20th edition of Long Beach Race Week

The 2025 Ullman Sails Long Beach Race week hosted 108 teams for racing in 11 divisions on June 20-22 in Long Beach, CA.

The Moore 24 Class used the event for their US National Championship, attracting 17 competitors for the 9-race series. Kurt Lahr and his team on Safety Third captured the title while also taking home the One Design Boat of the Week award. Rowan Fennell on Paramour placed second and won the Golison & Kent Family Trophy sailing with his wife and two daughters.

“It’s been a phenomenal regatta – I used to sail my I-14 here and it’s amazing to bring our little rocket ships down to a new area, you can’t ask for better champagne sailing than Long Beach,” says Lahr. “I’ve been in the fleet for 23 years and there’s a reason I’m still here. They’re my friends and at the same time they are all world class sailors. Conditions were super challenging; I can’t think of a regatta where I finished this mentally exhausted!”

Six of eleven teams racing in the Catalina 37 class were all-women crews, two of whom made podium. Chris Orlando and his team defended their 2024 Catalina 37 National Championship, easily taking the 2025 title after winning four of seven races. Allie Blecher took second on countback with Alli Bell.

“I want to thank the crew, we’re really fortunate to have a lot of hours and a lot of years in the boat together so we relied on that,” says Orlando. “This year was a tougher fleet than last year, conditions were challenging all weekend with not a lot of obvious lanes upwind and you really had to work on solid fleet management.”

Peter Wagner’s J/111 Skeleton Key, racing Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week for the second consecutive year, took home his second win in class prevailing in six of seven races sailed. Steve Flam on Flambouyant took second followed by John Staff on Obsidian in third. Skeleton Key also won the J/111 Pacific Coast Championship.

“I always love sailing Long Beach, the conditions are spectacular and while it wasn’t prototypical Long Beach conditions, it was still good racing,” says Wagner. “It was our first-ever Pacific Coast Championship regatta for the J/111 fleet so that added some fun to the whole event. It’s really great to see the numbers in the fleet growing and the level of competition getting higher and higher as more good sailors jump into the class.”

In the J/70 fleet, Ryan Cox took seven bullets over seven races, finishing with a significant 18-point lead on second place Nunuhunu, owned by Arnaud Benahmed. Cake, owned/skippered by Scott Deardorff took third.

“Last year we only had seven J/70s in the fleet and this year we had 12 racing; it’s a great time for the class here and we’re happy that the fleet is doing well,” says Cox. “It was a great event and I think I’ve been lucky to be racing two J/70s – my boat which I drive and another boat on the east coast where I trim, so I have really learned a lot about the boat in the past few years.”

Robbie King and Karla Reinhardt maintained their lead position in the Melges 15 class to finish the regatta with 15 points. Morgan Paxhia sailing his boat Enigma with his sister Emily Paxhia took second with 20 points, and Tim Zimmerman finished third with 25 points. A Brit who moved to Los Angeles four years ago to complete a PhD at CalTech in Pasadena, this was King’s first regatta in the Melges 15, and his first Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week.

“It was a super fun weekend, it was great to be out there,” says King. “Huge thanks to my crew Karla for taking me and letting me drive her boat this weekend. It was a really tough fleet and the racing tight. Our main edge was our downwind boat speed which got us out of some tricky spots. We were always able to pass boats downwind.”

Random Leg A winner Dan Murphy on his J/125 Javelin finished with 35 points, Steven Mee on the Sydney 41 Kibosh took second with 11 points, and third place went to Raymond Godwin on Vigilante, a Concordia 47 who finished with 12.5 points. Murphy also took home the Campbell Cup, a perpetual trophy awarded to the PHRF Big Boat Class winner.

“We always have a great time at Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week,” says Murphy. “This year we had an absolutely fantastic time with the courses, the race committee and most importantly with my crew who have been with me since I bought Javelin 21 years ago. We’ve done five LBRW events in the boat and Random Leg races have always been a good fit for us.”

Crushing it in the J/109 class, Bob Little – owner/skipper of Blue Crush – took home the J/109 West Coast Championship, finishing first with 4 bullets over 4 races, followed by Jack Meyer on Zephyr and Peter Nelson on his boat Spray.

Pulling off the addition of random legs combined with buoy racing for two classes this year, John Busch, LBYC regatta co-chair and deputy race officer for the Charlie Course, notes that Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week is always about the competitors first.

“We were pleased to accommodate some classes who wanted to sail some random leg racing along with buoy racing,” says Busch. “The J/109 class had 2 days of random leg and finished off with 2 buoy races to get the gamut of Long Beach experience, and the Moore 24 class typically have a long-distance race for their National Championship, so they had a buoy race and a random leg distance race to finish up their Nationals. We haven’t done that before, but I see that it may become a trend going forward.”

The race for first in Random Leg B came down to the last race, with Mark Stratton on the J/122 Cheeky taking the tie breaker for first with Derek Williamson who finished second on his new-to-him ID35 Relentless; both were just one point ahead of John McEntire who finished third on his Santa Cruz 37 Encore. Cheeky also won the Boat of the Week award.

The Beneteau 36.7 fleet gathers at Ullman Sails LBRW to race Saturday and Sunday, and in his second year competing at Ullman Sails LBRW, Eric Hanson, owner/skipper of GIVENHO, won in class again. Completing the podium was John Sivak in second and Mark Williams in third

Sailing his Melges 32 The Baby Screams in PHRF A, Jeff Janov led the class solidly throughout, finishing with seven bullets after seven races – a significant lead over Jack LeMaire on the Melges 32 Iris who finished in second with 21 points. Dirk Freeland made the podium on his Cape 31 Full Send, finishing third with 26 points.

John Snook racing on his J/120 JIM maintained his lead in PHRF B to win class with 10 points. Heinz Butner on Raptor II, a J112E, took second with 13 points, and Chris Raab took third on the J/105 Swordfish with 24 points.

The Travel Trophy, awarded to the boat owner who traveled the farthest distance based on hometown, went to Mackenzie Cook’s team on the Moore 24 Nobody’s Girl. Cook hails from Kailua, HI.

Chuck Clay, ABYC Staff Commodore and past regatta chairman, has been involved in Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week since 2011 and has continued his involvement because he wanted to see the event continue to grow. He used to sail it before switching to the organizational side, winning the Catalina 37 class five times representing ABYC.

“It is just such a great event for the participants and for both clubs who come together to organize the event,” says Clay. “I always felt that there is a lot of value in this regatta, and I wanted to keep expanding it as the biggest regatta on the West Coast. I love that it brings everybody together to have a good sail and a lot of fun.”

Event information – Results – Facebook

Source: Michelle Slade