Friday, July 24, 2015

Santa Barbara- King Harbor Race Preview

J/125 and J/145 sailing Santa Barbara to King Harbor race (Santa Barbara, CA)- The 2015 Santa Barbara to King Harbor race, co-hosted by Santa Barbara YC and King Harbor YC, will start off their 81nm distance race (a.k.a. “sprint”) this coming Friday afternoon around 1300 hrs.  The race has been a tradition for Santa Barbara and King Harbor sailors for 42 years and typically fields over 50 entries per year.  So far, 51 boats have registered and are hoping that “classic” SB-KH weather conditions predominate for the tour through the Channel Islands, around Anacapa Island to port and into the finish line south of Los Angeles, just below the gorgeous hillsides of Palos Verdes peninsula.

The PHRF Division is massive, with 32 boats vying for Division honors overall as well as class awards.  Top of the heap for J/Teams in terms of elapsed honors should be Dr Laura Schlessinger’s J/125 WARRIOR.  After winning her class last year on her J/88 CRAZY EIGHTS (and just missing Overall honors by minutes), she’s hoping to repeat that performance this weekend.  Chasing her team down the track will be a local KHYC boat, the J/111 STAMPEDE sailed by Glenn Griley (a past Long Beach PHRF Class winner in the same boat).  Other J/Teams in the hunt should be Rich Festa’s J/120 PRIVATE RESIDENCE, Tom Cullens’ J/109 FUEGO from SBYC, Tom Hinkle’s J/40 WHITE LIGHT, Brian Kerr’s J/92 DOUBLE DOWN, and Denise Imhoff’s J/22 FLEEBOFLAM (the smallest boat in the fleet at 186 PHRF and, scarily enough, could easily be an overall winner!).  For more Santa Barbara- King Harbor sailing information