Schock 35 Racing News

"...one of the toughest amateur one-design fleets in the country" Rich Roberts, The Log, October 2001 Join the fun - race a Schock 35!!!

What a fun and exciting three days from August 24 – 26, 2007. The Schock 35 Nationals was held in Marina del Rey, and hosted by Santa Monica Windjammers Yacht Club. Deliveries were done the week before. John Heaney performed measurements throughout the week. The dreaded weigh-in started at 8:30 AM Friday morning. Once that was done, teams rushed off for breakfast to help with the hunger pains from the starvation that they endured throughout the week. Back at the docks last minute preparation were being performed on the boats. Then off to the racecourse, which was in front of the Venice Beach Pier. Everyone practiced a bit with their new sails. We had our first warning at 12:25 PM. The wind fluctuated throughout the day between 8 to 14 knots with a steep two-foot swell.

Race 1 was two laps around the course. Racing was tight as all the boats rounded the marks within a few feet from each other. The first boat to finish was Power Play followed by MAKO in second then Voodoo Doll in third.

Race 2 was two laps; the start was a little more intense. MAKO and Perfect Circle were coming up to the line with a boat length in between them; Outlier tried to sneak in but was denied by Perfect Circle. Outlier tried to bail out but as they were turning away they caught the back of MAKO’s stern. First boat to finish was Power Play followed by Voodoo Doll in second then Strategem in third.

Race 3 was two laps around the course. MAKO finished first followed by Power Play in second then Code Blue in third.

Friday’s racing wrapped up with Power Play in first with 4 points, followed by MAKO with 8 points. Perfect Circle had 12 points followed by Voodoo Doll with 13 points. Strategem had 16 points followed by JoAnn and Code Blue tied with 18 points. Outlier had 22 followed by Veloce with 25 points. After race festivities included the Gutter Regatta that was won by Voodoo Doll who also took honors for the best looking boat. In second was Veloce and third was Outlier. Trent from Outlier had the best acceptance speech, “I built a ketch and blew real hard.”

Saturday the wind and sea conditions were pretty close to the previous day. On MAKO they knew they had to race without making any mistakes and be consistent.

Race 4 was two laps around and at the start three boats were a little aggressive and were called over early. Veloce was the first boat around the weather mark followed by MAKO. Same at the leeward mark but MAKO was hot on their tail. Once Veloce tacked over onto the starboard board MAKO was able to extend out a bit and tack over and come down over the top of them. MAKO passed Veloce before the weather mark and was able to finish first followed by Veloce in second then Code Blue in third.

Race 5 was two laps around the course. MAKO finished first followed by Power Play in second and JoAnn in third.

Race 6 the final race of Saturday was again two laps around. At the start MAKO and Power Play were battling it out at the starting line. MAKO came down the line as Code Blue came up from underneath taking them up. MAKO with nowhere to go tried to go over the top but was unable and Code Blue hit them in the stern. In the process MAKO fouled Outlier and as they went back over to return to the line. MAKO decided to do a 1,080 for all the boats they fouled. Yes, that’s right, a 1,080. That’s three penalty turns, then MAKO was off to catch up to the rest of the fleet. First boat to finish was Outlier, their first, first place finish in a Schock 35 Regatta since Richard Fish took ownership in 2005. Rumor has it that that there is a significant sandwich ration upgrade on Outlier since the bullet. They were followed by Strategem in second and Code Blue in third.

With Saturday’s results it was MAKO that had taken the lead with 16 points followed by Power Play with 17 points. Voodoo Doll and Code Blue were tied with 31 points followed by Strategem and Outlier with 32 points. JoAnn had 33 points; Perfect Circle had 34 followed by Veloce with 45 points. Talk about a close point spread. First place was battling it out with two boats but third place it was the rest of the fleet within striking distance. It could be anybody’s game.

Dinner and the season trophy presentation were held upstairs at Santa Monica Windjammers Yacht Club. The dinner was an outstanding buffet with a choice of chicken or salmon. The Master of Ceremonies was none other than Class President Steve Murphy. The trophies that were awarded were for the Rookie Of The Year Award. President Steve Murphy made an executive decision to present the award to two outstanding competitors boat partners Bruce Bennett and Bob Marcus from Code Blue, and Kim Stuart from Voodoo Doll. The Good Guy Award went to David Michaelis. The coveted Wooden Spoon Award went to Kim Stuart. Kim was honored with this award for protesting the whole Schock 35 fleet at LBRW for going around the wrong mark, except it was Kim that went to the wrong mark. The finale was the Season High Point Championship that went to Don and David Michaelis and the crew of MAKO.

Sunday was a very strange day for breeze. We had rain, lightning and 0-16 knot wind recorded within minutes of the 7^th race. There was no wind at the starting time so the race was postponed. Most of the fleet went as far as dropping their mains so that they didn’t slap around. Some crewmembers went swimming while others performed sneak attacks like JoAnn bombarding MAKO with chocolate candy, or like Voodoo Doll sacrificing the purple chicken. After what seemed like a half a day delay the race committee was able to get the first race of the day off.

Race 7 was twice around. Don Michaelis was wearing his new headgear for the start. For those who didn’t see it, it was a batter’s helmet with targets. Perfect Circle and MAKO were able to lead the fleet around the marks. MAKO finished first followed by Perfect Circle in second and Veloce in third.

Race 8 the wind kept shifting 180 degrees every few minutes. After an hour of waiting through rain, several shifts and false starts, we finally were able to get off the starting line. First to finish was Strategem followed by Code Blue in second and Outlier in third.

The series ended with MAKO claiming the victory for the 2007 Schock 35 Nationals, with four first place finishes totaling 22 points for the Nationals. Don and David Michaelis finally accomplished a four-year dream. Thank you to this year’s MAKO crew of Dan Shine, Steve Lechlitner, Edie Bush, Ron Wood, Jim Robinson, Jon Robinson, Dave Dodge, Chris Moore, Jessica Costa, Jon Rohr and Jeremy Davidson for putting forth the effort to win both the Schock 35 Class High Point Series and the Schock 35 Nationals. And to those wondering, NO, MAKO is not going up for sale.

Steve Arkle and his crew of Power Play earned second place with 28 points. Rookie Of The Year, Bruce Bennett and Bob Marcus of Code Blue, won third place with 39 points. Mark Hinrichs of Strategem won fourth place with 41 points. Fifth, sixth and seventh places were tied with 44 points with the tie breaker going to Richard Fish of Outlier (5), followed by Fred Young of Perfect Circle (6) then Steve Murphy of JoAnn (7). Kim Stuart of Voodoo Doll earned eighth place with 47 points and John Heaney of Veloce wrapped it up with 52 points for ninth place. Congratulations to all the skippers and their crews for an outstanding performance. Veloce had two finishes in the top three. Voodoo Doll had two finishes in the top three. Every boat had at least one finish in the top three throughout this regatta. All in all a very competitive fleet marked the 2007 Schock 35 Nationals.

David’s crew threw him into the harbor in celebration – a tradition amongst winning teams. Although this year it was the whole team that was thrown in by each other. Trophies were awarded after the MAKO crew came out of the water.

Thank you Santa Monica Windjammers Yacht Club for hosting this event. Thank you Race Chairman and PRO, Craig Yandow, and his race committee, who did a phenomenal job with course settings and communication. Finally, thank you goes to this year’s Schock 35 Event Chairs Kim Stuart and Fred Young and also to Class President Steve Murphy for all their hard work.

2007 SCHOCK 35 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
PLACE	BOAT	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	TOTAL
1	Mako	2	5	1	1	1	6	1	5	22
2	Power Play	1	1	2	4	2	7	4	7	28
3	Code Blue	5	10	3	3	7	3	6	2	39
4	Strategem	8	3	5	6	8	2	8	1	41
5	Outlier	7	8	7	5	4	1	9	3	44
6	Perfect Circle	4	4	4	8	6	8	2	8	44
7	JoAnn	6	6	6	7	3	5	5	6	44
8	Voodoo Doll	3	2	8	9	5	4	7	9	47
9	Veloce	9	7	9	2	9	9	3	4	52

TROPIES AND AWARDS PRESENTED AT 2007 SCHOCK NATIONALS
TROPHY	WINNERS
National Championship	Mako
National Season Hi Point Championship	Mako
Wooden Spoon	Voodoo Doll
Good Guy Award	Dave Michaelis
Rookie(s) Of The Year	Voodoo Doll & Code Blue
Gutter Regatta	(1) Voodoo Doll (2) Veloce (3) Outlier "Best Of Show" Voodoo Doll

This was a new event for the Schock 35 class. We couldn’t ask for better Schock 35 conditions. The wind was blowing from 7 to 12 knots, there was a small swell and beautiful sunshine. The race committee set up a windward, leeward course with gates, a Schock 35 class favorite.

On Saturday, Race 1 was started after a short postponement. The course was three times around. MAKO had their best start of the year. They tried to execute a plan to cover Power Play but with all that clean air they took off and led the fleet around the course. MAKO finished first followed by Veloce then JoAnn.

Race 2 was twice around the buoys. With JoAnn pulling off the victory followed by Code Blue then MAKO.

Race 3 was twice around the buoys. Again it was JoAnn claiming victory followed by Perfect Circle then Power Play.

After the racing, everyone headed back to SCCYC to have a few tacos and drinks. Results were posted showing JoAnn in the lead with 5 points followed by MAKO with 9 points, Perfect Circle had 11 points, Power Play had 15 points, Code Blue, Outlier and Voloce were tied with 16 points, Voodoo Doll had 22 points followed by Strategem with 26 points.

On Sunday, Race 4 was twice around. MAKO fouled Power Play at the start and had to perform their 360. MAKO found themselves at the leeward mark with Veloce and Outlier. MAKO believing that they had an overlap at the mark was not given any room by Voloce and MAKO ended up fouling Voloce. Having to perform another 360. Bad race for MAKO. Code Blue finished first followed by Power Play then JoAnn.

Race 5 was three laps around the course. Again MAKO had a bad start sequence and ended up port tacking across the line behind everyone. But with great tenacity and skill they were able to pass all the boats in the fleet except for JoAnn who came up with another 1^st place followed by MAKO and in third was Power Play.

Congratulations to Steve Murphy and the crew of JoAnn for winning their first High Point Series. They were followed by MAKO in second and Power Play in third.

Thank you South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club and Commodore Jerry Magnussen, as PRO. Special thanks goes to Stu Coleman, Bob Kellock and Kelly Cantley for making this a great event.

This was the final regatta of the 2007 Schock 35 High Point series. Congratulations David and Don Michaelis of MAKO and their crew for winning the overall Schock 35 High Point season, with Power Play second and JoAnn third.

MAKO Takes All Honors With Runaway Performance At Cal Race Week And Strategem Has An Outstanding Saturday

Flash back 9 years ago to May 31, 1999. It was the inaugural Cal Race Week. The Schock 35 fleet had 18 boats on the line. It was Mark Hinrichs’ first year racing Strategem. Alos racing at that time, and currently campaigning in our fleet, were Steve Arkle and Tom McQuade of Power Play. The 1999 top finishers were Mischief, Whistler and Water Moccasin.

For 9 consecutive years, the Schock 35’s have been racing at Cal Race Week. Cal Yacht Club continues to host a premiere regatta. This year, the Schock 35’s were on Course 2 along with the J105’s, J109’s and J80’s. The wind was light, ranging 7 to 10 knots all day.

Race 1 found Power Play in first place, MAKO in second place and Strategem in third place. JoAnn was a minute behind on the start countdown and found themselves diving down through the top of the line to avoid the starting boats.

Race 2 Strategem was first place followed by MAKO in second place and Code Blue in third.

Race 3 saw JoAnn in first place followed by MAKO in second place and Strategem in third.

Mark Hinrichs had an outstanding Saturday with one first place finish that left him in second place, being only one point out of first place.

Racing was so tight on Saturday that three boats Code Blue (11), JoAnn (12), and Power Play (12) were within a point of each other for third place. First place MAKO (6) and second place Strategem (7) were a point away from each other. Back at the docks Cal Yacht Club had kegs flowing on the docks and a delicious buffet set up for dinner.

Race 4: Code Blue was first place followed by MAKO in second and Power Play in third.

Race 5: MAKO not trying to break their consistency wanted to slow down and get another second but the racing was so tight between 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th that they didn’t dare. Continuing on, MAKO placed first followed by JoAnn in second and Power Play in third.

For the first time in a High Point series since Cal Race Week 2000, a different boat won first place in each of the five races. Congratulations Power Play, Strategem, JoAnn, Code Blue and MAKO for each winning one race.

Congratulations to MAKO, the boat with the most consistent score of four 2nds and a 1^st place to win first place overall in the Schock 35 class. Additionally, MAKO was awarded the Jimmy Morris Memorial Trophy and will be named on the Fred F. Harris Trophy along with all winners of the one-design classes. Code Blue earned second place with 17 points and JoAnn won the tiebreaker with Power Play to claim third place with 18 points.

Thank you Cal Yacht Club’s staff for putting on a wonderful event and a special thank you goes to the Regatta Chairs Marylyn Hoenemeyer and Tom O’Connor, PRO Richard Mainland and Commodore Frank Glynn.

Yachting Cup…. What a great weekend - beautiful weather with nice wind and sunny skies. The Schock 35 course was 3 miles south of the Zuniga jetty. Only six boats made it for this event which made the racing all that more competitive. With five races, first place changed hands five times, with ties as well for second place. That is what competitive racing is all about.

Race 1 was a windward leeward course twice around. MAKO was still out practicing as the start prep was going on. They rushed down with their spinnaker up and made it to the line with a minute to spare rounding the pin end of the start line with a nice takedown. Good job Dan Shine and Steve Lechlitner. All six boats generally met at each mark as close to the same time on each leg. With plenty of kelp, floss lines and kelp sticks were kept close by. Power Play prevailed as the first boat to finish, followed by Code Blue in second and MAKO in third.

Race 2 saw similar wind conditions but the swells seemed to pick up a bit more. Again it was tight racing around the course. This time it was Steve Murphy and crew of JoAnn that fought hard to earn a first place followed by Code Blue with second place and Outlier finishing third.

Race 3 had an added twist with an up wind finish. On preparing for race three, MAKO backed down and was able to loose their forest of kelp that was stuck to the bottom of the boat. That seemed to work for MAKO as they were able to finish first followed by Power Play with a second and Outlier with a third.

By the time we made it back to the docks and put the boats away the party on the lawn at San Diego Yacht Club was in full swing. Results were being posted for all the classes except for the Schock 35’s. There was a protest between two boats in our class that ended up being dropped. Steve Arkle and Tom McQuade of Power Play were tied for first place with Don & David Michaelis of MAKO with 8 points for both teams. Second place was tied between Steve Murphy of JoAnn and Bruce Bennett and Bob Marcus of Code Blue with 9 points. Richard Fish and crew had 11 points. Kim Stuart and her new crew had 19 points. It doesn’t get much closer in a point spread than that. Any mistake and it could cost you and your team the overall win of the regatta. A few of the teams had a great dinner at Fiddlers Green. They were showing pictures of the day’s event on the monitors all around the resturaunt.

Sunday the wind was a bit more intense with the swells a little steeper and an annoying wind chop on top of the water.

Race 4 started with JoAnn’s genoa halyard shackle breaking right at the start. The bow crew dropped the H1 and secured another halyard and reset quickly 10 yards past the start line. Great hustle by James Yanos, Mike Stout and Karen Campbell. Lucky for them Code Blue, MAKO and Power Play were all over early and had to turn around and go back through the line and get cleared. MAKO knew that they had to cover Power Play to stay ahead of them and that is what they did for the entire race. Call it luck or great skill; JoAnn was able to pull off the first place even with their late start. They were followed by MAKO taking second and Power Play in third.

Race 5 was three laps with an upwind finish. JoAnn and MAKO were tied for first place with Power Play one point behind. The wind was pumped up along with the swells and chop. This time MAKO went in knowing that they had to cover both JoAnn and Power Play. The dual ensued, MAKO came across on starboard just in front of JoAnn and MAKO executed the perfect lee bow onto port, protecting their lead over JoAnn. JoAnn decided on their first leeward mark that they wanted to practice spinnaker recovery with most of the spinnaker between the bow and stern or were they just looking for a shrimp cocktail. The Schock 35 fleet ended up mixed in with the J105 fleet making it a 27-boat fleet around the marks. We had some pretty tight maneuvers and mark roundings with the J fleet. MAKO finished in first place followed by Power Play in second and Code Blue in third.

It was a fun and exciting weekend of racing. Yachting Cup took all the boats out of their home turfs. As usual with Schock racing, it came down to those who made the least amount of mistakes took home the trophies.

Congratulations to team MAKO for first place overall by racing the most consistent with two first and one second. MAKO’s tactician Jeremy Davidson has been racing in this fleet since the early days on Buttercup and up through Whiplash. This was his first time winning Yachting Cup. Second place was earned by Power Play and third by JoAnn.

Richard Fish of Outlier had a few other Schock 35 owners out on his boat this weekend. They were Joe Braun, owner of Shaman based out of Dana Point, who raced both days and Barry Van Ness, owner of Cool Azul based out of Oceanside, who trimmed and helped with tactics on Sunday. Hopefully this will encourage them to come out and play with all of us more often.

Thank you San Diego Yacht Club for hosting a wonderful event and to PRO Wayne Coulon, Regatta Manager Jeff Johnson, Regatta Administrator Jared Wohlgemuth, Dock Master Tony Reese, Regatta Chair Karen Yingling, Commodore A. James Moxham, III, and the rest of the crew at San Diego Yacht Club.

Talk about a slow journey. You could have walked to Ensenada faster. It started out with the all-girl crew and Kim from Voodoo Doll telling everyone that they will be waiting for us at El Cid’s for an early dinner Saturday night. The Schock 35’s (Afterschock, MAKO, Outlier, Voodoo Doll and Whiplash) were in a mixed class of 72 to 75 ratings so we had the J35’s and Choate 40’s, Swan 42 and Ben 42, J36 & J37 to race against.

Our start was at 12:50. There was a steady wind on the nose all afternoon and into the next morning. MAKO stuck to rhumb line down the course. We were in the middle of the fleet watching some go inside and others going outside. We had a steady breeze and seemed to be making good time. We ate a great homemade clam chowder that co-skipper Ron Wood prepared. We passed the Coronado Islands at 4:30am with a feeling that we would be in by noon if this speed kept up. Our real motivation to be in by noon was not to eat James’ meal of Wonder Bread and bologna sandwiches for lunch. Edie made a great egg casserole for breakfast using one of my wife’s recipes. But the noon ETA was not going to happen. At 6:30AM, the wind shut off and so began the great drift fest. We plugged away at it all day with a small breeze here and there but nothing consistent. At 3:00pm Saturday afternoon as boats were starting to converge into Todos Santos Bay, we where right next to another Shock 35, Afterschock, and two J35’s, Fast Lane and Craic. It was pretty coincidental that four boats that started together then raced down the coast for 120 miles and then be that close to each other so close to the finish. MAKO decided that there was more wind out towards the island so off we went. The two J35’s decided to go into shore. Afterschock stayed in the middle. Well, going towards shore paid off and the J35’s finished before both Schocks. We were a mile from the finish line at 5:00pm. We could see it but we could not get there. Finally, MAKO finished at 9:30PM Saturday night.

After arriving at the harbor and putting the boat away, Team MAKO headed up to the Bahia Hotel to turn in our timecard. To our surprise, we had finished third in class and the first Schock 35 to finish. We checked at the El Cid for the girls from Voodoo Doll, but we couldn’t find them. Off to the taco stands we went for dinner that was much better than the can of chili that I had in reserve for an emergency dinner.

Not only did MAKO win the W. D. “Bill” Schock Memorial Trophy, but also Ray Godwin was more than happy to pass on the “El Jefe” award to David Michaelis. We are trying to get the Whiplash award from the previous recipient so that it can be presented to the new recipient that will be revealed at a later date. The second Schock to finish was Afterschock 15 minutes behind MAKO. Outlier finished third and the girls from Voodoo Doll stuck it out and finished Sunday morning before the final call. The new owners of Whiplash may have made the smartest move in some peoples mind and turned into San Diego Saturday morning.

I know it might sound like this year’s Ensenada was a miserable sail but you got to keep asking yourself, “Why do I keep coming back every year?” Answer: because it’s so much fun to sail in all kinds of different conditions and you need to test yourself.

Another exciting weekend of one design racing. This time it was in Marina del Rey at Cal Yacht Club’s Spring Keelboat Regatta. CYC did another outstanding job of on the water race management and on shore hospitality with hosted drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and trophies.

Wind conditions varied both days with 4 to 12 knots and 5 to 20 degree shifts. The favored side of the course also shifted especially on Saturday with the right side on the first race and the left side on the second and third races.

Race 1 was a tough light wind ride around the course. At one time JoAnn appeared to be the first boat around the weather mark. But due to the light winds and current, it was hard to pinch around the mark and they came to a dead stop as Power Play, MAKO and Veloce passed them. That was also the order of the finishes.

Race 2 was one lap around. Any mistakes and it would cost you as there wasn’t the opportunity to make up any ground. Outlier found themselves alone on the left side tacking on a huge header that shot them way out in front of the fleet and first around the weather mark. Strategem looked to be the second boat but they were trying to pinch around the mark and were eventually over taken by Power Play. As Strategem rounded the mark, MAKO was coming in fast and tried to go underneath them and ended up clipping Strategem’s horseshoe on the back of their stern pulpit. MAKO rounded the mark and had to perform their 720-penalty turn that left them at the back of the pack. Power Play was able to make it past Outlier at the leeward mark rounding. The race finished with Power Play 1^st, Outlier 2^nd and Voodoo Doll in 3^rd.

Race 3 got underway this time it was two times around. MAKO finished first followed by Power Play and then Outlier.

Close competition was observed at the end of the day on Saturday with three boats having a two point spread for second place and three boats having a two point spread for fifth place. In this tight competitive racing, it was the mistakes that made the difference for the final results. Richard Fish has informed us that his crew from Outlier has had a taste of what it’s like to be at the top of the class, and plan on being there a lot more often.

Race 4, Sunday’s conditions mirrored the previous day. MAKO was off on a great beat to the weather mark catching the fleet in front of them. They noticed that after a Farr 40 rounded a weather mark without hoisting their spinnaker. It appeared they were going to the next mark. MAKO looked back as Power Play tacked back towards the other mark. As MAKO tacked to starboard towards the other mark, Power Play tacked back to port going back towards the wrong mark. So with MAKO feeling that the locals on Power Play knew the area better, it probably was the mark. MAKO tacked back. Then Power Play tacked back onto starboard towards the correct mark so MAKO tacked back but over stood the mark. Rumor has it that both Power Plan and MAKO are being considered as co-recipients for the Wooden Spoon Award. Perfect Circle was able to find the correct weather mark and was the first boat around. They were followed by Power Play and MAKO. On the last quarter of a mile before Perfect Circle crossed the finish line, the crew of Perfect Circle let go a steady stream of flowers flow in honor of their shipmate, Glenn Adams, who recently passed away. MAKO and JoAnn followed Perfect Circle.

Race 5 had Outlier focused on one thing… They had to beat JoAnn in the final race to end up third for the regatta. Outlier appeared to be holding true to that thought until they had to pick their way through a swarm (or is it gaggle? Herd? Flock?) of Martins at the leeward mark. JoAnn was able to sneak by Outlier but couldn’t catch Power Play. The raced finished with MAKO 1^st, Power Play 2^nd and JoAnn 3^rd.

Congratulations to Sparkle and the Power Play crew for their first 1^st place in a Shock 35 High Point Series. MAKO finished 2^nd and JoAnn finished 3^rd.

Perfect Circle was unable to race on Saturday due to Glen Adams passing. Fred Young and crew attended a service that was being held that afternoon. Glen was a valued member to the Perfect Circle team. He was the first crewmember following the purchase of the first Perfect Circle in 2002. Glen participated in many of the deliveries up and down the coast. Glen was well liked by everyone that knew him in the Schock 35 fleet. So the next time you have a frozen pineapple rum beverage, please hold it up and give a toast to the memory of Glen Adams.

After participating in the fleet for over 10 years, two of our top dogs have left the class to pursue other challenges thus opening the question, “Who will move up the ladder this year?“

We have some new faces in the fleet this year. We would like to welcome Bruce Bennett and Bob Marcus who purchased Ripple. They formerly owned Redline, a Santana 30/30, and were very competitive in both the one design class and PHRF racing. They appear to be very competitive in the Schock 35 fleet as well. We also have another new owner but no stranger to our fleet, Kim Stuart, who was racing on Booyaa. Kim purchased Booyaa and has changed its name to Voodoo Doll. Richard Fish is back racing with a new crew of Outlier. Thanks to all for stepping up and continuing to keep our class moving into the future.

Saturday of Midwinters Weekend was a very interesting day. The course was south of Alamitos Bay off Sunset Beach. The wind started at 16 to 18 knots northwesterly, aka Santa Ana Winds. The weather mark was set at the beach and the leeward mark was set outside.

Race 1: The wind dropped down to 10 to 14 knots. The chase was on around the course and it was the usual finish with Ripple taking the bullet. Hey wait a minute, that’s a completely different crew and skippers on board. Yes! The new Ripple had scored a 1st place in the first race of their first High Point Series in the Schock 35 Fleet. The 2nd place boat was MAKO. The 3rd was Power Play.

Race 2: The wind shifted to the southwest and a new course was set. The wind was fluctuating between 5 to 10 knots. MAKO was buried at the start and fought their way through the fleet at the second leeward mark rounding. JoAnn was in first followed by Power Play, Ripple and MAKO. The leaders went right and MAKO went left. When MAKO tacked back over to the right a huge lift came through letting MAKO close reach to the weather mark in front of the others, pulling off their first 1st place finish in a race in the Schock 35 Fleet High Point Series. MAKO was followed by Power Play in 2nd and JoAnn in 3rd place.

Race 3 had similar conditions. On the first leeward mark, it was MAKO and JoAnn battling down the course. At the leeward mark, JoAnn stuck their nose in a place where it didn’t belong and MAKO forced JoAnn up, resulting in JoAnn hitting the mark. After taking their turns, JoAnn was still able to keep the rest of the fleet below them. The end result: MAKO 1st, Power Play 2nd and JoAnn 3rd.

After returning to the docks, most of the crews enjoyed the hot munchies and the bar at Long Beach Yacht Club with the exchanging stories. The race results where posted as follows: MAKO 1st with 4 points, Power Play 2nd with 7 points, JoAnn and Ripple tied with 10 points for 3rd, Outlier and Strategem tied with 17 points for 5th, Voodoo Doll 19 points for 7th, Veloce 24 points for 8th and Perfect Circle with 27 points.

Sunday morning the game faces where put on and out we went down the coast in 15 to 18 knots of breeze with a two to three foot swell coming from the south. The conditions were totally different day than on Saturday.

Race 4 got underway. It was a heavy #3 all day. JoAnn was looking real good on the fleet then all of a sudden their main halyard broke. They re-hoisted their main with a spinnaker halyard and even though the hoist looked 18” below the band they sailed right back into the thick of things with a 4th place finish. Good work, JoAnn. MAKO was able to pass underneath them and where fourth around the weather mark with Power Play right next to them. The dual ensued between Power Play and MAKO. MAKO’s bowman, Dan Shine, commented on the nice 35-foot surfboard as he hung ten off the bow as they surfed down a wave catching 12 knots on the speedo. Perfect Circle was first around the course with a heavy #1 headsail but overstood the finish line thinking it was a 3 lapper which allowed MAKO to sneak in. The race finished with MAKO 1st, Perfect Circle 2nd and Ripple captured the 3rd.

Race 5 had the same intensity as the previous race with the swells and the winds piping up with gusts over 20 knots. Majority of the teams had several “adrenaline moments.” During a jibe, Outlier put one of their crewmembers 4 feet outside the rail, hanging onto the spinnaker pole. Luckily, they were able to get him back on board. MAKO finished 1st and JoAnn finished 2nd. 3rd place was a battle between Power Play and Ripple. It came down to the last two feet before the finish. Ripple was able to shoot through the line to take the lead for 3rd place.

It was close competition and a great course. Long Beach Yacht Club’s PRO did an excellent job hosting the Schock 35’s for Midwinter Regatta. A special “thank you” goes to Long Beach Yacht Club’s Commodore Mike Van Dyke, SCYA Director Richard Craven and LBYC’s Go-To-Guy, Alex Uniack.

Overall, it appeared that the boats in the 5th through 9th places changed scores just as many times as the boats in 2nd to 4th. The quality of racing is not better or worse, it is one design. Congratulations to team MAKO on their first High Point Series 1st place with four 1st places, Ripple with 2nd place for their first High Point Series and Power Play with 3rd place.