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Catalina 2012
What a great event. Those of you that couldn't make it missed a great racing weekend. Those of you that participated will have memories you'll be telling just short of your exit from this earth.
The weekend consisted of racing over to Catalina's Isthmus Harbor on Saturday; spending the night on the island; and then returning to Long Beach on Sunday. We've been doing this race for some years now and it originally started when Dave Hansen, a former fleet captain, organized it and purchased the trophy.
This year's race was a bit different. That is to say that in past years it was pretty much a stag thing with everyone racing over, making fools out of themselves and then racing back nursing some pretty serious body ailments. Usually the ones that handled it best were the victors. This year it became more of a family type outing with several of the crews electing to take their children. One Time
had three generations of the Melendres family on board when they elected to take two grand kids. Bob Daniel took his twin sons and had two other adults on board who took their young children. Given my choice I kind of liked it better this way.
If you want to see some great photos of the weekend then go to the photopage. I'm sure you'll enjoy them.
Saturday's crossing:
We had four boats on the line; One Time, Nemesis, Iguana and Tiburon. The weather for inland SOCAL called for a 95 degree day with lots of humidity. Ugh. The weather for the race over was perfect. Probably somewhere in the low 80s with just enough breeze to get us over there in a hurry without too much standing on our ears. I believe that at its peak it probably was registering fourteen knots or so. We were the last class to start so we got going at 1140 hrs. By that time the wind had already shifted to the west and was registering around 8 knots.There's not a lot of tactics involved in going to Catalina however there are some. For the most part you just start on starboard tack and keep pushing it as high as you can go until you see the Isthmus. When you think it's safe you crack off and go like hell hoping you can get there without the Catalina fan playing havoc with you. Sometimes you have to tack over to port and take a hitch up the coastline so as to get enough of an angle which will allow you to make it the Isthmus. Aside from that most of the tactics come into play when selecting your sail inventory and how much weight you want to have on the boat.
Everyone got a clean start and headed to the east end of the breakwater which is the first mark of the course. One Time won the start and jumped to a slight lead which it held for several miles past the east end. One Time elected to fly their Number three headsail at the outset. They didn't have a lot of weight on board and were hoping the sail would help them once the wind came up. Nemesis came to the same conclusion but only had a number two they could fly. Iguana and Tiburon went with their number ones. Ultimately this decision hurt Iguana since they were very light with only three people on board. We were about four miles into the race when One Time could see that all the other boats were pointing higher. Thus they elected to take their hitch and tacked over on to port. They crossed just in front of Tiburon and Nemesis. Amazing, after four miles or so the boats were still dead even. Somewhere between Queen's and Angel's gate One Time tacked again and headed for the island. Nemesis continued on to Angel's gate looking for a better angle. Iguana was working its way up the middle while Tiburon stayed where they were. Some time later Tiburon took their hitch but it was cut short by a tanker which forced them back on to starboard tack. At this point the race was officially on. Tiburon was not in sight however One Time, Iguana and Nemesis could see each other and all of them were racing to the Isthmus. Nemesis was the highest and looking pretty good. One Time was in the center and looking better. Iguana was the lowest and struggling with too much sail and not enough weight. Not a good combination. As we got closer to the Island Tiburon came back into the picture from the low side. They were trying to work their way up but by this time the wind was cranking pretty good and it was tough going. One Time was able to hold its course and sailed right through the finish line without a problem. The infamous Catalina Fan had taken the day off. Hooray. As most everyone knows you can get over there in four hours and then spend two more just trying to cross the finish line. Not today.
Nemesis came in second, followed by Tiburon and Iguana. All of the boats were fairly close and get this; we were the last to start but not the last to finish. We all passed numerous boats in classes starting well ahead of us. I would say it was a pretty good showing. The race committee had to be pleased. We all got spots close to each other on the string line and Jenna (Iguana) broke out her growlers of beer and shared with us all. What a great lady. The cigars came out and I guess some lies also. The kids hit the beach and had a good time.
Sunday's race:
Following breakfast and a Fleet V photo shoot we headed to the line for our 1240 hrs start. I know it's a 26 mile race to home but One Time came within two seconds of shutting everyone off the line. As it turned out they had to run the line a bit so as not to be OCS and this allowed the other guys to get in there. Iguana relieved its overly light status as Mark Salsgiver met them on the island and joined up.
Everyone got a good start with One Time carving out a very slim lead. Thankfully, the Catalina fan took the day off again which allowed everyone to escape the island just like they knew what they were doing. Nemesis immediately went high looking to be the first to catch the Westerly. Iguana followed but didn't bite off quite as much. Ditto for One Time and Tiburon. After several miles it was One Time in the lead, Tiburon second, Iguana and then Nemesis. Across the channel we went with a great breeze coming out of the West. It was strong enough to push us briskly but not so strong that we were in danger of rounding up. Suffice to say it was a perfect day. One Time steadily built a nice lead however everyone else was hanging in there.
It was developing into being a fun crossing albeit a rather boring one. That would change.
Approximately six miles off shore an east bound tanker appeared. Upon looking at it you would be correct in thinking that it was shortly going to turn and head to Angel's gate. Didn't happen. Since it didn't turn you would naturally think that it would turn and head to Queen's gate. That also didn't happen. It continued past Queen's gate. Now it was rapidly becoming a factor in the race. If you were inside the tanker when it turned (Iguana and Tiburon) then you would have had to run for your life so as not to get run over. If you were on the outside when it turned (One Time) you would have a clear lane to the finish. The problem was, however, that it had to turn. It didn't. It continued on a straight line, sort of headed to Newport Beach, and then came to a stop with One Time right along its side. Bummer. One Time was forced to drop its spinnaker, put up the headsail , sail to the stern of the tanker, escape and rejoin the race. The name of that vessel was "Yasa Yasa." As far as I was concerned it was "A Hole A Hole."
By this time Iguana had the lead with Tiburon close behind. Nemesis had gone too high and there just wasn't enough of a brisk breeze to blow them back into contention. One Time put the spinnaker back up and started the chase. Tiburon was closing on Iguana and they had a real race developing. Iguana did a lot to hold them off, taking them up then backing off, taking them up and backing off. It was quite a show to watch. The Tiburon boys were persistent and ultimately grabbed the lead. However, by this time One Time was back in the race and now all three boats were battling it out; with speed. There were times when everyone was overlapped while approaching the east end (Mark 10) of the breakwater. This was a real donnybrook of a race.
Tiburon got around the wall first and headed for the finish. I was hoping they would cut it too close and run through the kelp bed. I should have known better. It didn't happen. Iguana got around next and went high. Tiburon had to get up there to avoid being rolled. One Time got around, saw its competitors taking each other up and decided not to play with the others but go straight to the finish. Both Tiburon and Iguana weren't going to let One Time have an easy go of it so they came down. One Time tried to take Iguana's air. Everyone tried to take Tiburon's. It was crazy but an absolute ball. Twenty six miles of racing and here we were all overlapped trying to get to the finish line first. Tiburon held on and took the victory. Iguana took second and One Time got the third spot. You had to see it to enjoy it. All of the boats were overlapped at the finish. You can't buy this much fun. And please don't forget about Nemesis because they couldn't have been more than a couple hundred yards behind the top three.
When I looked at my watch I saw that we had made the crossing in four hours and one minute. Pretty good. Congratulations to Tiburon. They sailed a great race and it paid off. The same goes for the other guys. Iguana was tough all weekend. It might have been a different story had they had that extra body on the way over. Nemesis had four kids on board and was ultra competitive in both races.
All things considered it was a fabulous weekend. You need to consider this one for next year.
See you soon.