(Santa Barbara, CA)- Here's the report from K-Mag (Keith Magnussen at Ullman Sails in Newport Beach, CA):
“Sometimes sailboat racing is more about the destination than the
race. The annual Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race (SB-KH) offers both
of those aspects. Santa Barbara is a beautiful city located just north
of Los Angeles. The picturesque Channel Islands grace the coastline
inspiring the racers who arrive starting Wednesday night.This year I was highly anticipating the race onboard the J-125 Timeshaver. Viggo Torbensen (owner) has been working hard to optimize his boat with a great sail inventory and the recent results have reflected this. Our other crew consisted of Charlie Underwood, Jack Bazz, Jack Maranto Blake Hamilton and coming in from Texas was Sean Nelson. A great group of sailors and friends.
Taking the Surf-liner Train up the coast has been a tradition with most racers and I chose the early route leaving San Juan Capistrano around 9am. Sean met up with the train in Los Angeles and we got to catch up for a few hours as the Los Angeles Valley rolled by.
The train breaks to the Pacific and the views get really nice just north of Ventura. Blake had the boat in the harbor and the rest of the boys met up with us on State Street around 8pm. After a crew dinner, we all retired and got a good night sleep for what was supposed to be a windless event.
Spirits were high in the morning as everyone congregated around their boats on the docks just off Santa Barbara Yacht Club. Had the chance to catch up with Stu Johnstone and Dr Laura before they got the new J-88 rigged up. Even caught a glimpse of Dr Laura going up her own mast to do some maintenance. Good to see!
If you are not familiar with the Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race then let me give you a brief. Start in Santa Barbara, go around Anacapa Island and finish in King Harbor (Redondo Beach). Simple enough right? Our game plan was pretty standard. Head to the island as quickly as possible, gybe down the backside and find a good exit towards the coast. From there it was to play the game and angles to the finish.
We
had a decent start and were the highest boat with the Farr 400 just
next to us. We traded off for a bit but then the Farr managed to stay
in a puff a bit longer than us and get a little lead. The wind was
light and we were actually catching and keeping up with the TP52’s at
one point. Not a good prospect!I have a rule about the Code 0, if you think you should put it up you are probably 10 minutes late! I did not let this happen, as we were the first boat to pull out a Code 0. Our Code 0 is a brand new design from Bruce Hollis and Ullman Sails. We used Contender CZ Laminate and have the option for a furler. The black Code 0 cloth looks mean and just the way I like it!
At this point, we were able to climb away from a lot of our fleet and put some distance on the smaller boats that we owed a lot of time to. The wind actually started filling in (not in the forecast) and from the correct direction. We peeled to the 3A and then the 2A as it clocked around a bit more. Our approach to the island was decent; I would give it a B+, as I would have liked to see us pressing up a bit more with the 3A instead of soaking with the 2A. The other J-125 Derivative was close behind with the SC-52 Paranoia and our nemesis Horizon also in close proximity.
Tactics took over and we all ended up gybing down the back side of Anacapa Island where things got a little more compact. We managed to botch a few jibes then get our tack line wrapped around the end of the pole. Good thing we do not have onboard footage of my language at this point. All in all it was OK. We exited with Horizon and Paranoia behind us and Derivative just to leeward. We had switched to the 1A on the backside and now were ready to jump to the 3A. The 3A was a little more efficient and we got a little jump away from Horizon. Did I mention I am sick of seeing them everywhere we go?
Derivative decided to go a little bow up and look for pressure as we stuck to a somewhat bow down mode. Derivative won this battle and crossed about ¼ mile in front of us at Point Dume. I could live with that. What I could not live with was watching the entire fleet that were beyond the horizon at Anacapa Island sail up to us in a puff that obviously filled in from behind. Oh to be a slower boat! I watched a boat that rates 60 (we rate -9) sail almost right up to us! I could hear the talk in the club already….
Sunset was rapidly approaching and we were subject to one of the most amazing sunsets of the year. What a beautiful sight it was with all the spinnakers glowing in the red sunlight. We had finally split from Horizon and Derivative and we were about to get the chance to come back together and see who won this battle. Horizon crossed behind and Derivative just in front. Ok same same. Their turn to go to the beach and our turn for the ocean. Back again and we put distance on Horizon and caught up to Derivative. Not bad so we went out for more. Lay line for King Harbor was rapidly (in perspective) approaching so we pursued the outside route. As we came back on port we got our first sense of what happened. Horizon was further behind but Derivative was still in the same place.
Turning the jetty is always fun as you go from downwind to a tight reach. Radio Flyer, the J-145, was just in front and we managed to have a better takedown and beat them boat for boat (even though they owed us a chunk of time). Good move for a morale victory. After the finish we took sails down and then saw the horror show. The Viper 640 was about to finish so we knew it was a small boat year.
It is really hard to swallow when you have a great race, put your fleet out the back only then watch them sail up to you in better wind. I guess that is sailboat racing right? Congratulations to Derivative for getting this round (just a friendly reminder we have had them the past few times). It always makes it more fun to sail against the same boat you are on and then finish within a couple minutes.
4th in class and 17th overall (about 90 boats) means we did not fulfill expectations but are still having a great year of racing!!” K-Mag out. Sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ Joysailing.com
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