Alamitos Bay Fleet Race, Alamitos Bay YC (October 15, 2000)

This event is being reported because it represents a milestone in the modern era of Lido 14 racing. It all started over a year ago with a discussion about possible venues for the 2000 Lido 14 Class Championships (sponsored by the Alamitos Bay Lido 14 Feet). Then it picked up again a few months ago when Derek Paulin (Lido #2755) brought up the question of sailing Lido 14’s “outside” of Alamitos Bay. What hadn’t been remembered well was that many years ago, it wasn’t so unusual to send the Lido 14’s outside to race…especially if there were many boats registered. So Derek took the ball and organized racing an experimental “outside” regatta as part of Fleet 6’s October fleet race. Eleven boats, representing a wide range of skills and interests, showed up to race.

There is no doubt that everyone had their concerns…would the conditions become too severe…would the Lido handle the conditions…do I know how to sail on anything but flat water? The odds were that several boats would suffer breakdowns – that almost goes without question because too many boats are behind on maintenance. One intrepid sailor took their newly purchased but very mature Classic Lido out, knowing full well that there was some maintenance to be done. I suppose the quick way of generating a priority list on what to fix/upgrade is to go sailing (hard) until something breaks. That item becomes priority 1. Repeat this test enough times and you’ll have an awesome priority list…I suppose. So yes, there was carnage but it seems that the positives way out weighed the negatives.

The racing consisted of four races. Races 1 and 2, I believe, were single lap windward leeward courses with Race 3 a double lapper. Race 4 was special in that the race was to the weather mark and then a reach/run combo back into the inside bay where we rounded Mark V (the traditional last leeward mark of inside courses) and finished up at the club marina entrance way.

As was expected, the wind built throughout the day, raising a significant (from the point of view of a Lido 14) swell of about 2 feet. There was some irregular chop, primarily from high-speed passes of powerboats through the racing area and there was some white capping but, all in all, the conditions were well within the limits of what the sailors probably expected (maybe 12 to 15 knots?). The downwind legs of the 3^rd and 4^th races offered some excellent surfing conditions…something most of us haven’t experienced in a Lido. For those that caught on, it was a blast (literally)!

As for the racing, it was a wonderful chance to stretch your legs and test your knowledge on larger wind patterns (or to put it differently, to escape the land shaped winds of the inner bay). This meant that the fleet broke open reasonably quickly as various factions tested out the right or left sides of the wide-open course. It seemed pretty favored on the right side but by no means was it a done deal - there a few chances to catch up or fall behind (i.e. “real” racing). Pretty quickly three boats showed something extra over the rest of the fleet. They included John Gresham sailing with Ron Clanton, John Papadopoulos sailing with Greg Rogers (a last minute pick-up crew that is a Lido sailor in his own right), and the team of Tracy and Travis Conn. Kevin Brown and his son Garrett get special mention for a solid win in the first race and for hanging tough for most of the racing, only to suffer a dismasting at the weather mark of the last race. Ultimately it came down to John Gresham and John Papadopoulos who, though sailing with his #5031 sails, was actually testing out his brand new 6000 series Lido 14. John legged out a bit on each of the down wind legs just enough to safely cover the mystery sailor in Lido #2540 upwind.

John Gresham edged out John Papadopoulos near the weather mark of Race 4 and lead all the way to the inside bay where, apparently, he misread the course and started sailing prematurely to the finish line. John capitalized on that error and pulled into the lead and held it for the rest of the race, making for three bullets in a row.

Though the consensus was that the event was a great success, the realities are that the average Lido 14 is probably not quite healthy enough for outside conditions (as is evidenced by the four breakdowns). Hopefully this will help motivate Lido 14 owners to maintain their boats to a higher standard, etc.

There was talk of when to do this again but no there was no answer to that question. Chris Erickson, one of our race committee, noted that the winter months are the time to do this because the winds are lighter however there is the added risk of cold fronts coming through that could wreak havoc so care must be (and will be) taken on scheduling any further events outside. So rest assured that no regular regattas at ABYC will be sailing the Lido 14’s outside of their usual haven but do keep you eyes and ears open for another event every now and then that sends the Lido 14’s out into the big water (or should that be medium water since we were still inside the breakwater?)!

When the racing was done and the boats put away, Debbie Schlens and supporting crew arranged for massive quantities of pizza, soda, wine, etc. It was a great way to top off a good day’s sailing. I think we’ll all have a good nights sleep tonight! For a $5 entry fee and about $5/head, good sailing, good food, it was one this author’s best times ever sailing in Southern Cal. Congratulations to a job well done Fleet 6!

A big thanks to those that made this special event possible:

Marc & Marc Jr. Schryer (R/C – Start/Finish), Chris Erickson & Dustin Delgado (R/C – mark set & rescue), Diane Gonzalez (Promo), Debbie Schlens (Pizza!), Derek Paulin (Regatta Chair?)

Place	Skipper	Crew	A/B	Sail	Race 1	Race 2	Race 2	Race 3	Total
1^st	John Papadopoulos	Greg Rogers	A	5031	(3)	1	1	1	3
2^nd	John Gresham	Ron Clanton	A	2540	2	(3)	2	2	6
3^rd	Tracy Conn	Travis Ott-Conn	A	4029	4	2	(5)	4	10
4^th	Kevin Brown	Garrett Brown	A	4532	1	4	6	(DNF)	11
5^th	Diane Gonzalez	Ray Gonzalez	A	2833	7	6	(7)	3	16
6^th	Derek Paulin	Noel Naff	B	2755	6	(7)	4	6	16
7^th	Jim Bateman	Geoff Bateman	B	2166	9	(10)	3	5	17
8^th	Carl Eberly	Jeffrey Eberly	B	4630	5	8	DNF	(DNS)	20
9^th	Rachel Serina	Don Serina	B	6140	8	9	8	(DNS)	25
10^th	Debbie Schlens	Jeremy Landergan	A	6136	10	5	DNS	(DNS)	28
11^th	Mark Williams	?	B	6135	11	11	DNF	(DNS)	31
12^th	Stan Sorenson	?	B	none	DNF	DNS	DNS	(DNS)	38

Report by John Papadopoulos