Sailing in Marin: Locals find success at Long Beach Race Week
Exciting racecourses with flat water offerings inside of the Long Beach breakwater, big waves and big breeze on the outside are just a few of the factors that make Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week regatta, uniquely co-hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club, one of the most enjoyable on the West Coast, drawing sailors from up and down the California looking for warm weather and champagne conditions.
This past weekend, the 20th edition of the event proved to be just the panacea for Marin sailors escaping Bay Area fog and typical blistering summer breeze for the more benign conditions that grace Long Beach. Peter Wagoner and his crew on the J/111 Skeleton Key took first with six wins over seven races in class and also went home with the J/111 Pacific Coast Championship title.
Wagoner, who is a part-time Tiburon resident, raced with Marin residents Ryan Kern and John Collins on board. It was Skeleton Key’s second Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week; they had a blast a couple of years ago and as Wagoner notes, they were excited to return.
“I always love sailing Long Beach, the conditions are spectacular and while it wasn’t prototypical Long Beach conditions it was still good racing,” says Wagoner. “It was our first-ever Pacific Coast Championship regatta for the J/111 fleet so that added some fun to the whole event. It’s really great to see the numbers in the fleet growing and the level of competition getting higher
and higher as more good sailors jump into the class.”
Collins, from Mill Valley, added, “The Long Beach experience was great, not the typical wind pattern for Friday and Saturday but Sunday was the usual champagne conditions. It helps that most of us on Skeleton Key have been sailing together close to 10 years on this boat and some of us with and against each other for another 20 years.”
Tim Russell, who is a frequent top finisher in the tight local J/105 fleet on his boat Ne*Ne, was looking to buy or a charter a Viper when he went to the Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week website to see what classes were racing this year and noted the option to charter a Catalina 37.
His application to charter accepted, he pulled together a Bay Area team to compete including his wife, Anne, and daughter, Lucie, as well as Marin residents Dennis Roweder and Ted Wilson. While hoping for a top-three finish, they settled for fourth overall in an incredibly challenging fleet.
“Racing Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week will be one of the highlights of the year for me,” says Russell. “Sailing in shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt was such a treat. The Catalina 37 is a heavy boat and challenging to sail in the light conditions. Racing was very competitive and the camaraderie amongst the fleet was great. Kudos to Long Beach Yacht Club and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club for hosting a first-class event!”
This year was the first time that the Moore 24 fleet participated in Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week and the class made it their National Championship event. The Moore 24s are not only a wildly competitive fleet but the culture of the fleet is so supportive of family sailing together and boats getting passed down through generations, notes Vikki Fennell.
Fennell and her husband Rowan, who live in Fairfax, own Paramour, which was originally purchased by Rowan’s dad in the 1980s. Rowan’s brother Nathaniel raced the boat in the late 90’s and Rowan took over the program in 2002. He and Vikki have campaigned the boat since. The Fennells took second overall in a 17-strong fleet and also won also won the Golison & Kent Family Trophy sailing with Nathaniel.
“It is never easy to podium in the Moore 24 fleet; the competition in the fleet is filled with really accomplished sailors,” says Vikki Fennell. “We ended up battling back after day 1 to win the most races but couldn’t match the consistency of our longtime and very talented friends on the winning boat Safety Third out of Richmond Yacht Club.”
Other Marin Moore 24 sailors racing included Peter Schoen (Corte Madera) racing on Mooretician, which he co-owns with Roe Patterson, took fourth in class. Shawn Bennett and Rich Bergsund, both from Tiburon, took fifth. Bennett recently gave up his share in a long-time J/105 partnership and within 24 hours bought into a partnership in the Moore 24 Orca with Bergsund. Both Bennett and Bergsund are San Francisco Yacht Club members and raced with Bergsund’s son Reid (32), daughter Marie (27), and Bennett’s son Connor (21).
“My wife did note that I didn’t last 24 hours without ending up with another boat,” laughs Bennett. “I had never been on a Moore before, I knew they were great boats and I liked Rich and his family and thought it would be a lot of fun. This was our first regatta together on the boat and we enjoyed it.”