(Marina del Rey, CA)- Cal Race Week continues to be a highlight for many
sailing teams as more and more racers discover the pleasure of late
spring sailing in Marina del Rey, with afternoon breezes in the low to
mid-teens, sun and perfect temperatures for racing around the buoys.
That's what the Marina del Rey Chamber of Commerce proclaimed before
everyone headed for the race course-- one where the boats are sailing in
the shadows of the monstrous LAX Airport and having to sometimes suffer
from their noise abatement take-off procedures for such lilliputian
jumbo jets like the Airbus 380!
Despite the noise to the south, the standard "sea breeze" blows most of the noise away as it fills in from the WNW and builds all day long, thanks to the mountain ranges to the east and massive amounts of concrete throughout the smog-ridden Los Angeles basin sucking in all the breeze. The enormous benefit of this phenomenon is that sailors enjoy beautiful, crystal-clear, smog-free days along a somewhat picturesque coastline.
Furthermore, what many SoCal sailors have come to know, is that California Yacht Club has won US SAILING’s prestigious St. Petersburg trophy for excellence in race management three times in recent years! Multiple courses with separate start/finish lines minimize interference between boats in different classes and insure that most of your time on the water will be spent racing. No kidding, the Cal YC RC team does a fantastic job of keeping the pace rolling with fleets starting and finishing at the same time!
The weekend’s hospitality was a fitting complement to the on-the-water competition. There was entertainment both days, with hosted beverages on the docks after racing (yes, ice-cold, refreshing local micro-brewery beer served from a kegger on the dock!). Plus, it's hard to beat their no-host BBQ on Saturday and complimentary beverages with hors d’oeuvres at the trophy presentation on Sunday.
Enjoying every minute of the weekend were a small armada of J Teams enjoying the fine weather and fabulous hospitality. While the regatta attracted 77 boats from around SoCal, ranging from Santa Barbara to the north and San Diego to the south, fully 38% of the fleet (29 boats) were J sailors racing one-design in J/70s, J/80s, J/109s, J/105s and J/24s.
For Saturday's racing, the wind started out in the NW quadrant and slowly backed to the WNW. As a result, the old axiom of "left early, right late" never worked. In fact, the strategy of the day was highly atypical for the area with "go West young man" being the order of the day. Sunday's racing was quite radically different, too. Despite filling in from the SW due to an enormous High pressure ridge, the wind never clocked (or did so rarely), so the breeze funneling down the coast had greater pressure and lifts coming from the left upwind (and, conversely, downwind). As a result, the "south of the border" strategy appeared to be the order of the day. Strange, that it was!
Despite the noise to the south, the standard "sea breeze" blows most of the noise away as it fills in from the WNW and builds all day long, thanks to the mountain ranges to the east and massive amounts of concrete throughout the smog-ridden Los Angeles basin sucking in all the breeze. The enormous benefit of this phenomenon is that sailors enjoy beautiful, crystal-clear, smog-free days along a somewhat picturesque coastline.
Furthermore, what many SoCal sailors have come to know, is that California Yacht Club has won US SAILING’s prestigious St. Petersburg trophy for excellence in race management three times in recent years! Multiple courses with separate start/finish lines minimize interference between boats in different classes and insure that most of your time on the water will be spent racing. No kidding, the Cal YC RC team does a fantastic job of keeping the pace rolling with fleets starting and finishing at the same time!
The weekend’s hospitality was a fitting complement to the on-the-water competition. There was entertainment both days, with hosted beverages on the docks after racing (yes, ice-cold, refreshing local micro-brewery beer served from a kegger on the dock!). Plus, it's hard to beat their no-host BBQ on Saturday and complimentary beverages with hors d’oeuvres at the trophy presentation on Sunday.
Enjoying every minute of the weekend were a small armada of J Teams enjoying the fine weather and fabulous hospitality. While the regatta attracted 77 boats from around SoCal, ranging from Santa Barbara to the north and San Diego to the south, fully 38% of the fleet (29 boats) were J sailors racing one-design in J/70s, J/80s, J/109s, J/105s and J/24s.
For Saturday's racing, the wind started out in the NW quadrant and slowly backed to the WNW. As a result, the old axiom of "left early, right late" never worked. In fact, the strategy of the day was highly atypical for the area with "go West young man" being the order of the day. Sunday's racing was quite radically different, too. Despite filling in from the SW due to an enormous High pressure ridge, the wind never clocked (or did so rarely), so the breeze funneling down the coast had greater pressure and lifts coming from the left upwind (and, conversely, downwind). As a result, the "south of the border" strategy appeared to be the order of the day. Strange, that it was!
Course
2, north of the Marina del Rey jetties and halfway to the Santa Monica
Pier, were the fleets of J/70s, J/80s and J/24s. The J/70s debut in the
Cal Week regatta saw good, close racing. In the end, the Jenkins/
Kownacki duo on DFZ took the crown, winning with a 2-1-1-5-1 record for
10 pts. Starting strong but fading on the first race Sunday was Karl
Pomeroy's ZERO TO 60, accumulating a 1-2-3-4-2 for 12 pts to take
second. Third was Dan Gribble's GO-RILLA showing they were quick
learners after a very slow Saturday, amassing scores of 5-5-2-1-4 for 17
pts to snatch third overall! They very narrowly beat-out two of their
competitors on become a nearly three-way tie for third! Craig Tallman's
JAYA won that battle for 4th while Sean O'Keefe on DECOLORES 3 for 5th.
Sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ Joysailing.com For more Cal Race Week sailing information
Sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ Joysailing.com For more Cal Race Week sailing information
