Monday, August 31, 2009

Catalina Long Point Race Week

J's Clean House With 1-2-3
(Catalina Island, CA- August 20-23)-  The theme of this year's event was "Woodstock" to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the good and bad times of 1969 in the history books.

For those of you who can remember that far back (includes the Editor, by the way) 1969 was a watershed in world history in more ways than anyone may have imagined back then, or even today.  Some of the highlights of that notoriously historical year include, amongst others: in America that was the "Man on the Moon Apollo XI Mission"; Woodstock the bachannalian festival was held in upstate New York; President "I cannot tell a lie" Richard Nixon became President of America; Joe Namath the American football quarterback declared "I can guarantee a victory" and takes the New York Jets to a Super Bowl victory in the last minute; Led Zeppelin releases Led Zep I as the first of the "heavy metal" rockers to make their mark in the music world; not to be outdone, Elvis Presley records and releases the famous "Long Black Limousine" song/album;  the Beatles do their last "live" concert on the roof of Apple Records in London, then release the album Abbey Road to critical acclaim; the Boeing 747 and the Anglo/French Concorde supersonic jets make their debuts; Golda Meir become the first female premier of Israel (antedating, of course, the hand-bag swinging Maggie Thatcher in England); the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier "jump jet" becomes a novelty item as it debuts in the Royal Air Force; US college campus radicals SDS-Students for a Democratic Society and the Weathermen are running amok in Chicago and Harvard University; the Americans call it quits in Vietnam; US Congressman Ted Kennedy (who passed away today) drove off a bridge at Chappaquidick Island, Martha's Vineyard and accidentally killed Mary Jo Kopechne; Charles Manson runs amok in California; Hurricane Camile obliterates Mississippi; Monty Python's Flying Circus debuts on BBC One; ARPANET (aka "the Internet") connects first computers to send "packet-based" messages; and, remarkably Robin Knox-Johnston from England becomes the first person to sail around the world solo without stopping!!

Befitting such extraordinary historical milestones, this year's Long Point Race Week included a race from Newport Beach to Catalina Island, followed by a buoy race on Saturday.  However, Sunday's race was cut short after a postponement and finally cancelation with no wind; on Sunday the fleet normally races back to Newport Beach.

The results are as follows:  John Schultze's J/109 LINSTAR was first with twelve points, Anthony Wetherbee's J/109 COMMOTION was second tied with seventeen points with Roy Jones' J/133 TANGO who finished third.  Just off the pace was Mark Surber's J/125 DERIVATIVE in sixth.