her way.
Aside from their life at sea the Johnson’s penned a total of 9 books, and 14 articles. They traveled across the United States and spoke publicly for most of their lives. Their entire collection of papers and correspondence is housed at the Mystic Seaport: Museum of America and the Sea.
In 2002 The Los Angeles Maritime Institute unveiled their new training Brigantine, Exy Johnson. It’s mate, the Brigantine Irving Johnson was launched in 2003. These vessels were built for the purpose of training in a “hands on” style similar to that of the Johnson’s. (In March of 2005 the Irving Johnson went aground near Oxnard, California. The re-commissioning of the vessel was scheduled for earlier this year.)
Their books are out of print, but can be purchased online with various booksellers and auction houses. Mystic Seaport carries copies of Irving Johnson: High Seas Adventurer. And of course, don’t forget your library system.
I also suggest searching the Johnson’s on the web. They are not always easy to find, so try using the boat names, along with their names. Back issues of National Geographic can be purchased featuring articles by the Johnson’s.
In recent years Torresen Marine has developed a comprehensive Rig Inspection Program. This five-page document tells the customer what an experienced rigging technician is looking for and has found. The comments related to specific areas will generally have enough details, including estimated pricing, for owners to discuss and make repair decisions with Torresen Marine. Reference to rig inspections will be found as a line item on our haul out form. In the end the report will categorize and prioritize the issues related to your boats rigging health. Not only does this report teach boaters about the different rigging systems; it helps them plan for necessary repairs that need to be done by the boat yard.
Because scheduling plays such an important part in the marine business, it is our goal to get the customer this information before the winter months. This allows for project discussions and development that can balance the workload of the boat yard. Likewise, this allows for sufficient time to deliver great service, products, and results to the customer. Following this plan and it’s timing will also alleviate much of the launch season pressure associated with the mix of service orders, dead lines, and the heavy launch schedule.
Find an example of a rig report at www.torresen.com
Please contact John Schumacher at Torresen Marine Inc. Service Department to find out more about this service and its benefits.
Many people think that the only time boats are bought and sold is in the spring. At Torresen Marine we are selling boats year round. We have just completed two of our busiest quarters and are in desperate need of more inventory. If you have been contemplating a different boat or just want to sell, contact the Torresen Marine Brokerage Department about listing your boat today. The time to sell is when buyers want to buy!
Torresen Marine brokers, Peter Blacklock and Dick Mulvey, can assist you in presenting your boat in the best possible way. In turn we will receive the most attractive offer available. Your boat will be listed on Yacht World, Boat Trader.com and on the Torresen Marine Web site. We will review the features on your boat and will be able to make recommendations that will improve its “Curb Appeal”.
It is also time to think about where you intend to store your boat while it is listed. Our service department can arrange moving your cradle to Torresen Marine prior to haul out. By storing with us during your brokerage period the selling time for your vessel can be greatly reduced, as it is available for viewing by potential, on site, buyers.
Review the Torresen Marine web site at www.torresen.com and investigate the Brokerage listing information. Make note of and act on the advantages of dealing with Torresen Marine. Our hours are Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 5.00pm, Saturday from 9.00 to 4.oo p.m. and Sunday from 10.00 to 3.00 p.m.
Recognizing that many readers are in warmer climes or have boats that don’t need special winter preparation, we present this for those not so fortunate. Torresen Marine will have more than 500 boats in storage for the winter months. Most of these boats require special care to prevent damage from freezing water. Our standard winterizing covers some or all of what is listed below. If you do the job yourself or have it done elsewhere, this checklist will help to know what needs doing and what results to expect. Always keep in mind that the only freeze damage you can expect is the result of freezing water.
WINTERIZING – WHAT TO EXPECT
WIN AIR – Winterize air conditioner.
WIN ENG – winterize the engine/s
WIN HEAD – Winterize head.
WIN O/B – Winterize out board motor
LONG BEACH, Calif.---Some of the world's best International 14 class sailors will be sailing on eggshells the rest of the week.
As the host Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's own Howard Hamlin and crew Euan McNicol of Australia won the first race of the I-14 World Championship Regatta Sunday, followed by Katie Nurton and Nigel Ash of Great Britain, other big names took a big hit for crossing the starting line early in the two-lap, 12-nautical mile race.
The 10 guilty boats among 71 entries included past champions Robert Greenhalgh and Roddy Bridge of Great Britain and Grant Geddes of Australia, along with U.S. Nationals runners-up Tina and Trevor Baylis of Santa Cruz, Calif. and Archie Massey, captain of Britain's World Team Racing championship team last Friday.
All will discard the 72 points they received for their indiscretions on Thursday following the fifth of seven races, but that's the only throwout allowed.
Massey said,
LONG BEACH, Calif.---A frenzy of traditional team racing Friday launches the International 14 class World Championship Regatta in its return to Alamitos Bay Yacht Club after 27 years.
Four-boat teams representing Great Britain, Canada, Japan and the U.S. will compete adjacent to the city's Belmont Pier starting at 11 a.m., conditions permitting. Fleet racing for the official class championship will run Sunday through Saturday, Sept. 16, on a course set off Sunset Beach east of the city. Fleet racing will start at 1 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. on given days.
The team racing originally was scheduled for two days starting Thursday but was reduced to one day because of limited entries, most teams preferring to save their energy and concentrate on the full week of fleet racing to come later.
More than 70 of the skittish little two-person skiffs from six countries and four continents are entered for the class's return to Long Beach and ABYC, which hosted the inaugural I-14 fleet racing global competition in 1979, and the team racing should set the tone.
American sailors are familiar with three-boat team racing, where one or two of a team's boats attempt to observe and exploit right of way rules to advantage to obstruct the progress of rivals, while a teammate sails away to victory. It's a bit more complex in four-boat team racing, especially when it involves craft as fast and close to the edge of control as I-14s.
Archie Massey, captain of the Great Britain team, said the basic strategy is "getting in each other's way,"
The races will be two laps and Massey says, "The first lap we're just going to fleet-race," then assess the situation and act accordingly.
The teams will be matched one on one in best-of-three semifinal eliminations, then the winners will meet for the title. The race course will be configured to run, in order, a beat to windward, a reach, a downwind run, a reach and a final beat to the finish.
Fleet racing entries include six past world champions---New Zealand's Lindsey Irwin, Great Britain's Rob Greenhalgh, America's Kris Bundy, Australia's Grant Geddes and Britain's Roddy Bridge and Martin Jones---but none will compete in the team racing, nor will local favorite Howard Hamlin of Long Beach, sailing with Australia's Euan McNicol as crew.
LONG BEACH, Calif.---A 27-year reunion spiked by spectacularly serious sailing is anticipated when the International 14 class meets for its World Championship Regatta with nine days of racing starting Thursday through Sept. 16.
Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, host of the inaugural I-14 fleet racing global competition in 1979, will greet more than 70 of the swift and unforgiving two-man boats from six countries and four continents, including six class champions and some participants from 27 years ago.
A prelude of traditional class team racing matching four-boat squads representing designated nations is scheduled Thursday and Friday adjacent to the Belmont Pier. Teams will be determined Wednesday. That will be followed by championship fleet racing Sunday through Saturday, Sept. 16, in the ocean off Sunset Beach east of Long Beach.
The team racing will start at 11 a.m. both days, conditions permitting. Fleet racing will start at 1 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. on given days.
Entries from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany and the USA include four of the last five world champion skippers---New Zealand's Lindsey Irwin, Great Britain's Rob Greenhalgh, America's Kris Bundy and Australia's Grant Geddes, plus Britain's Roddy Bridge, 1995, and Martin Jones, 1991. Also, Trevor Baylis of Santa Cruz, who crewed for Zach Berkowitz in 2001, will sail with his wife Tina, who steered them to second place in the recent U.S. Nationals.
The winner then---Howard Hamlin of Long Beach, sailing with Australia's Euan McNicol as crew---will be sailing his first I-14 Worlds---in fact, only his third I-14 event. Hamlin, 53, added the I-14 to his successful skiff portfolio just this year after winning world and other major titles in the 18-foot Skiff and 505 classes.
The International 14 class was established 75 years ago but its origins reach back into the early skiff designs of the late 19th century. It is not a true one-design class, rather a "development" class whose various specifications offset one another within a "box" rule so owners can tweak their preferences. Otherwise, its evolution has remained on the pace of the sport's technology with carbon fiber hull, rig and retractable bowsprit construction.
The bowsprit flies a state-of-the-art asymmetric spinnaker of unlimited size, although the main and jib headsail are limited in area. Downwind a well-sailed I-14---more flying fish than boat---can exceed the wind speed as it skips over waves on the edge of control and beyond.
I-14 fanatic "Mad Jack," writing on the class Web site, says: "They are a challenge and not for the fainthearted, which may put some off. That said, once the basic skills are acquired the rewards are immense. The thrill of flying upwind! The wild rides downwind!"
He doesn’t have to sell Eric Arens. The 67-year-old Berkeley resident, an unofficial class historian, was racing I-14s before some of his rivals here were born---certainly, Samuel (Shark) Kahn, 17, of Soquel, for one. Arens, who then lived in Annapolis, Md., can tell Kahn about racing at Long Beach in '79 when John Gallagher of Annapolis won with brother Dave as crew.
"John was very meticulous about setting up his boat," Arens said. "When he came out to Alamitos Bay in '79 every evening, right there in the club parking lot, he took his boat apart . . . all the rigging, all the parts, to see if anything was broken or chafed. And he sailed awfully well. He knew you had to go right, right off the starting line, and tack early before the lay line for the mark up at the sea wall because you're going to get a lift. They did that correctly every time."
Arens and Alan Laflin, 66, of San Francisco were rivals in '79 but they've been sailing together for the last six years.
"Since we didn't sail that avidly anymore and keep up with the technological improvements, we said why don't we just get a boat together?" Arens said. "We were supposed to each skipper half the time, but since Alan isn't any good as a crew, I crew all the time."
One thing Arens does miss is the I-14 class's shift of emphasis from team racing to fleet racing in the Worlds in '79.
"The team racing always came first. It used to mean everything," Arens said. "If you were asked to be on your country's team that was a great honor. There were really fine events like you don't see anyplace anymore."
The I-14 Worlds alternate in the southern and northern hemispheres and are scheduled approximately every 18 months for the summer seasons.
Irwin, whose company makes the sails for many of the competitors, expects a difficult battle to keep his title won last year in a fleet of 83 boats on New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf, site of the 2000 and 2003 America's Cups.
"We're just coming out of winter with no training and not much sailing," he said, "and the strength at the top end of the fleet here is higher."