No holiday break for school racing

Some chill, rain and prospects of the coldest Rose Parade in its 125 years on New Year’s Day haven’t heralded fair sailing in midweek, but forecasts call for a sunny shirtsleeve weekend for the nation’s best young sailors for the 30th Rose Bowl Regatta at Long Beach, CA on January 3-4.

Some of the crews from 30 college teams coast to coast and 62 high schools from throughout California who left snow and ice behind may even ask, “This is winter?”

Temperatures should be up to 65 Fahrenheit Saturday and 70 Sunday, under orders from the host United States Sailing Center and Pacific Coast Sailing Foundation.

Led by defending champion Georgetown University of Washington D.C., currently ranked second nationally, and San Diego’s Point Loma High School, all will sail two-person 13-foot, 3-inch CFJ dinghies off the beach at the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier.

Top-ranked Yale isn’t coming, but the next five—Georgetown, Boston College, Navy, College of Charleston and Fordham—will be racing.

There will be seating for spectators on the pier at no charge, with food, refreshments and comfort stations available. Racing will start at 11 a.m. each day, conditions permitting.

Georgetown, led by sophomore skipper Nevin Snow, finished a solid 15 points ahead of the runnerup U.S. Coast Guard Academy last year. The San Diego native estimated that although most of the teams were from outside the state, 70 per cent of the sailors were Californians.

One exception was his crew for the final rounds: Liz Mulvaney, a New York City resident who had never seen the West Coast. But she weighed only 125 pounds, which made her and other girls valuable crew in the light winds.

Later last summer Snow and three other Georgetown sailors represented the U.S. at the World University Championships in Italy, defeating defending champion Australia in the finals for first place.

Point Loma, meanwhile, hardly missed a beat in seizing its eighth consecutive High School Gold fleet championship in the Rose Bowl Regatta.

But this weekend the Pointers may face a stronger task against Newport Harbor, which has won the first two of six events of the PCISA series, followed by Point Loma with a third and second and Long Beach Wilson High School with a second and fourth.

Details: http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/9304

Report and photo by Rich Roberts.