Another year, another spectacular event with fun had by all. 7 boats entered and 6 boats sailed the 7 races over 3 days. Weather for the weekend was a mixed bag of fog, breeze, sun, and heat. Being given the rare opportunity to race inside Long Beach’s federal breakwall the Olson class took full advantage of the smooth waters. Fridays races started with a thick fog over the race course which created some interesting times just trying to find the RC to check in. By the 1:00 start time the fog had lifted just enough to see some of the other competitors on the course and a lite sea breeze began to fill from the west. Race 1 resulted in some challenges for some and mixed results for others. With 2 boats over early (Hoot & White Lightning) and only one returning (Hoot) 5 boats were fighting for the first 1st place of the weekend. That honor went to the always well sailed Blue Star. Hoot fought back and took the 2nd, Grey Goose 3rd, Ichiban 4th, Run Wild 5th and White Lighting with an 8th due to the OCS. Race 2 saw the breeze fill to nice 12-15kts, perfect conditions for the Olsons. Results saw Blue Star again take the bullet with Run Wild in 2nd, Grey Goose 3rd, White Lightning 4th, Hoot 5th, and Ichiban 6th.
Day 2 started much the same as day 1 with the exception of the heavy fog. Racing started 1hr earlier than Friday but with much luck we saw the breeze begin earlier as well. With day 1 standings posted it was still anyone’s game. Race 3 saw a change in the leader board with Hoot taking the bullet, Blue Star 2nd, Grey Goose 3rd, White Lighting 4th, Ichiban 5th, Run Wild 6th. Race 4 resulted with Blue Star taking back the lead, Hoot in 2nd, White Lightning 3rd, Grey Goose 4th, Ichiban 5th, and Run Wild 6th. The last race of the day saw a solid sea breeze with most everyone going to the #3 jib. It also saw some interesting maneuvers on the course. With a port starboard situation just before the weather mark resulting in White Lighting doing a 360 turn and going from 1st to 3rd the final results of the day were as follows; Grey Goose 1st, Hoot 2nd, Blue Star 3rd, White Lightning 4th, Ichiban 5th and Run Wild an 8 DNC due to a faulty halyard sheave.
Day 3 saw sunny skies to begin the day but a shift in direction of the prevailing breeze. With a SSW breeze the course would see a shift to the left which could see some interesting tactics being called. Race 6 saw Blue Star taking the lead followed closely by Hoot in 2nd, Grey Goose 3rd, Run Wild charging back from day 2 in 4th, White Lightning 5th, and Ichiban 6th. The last and final race of the regatta saw a burst of SSW breeze for leg 1 of the 2Lapp course followed by lumpy conditions and a dying breeze on leg 2. With a couple boats changing from a #1 to #3 headsail the dying breeze became a challenge. Results for race 7 were Blue Star 1st, Run Wild 2nd, Hoot 3rd, White Lightning 4th, Grey Goose 5th, and Ichiban 6th.
Overall the weekend was a blast and fun had by all. Final results were Blue Star taking home the 1st place perpetual, Hoot taking home the 2nd, Grey Goose the 3rd, White Lighting the 4th, Run Wild the 5th and Ichiban in 6th. A big thank you to LBRW organizers for hosting such a great regatta. A thanks to those that had to travel from afar to race and finally a thanks to the crew of Hoot for graciously giving me their 2nd place take home trophy, an awesome duffel bag that will come in handy for this years transpac. I’m looking forward to next years Nationals that are planned to be held in Oxnard at CIYC. Finally a congrats to Larry Spencer on becoming the 2014 Olson Class President. See you all next year. All results can be found at www.lbrw.org
Jason Adamson