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BRIGHT, BEWITCHING FORECAST FOR NORTH SAILS RACE WEEK
LONG BEACH, Calif.---It must be witchcraft that is chasing away the notorious marine layer called June Gloom that strips sun, wind and joy from the Southern California sailing scene, just in time for the
19th North Sails Race Week starting Friday. More than 130 boats will compete.
Forecasts call for temperatures in the 70s and up to 15 knots of breeze on the weekend, which would be a welcome change of pace from recent events in the region. Credit may be due
Pyewacket, Roy E. Disney's record-setting Reichel/Pugh 75 named for the mystical cat from the movie "Bell, Book and Candle." Pyewacket, in its final tune-up for the Transpacific Yacht Race, will make a rare inshore appearance in PHRF-A.
Such sailing conditions put performance at a maximum and luck at a minimum---meaning, for example, that Argyle Campbell and Dave Ullman will be around the front of the Melges 24 fleet, and there is nothing mystical about that.
There will be 16 or more Melges 24s, but the largest one-design fleet will have 25 or more J/105s, a line that continues to grow in popularity coast to coast. Others include the
Farr 40s, Schock 35s, 1D35s, J/120s and J/80s.
The J/105s, Farr 40s and Schock 35s will be contesting their Pacific Coast
championships.
PHRF classes will include, besides Pyewacket, such grand prix glitter as Jim Demetriades' Transpac 52,
Yassou; the Schock 40s SchockaZulu, Cincos and
Cita and a continuing duel between Oscar Krinsky's 1D48, Chayah, with Walter Johnson driving, and Dale Williams' ILC 46,
Wasabi, with Dennis Conner calling tactics Friday and Sunday. The latter boats' ratings have been adjusted from last weekend's Long Beach Race Week to give Chayah a one-second-per-mile edge instead of a three-second deficit.
Under an expanded format, there will be two races instead of only one on Friday, starting at 2:30 p.m., then three races on Saturday and two for a windup Sunday, starting at 11:30 a.m. each day. Awards ceremonies will follow in the courtyard of the host SeaPort Marina Hotel.
The boats will compete on three race courses, two outside the breakwater and one inside. A year ago the hottest head-to-head competition was in the Melges 24s, where Campbell nipped Ullman for the title on the fourth countback tiebreaker.
"Dave and I grew up in the same harbor at the same yacht club---Balboa---so we've sailed around and against each other on various boats from the very beginning," said Campbell, 54.
Ullman has won the Boat of the Week honor twice at North Sails Race Week, and Campbell gives him his due.
"Dave is not only a great sailor but he's great on preparation, and he doesn't make any glaring mistakes on the race course," Campbell said. "He's very methodical in the way he goes around a race course. He keeps himself in a regatta and he's always right there at the end. He's the epitome of the professional sailor."
But Campbell rates equally high marks as an amateur. Two years ago he won the Melges 24 Nationals at San Diego in a fleet that included class icons Vince Brun, Harry Melges, Brian Porter---and Ullman.
Campbell, who runs Cambro Manufacturing, providing hardware to the food service industry, said, "In the Melges class there are a lot of people that work full time. If you can get good people and keep the same group together, you can execute as well as anybody."
Campbell, sailing Rock n' Roll, will have his same solid crew of Robert Kinney, Scott Barnard and Richard Loufek with him again. Ullman will have 2000 Olympic silver medallist Pease Glaser calling tactics.
North Sails Race Week is co-managed by Golison and Golison and Premiere Racing. Premiere Racing is the event organizer for Key West 2004---the annual January sailing pilgrimage for boats from across the U.S. and around the world.
Long-time sponsors North Sails and Team McLube are joined by official timekeeper and new Day Sponsor
Nautica Watches. J/Boats, Raider RIBS inflatable tenders,
Albertson's, Kaenon Sunglasses and Sailing Pro Shop are official supporters of North Sails Race Week.
Event headquarters remains at the SeaPort Marina Hotel, also the site of related social activities. The hotel is offering a special race week room rate. Reservations may be made by calling 1-562-434-8451 or on the Internet at
www.seaportmarinahotel.com.
In addition, NSRW has added Ayres Hotels, known for their European boutique ambience, as the official luxury hotel for the event. The hotels are owned by Melges 24 competitor Bruce Ayres and his family. The nearest Ayres Hotel is in Seal Beach, about a seven-minute drive from event headquarters
(www.ayreshotels.com or 1-800-653-3230). Early reservations are suggested.
Complete current entry list: www.premiere-racing.com . Results and photos will be posted after each day's racing.
Official
Photographer: Sue Bodycomb / Yachtshots.com
CONTACTS AND SPONSORS
PRESS OFFICER
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
cell phone race days: (310) 766-6547
richsail@earthlink.net
PHRF WINNERS FLOCK BACK TO NORTH SAILS RACE WEEK
LONG BEACH, Calif.---One-design racing has flourished in 18 years of
North Sails Race Week, but PHRF also continues to draw a collage of top competitors to the West Coast's largest inshore keelboat event.
All five of the 2002 PHRF winners have signed up to defend their 2002 titles in racing scheduled the weekend of June 27-29: Jim Demetriades' Transpac 52,
Yassou; Cita Litt's Schock 40, Cita; Dave Gray's Davidson 44,
Pendragon II; Scott Taylor's B32, Defiance, and Allan Rosenberg's Olson 30,
Intense.
Taylor, who lives in Long Beach, represents the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club in San Pedro, where PHRF was founded at a meeting in 1959. At first the name meant Pacific Handicap Racing Fleet, but as the concept caught on nationally "Pacific" became "Performance" in 1973. Several other alternative systems have been proposed over the years, but PHRF remains the standard across the U.S.
Taylor, 40, said, "It's the one rating rule that has endured. It's certainly not perfect, but it allows boats of all types and people of all levels to race together."
North Sails Race Week is co-managed by Golison and Golison and Premiere
Racing. A mix of PHRF and one-design classes will compete on three race courses.
Invited one-design classes include the Farr 40s, J/105s
and Schock 35s, all contesting their Pacific Coast
championships, plus 1D35, Beneteau 40.7, Beneteau
36.7, J/120, J/80, Melges 24, Santa Cruz 52 and
Transpac 52.
Of last year's one-design winners, Brack Duker's Farr 40, Revolution; Ray Godwin's Schock 35,
Whiplash, and Argyle Campbell's Melges 24, Rock n'
Roll, are also entered as the list grows daily. Campbell faces another battle with Dave Ullman, who returns to the class where he won Boat of the Week honors in 2001 and 1999---the last time in a four-deep tiebreaker countback against Campbell.
In PHRF competition at North Sails Race Week, the results often have been settled by seconds when each boat's performance is computed by its rating against its time and the distance of each race. Defiance, the only B32 racing in the Los Angeles-Orange County area, rated 66 seconds per mile last year, a fairly low number for a boat its size. Taylor said that's because it's really just a small ultralight.
"PHRF allows me to have a boat that is faster than any of the one-designs available in that size range," Taylor said, "and my B32 is more fun to race. I like having an ultralight boat on the West Coast, where you don't tend to find many small ultralight classes."
This year Taylor had Defiance towed East for Key West
2003, where he won PHRF 6 class, overcoming an OCS with three first places and a second. That gave Defiance a grand slam of Premiere Racing events, along with other victories at San Diego YC's Yachting Cup and California YC's recent Cal Race Week.
Taylor attributes those successes to solid crew work by a group of eight friends---Tim Dohmen, Chris Iwai, Brad Bougsman, Jerry Healy, Marty Diandriole, Will Vrooman, Vanessa Lewis and Laura Horvath. All but Healy and Horvath have been sailing with him for 12 years, starting on a Schock 41GP also named Defiance.
Taylor needs a lot of friends on board. "You have a 4,000-pound boat with only 1,500 pounds of ballast," he said. "You need to keep it upright somehow. It's a tender boat."
Long-time sponsors North Sails and Team McLube are joined by official timekeeper and new Day Sponsor
Nautica Watches. J/Boats, Raider RIBS inflatable tenders,
Albertson's and Sailing Pro Shop are official supporters of North Sails Race Week.
Golison & Golison is pleased to announce the addition of the
Sailing Pro Shop to the list of official supporters of North Sails Race Week.
They will have a display tent at the headquarters SeaPort Marina hotel for competitors to visit after each day's racing. More information is available by calling toll free to (800) 354-7245 or by going on online at
www.sailingproshop.com.
Event headquarters remains at the SeaPort Marina Hotel, also the site of related social activities. The Seaport Marina Hotel is offering a special race week room rate. Make your reservations by calling 1-562-434-8451 or at
www.seaportmarinahotel.com.
In addition, NSRW has added Ayres Hotels, known for their European boutique
ambience, as the official luxury hotel for the event. The hotels are owned
by Melges 24 competitor Bruce Ayres and his family. The nearest Ayres Hotel
is in Seal Beach, about a seven-minute drive from event headquarters
(www.ayreshotels.com or 1-800-653-3230). Early reservations are suggested
for both.
CONTACTS AND SPONSORS
May 27, 2003
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SAVE 75 BUCKS AND LINE UP WITH PYEWACKET
LONG BEACH, Calif.---Saturday, May 31, is the last day to avoid a late entry fee of $75 for the 19th North Sails Race Week June 27-29, when the competition will include one boat better known for its offshore record-breaking achievements.
Roy E. Disney's Reichel/Pugh 75, Pyewacket, will make a rare tour around inshore buoys as it works up to the finale of its West Coast career in the Transpacific Yacht Race in July.
"It's the biggest and fastest boat ever to sail in North Sails Race Week," organizer Bruce Golison said.
North Sails Race Week is co-managed by Golison and Golison and Premiere Racing. Entry information is available on the web site:
www.Premiere-Racing.com, at (714) 379-4884 or via e-mail at bruce@golison.com. Premiere Racing is the event organizer for Key West 2004---the annual January sailing pilgrimage for boats from across the U.S. and around the world.
A mix of PHRF and one-design classes will compete on three race courses. Invited one-design classes include the Farr 40s, J/105s and Schock 35s, all contesting their Pacific Coast championships, plus 1D35, Beneteau 40.7, Beneteau 36.7, J/120, J/80, Melges 24, Santa Cruz 52 and Transpac 52.
Most of those classes have grown with the event over the years from a handful competing in handicap classes to, for example, the 29 J/105s that raced in 2002. Other one-design classes may petition a class start and will be considered based on the number of boats and the event classes that are established.
This Pyewacket---Disney's third---has been in a class of its own for most of the last four years, setting records in the Transpac, Newport to Bermuda, Chicago-Mac and, last month, the Newport to Ensenada race. The exception was a 63-minute loss to Philippe Kahn's R/P 77
Pegasus in the 2001 Transpac---a setback Disney hopes to reverse in what will be his last race on the boat.
The next Pyewacket, a maxZ86, is being built in New Zealand.
Robbie Haines of North Sails, who is Pyewacket's sailing master and project manager, said, "We just want to get more practice for Transpac. I think we're going to be by ourselves most of the time, but it will be an opportunity to work on close-quarter tactics and boat handling. We have raced around buoys in the Caribbean, but those were a lot more than one or two miles apart."
Dean Barker, skipper for Team New Zealand's defense of the America's Cup, will be aboard Pyewacket as a new crew member.
Kahn also will be at North Sails Race Week, but he'll be racing his Melges 24---also named
Pegasus.
April 3, 2003
-- For Immediate Release
NORTH SAILS RACE WEEK ADDS TWO RACES ON DEMAND
LONG BEACH, Calif.---The Notice and Conditions of Race and official entry
application for an expanded 19th annual North Sails Race Week June 27-29 are
now available on the event Web site, www.Premiere-Racing.com.
Competitors in the U.S. West Coast's largest inshore regatta came in greater
numbers than ever last year, totaling 171 from the Western states and beyond. Many left still itching for action,
so the schedule has been boosted from five to seven races.
Organizer Bruce Golison said, "Over the years we have strived to deliver what our clients want in a regatta. Many have asked for more racing, so we
are adding two more races to the series and changing the schedule slightly."
There will be two races instead of only one on Friday, starting at 2:30 p.m., then three races on Saturday and two for a windup Sunday, followed by
awards ceremonies in the courtyard of the host SeaPort Marina Hotel.
A mix of PHRF and one-design classes will compete on three race courses, one
fronting the beach extending eastward from downtown Long Beach and the Queen
Mary.
One-design classes will include the Farr 40s, J/105s and Schock
35s, all contesting their Pacific Coast championships, plus 1D35, Beneteau
40.7, Beneteau 36.7, J/120, J/80, Melges 24, Santa Cruz 52 and Transpac
52. Other one-design classes may petition a class start and will be considered
based on the number of boats and the event classes that are established.
Most of those classes have grown with the event over the years from a handful competing in handicap classes to, for example, the 29 J/105s that
raced in 2002.
Long-time sponsors North Sails and Team McLube are joined by official
timekeeper and new Day Sponsor Nautica Watches.
Event headquarters remains at the SeaPort Marina Hotel, also the site of
related social activities.
In addition, NSRW has added Ayres Hotels, known for their European boutique
ambience, as the official luxury hotel for the event. The hotels are owned
by Melges 24 competitor Bruce Ayres and his family. The nearest Ayres Hotel
is in Seal Beach, about a seven-minute drive from event headquarters. Early
reservations are recommended. (Information
on hotels).
North Sails Race Week is produced by Golison & Golison. Premiere Racing,
Inc., organizer for Key West 2004, is co-producer.
CONTACTS
Golison & Golison: (714) 379-4884 / fax (714) 379-3865
bruce@golison.com
Premiere Racing: (781) 639-9545
NSRW@Premiere-Racing.com
PRESS OFFICER
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
richsail@earthlink.net
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