(Santa Barbara, CA)- The prognosis for this year’s Santa Barbara to King
Harbor race, hosted by Santa Barbara YC & King Harbor YC, was full
of gloom and doom. NOAA’s weather forecasts were for no wind all day,
holes everywhere, but maybe filling in from the south late in the day.
However, as usual, the NOAA models were somehow 100% wrong, again. The
race became a near textbook scenario, a slow build in the morning for
sure, but by the time the big boats were rounding Anacapa Island 32nm
downstream, the winds were in the northwest 17-19 kts range and by the
time the fleet leaders made it across the 10nm dash to Point Dume on the
Malibu shoreline, gusts were over 20 kts. Most fleet leaders then
gybed onto starboard tack and headed straight for King Harbor, playing
the windshifts towards the end of 45nm section. 
For
the fastest J’s on the track, the twin J/125s in ULDB C Division, it
was a duel to the finish. Dr Laura Schlessinger’s WARRIOR led at the
first turning mark- Anacapa Island- turned left and raced to Point Dume
planing most of the way. Then, gybed onto starboard off that point. At that stage, Viggo Torbensen’s well-oiled
offshore machine- TIMESHAVER- gybed on top of them a few hundred yards to windward, slowly dropped down over WARRIOR, then in front and continued to extend their lead by executing a few slick moves, faster sail
changes, and led Dr Laura’s WARRIOR into the finish line. WARRIOR
had changed to a Code Zero in the lighter going, but could not change
back to the A2 asym fast enough. As a result, TIMESHAVER crossed the
line just 2min 12sec ahead of WARRIOR, taking 2nd and 3rd in class,
respectively. On a PHRF Overall basis, it was so close that TIMESHAVER
took 2nd Overall while WARRIOR was 5th Overall. In the ULDB D Class, Bernie Girod’s J/111 ROCK & ROLL was 2nd (slipping into 4th overall between the J/125s), Kenny Kieding & John Vincent’s J/111 ARGO 3 was third (14th overall), Seth Hall’s J/124 MARISOL was 4th, and Doug & Jack Jorgensen’s J/111 PICOSA was 5th.
The ULDB E Class saw Dan Murphy’s J/105 CUCHULAINN take 5th place, while Doug Stelck’s J/100 JIB & TONIC was 7th.
PHRF A Class had Scott Torrance’s J/124 FORGIVENESS hold on to 5th and Tom & Terri Manok’s POLE DANCER was sixth. PHRF B Class saw Jack Mayer’s J/109 ZEPHYR take 5th in class. Finally, in PHRF C Class, Fred & Suzanne Cottrell’s J/33 TIGGER take 2nd, Chuck Spear’s J/105 TWELVE BAR BLUES was 5th place, and Tom Hinkle’s J/40 WHITE LIGHT was 6th. For more Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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