I've been doing the Long Beach races for the past 3 or 4 years and have had a great time each year. In summary, there are two regattas on back-to-back weekends, both have very good competition, good race committees, and sailing conditions which typically involve warm water, 5 to 20 knots of breeze, and no foul weather gear.

The first regatta is Long Beach Race Week and is run by the Long Beach YC (www.lbyc.org). There is a Friday night race which is just a warm-up and does not count. There are 5 races which count, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. All races are windward-leeward using inflatable marks and leeward gates. After racing on both Saturday and Sunday there are parties around the pool at LBYC with free food and free rum. LBYC has no launching facilities, but we've always been able to use the hoists at the Alamitos Bay YC (which is very close to LBYC). Between regattas we have kept our boat and trailer in the ABYC yard which meant we didn't have to drop the mast.

The second regatta is North Sails Race Week. This is run by Premiere Racing, www.premiere-racing.com and is not affiliated with a yacht club. The Race Headquarters is the Seaport Marina Hotel which is in the same harbor as the LBYC so everything is pretty much in the same general area as the weekend before. There are 5 races in this series with 2 on Friday, 2 on Saturday, and 1 on Sunday. Again you can launch at ABYC.

If I were only going to do 1 regatta, I would do Long Beach Race Week. The racing and RC work is just as good as with the North Sails Regatta, but the entry cost is less and the parties are better.

cheers

Dan

:: I have been approached about some racing down in
:: Southern California. The Coastal Cup would serve as a
:: feeder race and then the following weekend would be some
:: great buoy racing down in Long Beach. I need to know how
:: many boats would be interested in participating in this.
:: Post your comments here on the message board.
::
:: Thanks,
::
:: Jason