1999 Old News

Jim Long In Memoriam: We are sad to report that Jim Long has passed away from a pulmonary embolism suffered as a probable complication from coronary bypass surgery. Jim was present just last week to enjoy the MdR Annual Fleet party and was enthusiastic about his recovery and the coming racing season. Jim and the Troublemaker crew were coming off a very successful year as the Corinthian Fleet champions for 1999. His competitive spirit, his post race parties, his humor and especially his presence will all be missed.

New Racing Rules:

Are you up on the changes for 2000? Did you know that "hunting" has been curtailed? Check out the new rules changes at: http://www.sailing.org/newrules/dec99supp.html

Congratulations:

Since Nationals, many of you have been busy scooping up the silver plated hardware up and down the coast. The ones I know about are:

Stratagem -- Winner of the 1999 Dana Point Harbor Championship

Troublemaker -- Winner of the 1999 Santa Monica Bay Championship Regatta (repeat from 1998)

Outlier -- 1999 Fleet 3 Champion (also 1996 winner)

Schock 35 women sailors led by Claudia Wainer -- Claudia (Whistler) was the helmsman of the victorious team in the 1999 SoCal Women's Keelboat Championship held in Long Beach in Catalina 37's. Sue Beckett (Absolute) took third place and our class was well represented by many other Schock women sailors including: Judi Gorski, Carla Thorson, Gwen Gordon, Ann Chamberlin, Dawn Andrews and Lise Euvall.

1999 Nationals at California YC

Congratulations to Wings on its victory at Nationals. Stories, Photos and more can be found by clicking on the links below:

Story & Photos Final Results Pre-Nationals Odds

North Sails Race Wk./Volvo SoCal Inshore Championship/S-35 Pac Coast Championship

Piranha, Outlier and Mischief sail to weather The Schock 35 Class was honored as the most competitive class at the three regatta Volvo Championship which concluded with North Sails Race Whistler tacks to leeward of Chayah, Troublemaker behind. Courtesy of Longpre Photos Week (also SDYC Yachting Cup and CalYC Cal Race Week). Troublemaker won the overall trophy as the SoCal Inshore Champion for 1999. It was great to see Todd Downey with the crystal trophy held overhead with Jim Long and all the crew gathered around. They earned it with a tie Piranha rounding weather mark with Whistler coming in off port layline. Courtesy of Longpre Photos. breaker over Whistler (each had 11 pts.) which was even tighter when you realize that Troublemaker won the tie breaker for fourth at Cal Race Week and held sixth here by one point! Third, fourth and fifth went to Wings (12) Piranha (15) and Outlier (15).

NORTH SAILS RACE WEEK
#	Boat	Race #1	Race #2	Race #3	Race #4	Race #5	Total
1	Wings	4	1	1	6	2	14
2	Outlier	1	2	7	1	7	18
3	Whistler	7	5	4	2	5	23
4	Mischief	6	3	10	5	1	25
5	Piranha	8	4	8	3	4	27
6	Troublemaker	2	13	2	10	3	30
7	Water Moccasin	5	10	6	4	6	31
8	Ripple	10	7	3	8	9	37
9	Chayah	3	6	9	14	10	42
10	Slippery When Wet	13	9	5	12	8	47
11	Whiplash	9	8	13	9	13	52
12	White Fang	11	12	11	7	12	53
13	Absolute	12	11	14	13	11	61
14	Power Play	16	14	12	11	14	67
15	Stratagem	14	16	15	15	15	75

The 1999 Pacific Coast Championship regatta winner is Wings. In a seesaw battle with Outlier, the lead changed four times in the five races! First Outlier, then Wings, then Outlier and finally, in the last race, down by one point, Wings took a second to Outlier's seventh to seal the victory. Frankly, no one else even really challenged for the victory. Five points behind Outlier was Whistler which lead a tight group from third to seventh overall which was separated by only 8 more points. Mischief was the only race winner other than Outlier and Wings. They were shot into an insurmountable lead right off the start of race #5 by a big left shift and a perfect start at the leeward end of the line. It was also good to see Slippery When Wet rounding the first mark in the top five several times over the weekend! Ripple demonstrates proper form w/chute! Tight racing in Cat-37's - Nice Jibe!

Sailing conditions were about the nicest all year as it was finally bathing suit weather for the weekend! The Friday afternoon race was a three lap affair that saw the wind rise to about 16 kts. while the rest of the weekend was predominantly sailed in 9-10 knot wind. Golison and Golison continue to put on a great event with post race parties well attended (loved the hot wings). If you weren't there, you really missed out!

Next up on the circuit for the class will be Nationals -- much more to follow in the next few weeks. 25 boats seems probable!

Wings Victorious in Long Beach Race Week (20 June 99)

Long Beach Race Week

LONG BEACH RACE WEEK
#	Boat	Race #1	Race #2	Race #3	Race #4	Race #5	Total
1	Wings	7	4	1	1	2	15
2	Mischief	6	6	2	3	1	18
3	Piranha	3	2	8	4	3	20
4	Water Moccasin	4	1	5	2	10	22
5	Outlier	1	3	4	13	13	34
6	Absolute	2	12	10	7	4	35
7	Troublemaker	6	5	3	10	9	36
8	Chayah	8	10	12	6	6	42
9	Whiplash	10	9	13	8	5	45
10	Whistler	11	7	6	9	12	45
11	White Fang	15	8	7	11	7	48
12	Ripple	13	15	9	5	8	50
13	Slippery When Wet	14	11	14	12	11	62
14	Minnesota Fast	5	14	15	15	14	63
15	O Betty	12	13	11	14	15	65
16	RazMaTaz	16	16	16	16	16	80
17	Stratagem	17	17	17	17	17	85

Once again, the best racing of the regatta was in the Schock fleet both in terms of number of boats and the close competition. Many finishes saw four boat within a couple of seconds of each other at the line and out of five races, four saw general recalls as starts were very aggressive.

Leading the fleet was a jinxed position as first Outlier (leader after 3 races), then Water Moccasin (leader after 4 races) suffered problems knocking them out of the lead and leaving the victory to Wings which came on strong with a 1-1-2 to finish the regatta after earlier setbacks. Mischief, Piranha and Water Moccasin were very close behind (in that order) with only 7 points separating the top 4 spots. Absolute was first in the Corinthian fleet and scored in the top 4 in two of the five races to edge out Troublemaker by a Stratagem sailing to weather point. Outlier looked unbeatable after three races, but was seen going to weather with the spinnaker up in each of the last two races which is very unusual for this well sailed boat. Highlight of the regatta may well have been Stratagem (nee Phantom II) attempting a port tack start across the whole fleet on the second day which drew both cheers an jeers depending on the boat (too bad half their crew didn't make the race to see it due to car problems)!

Shock Therapy - Lonely Schock 35 in Canada

Ed. Note: I received this email last week. I hope you enjoy hearing about other Schocks racing across the US, Canada and the Far East as I get news.

Hi Dave:

It is great to be able to follow the Schock 35 fleet on the internet. Wish I was in Southern California. I am starting my third season racing Shock Therapy (it was on the hard '93-96, different owner) and starting to get her to perform to her potential. There is a lot to figure out on the Schock 35. Most people are not familiar with the boat here unless they have read about in the sailing magazines. Anyone who has sailed with us (or against us) is just blown away by the Schock's upwind performance. It is an unbelivable thrill to be outpointing boats 10 feet longer by 5 degrees and still going faster. In the light air on Lake Ontario (similar to S. California, without the swell) the Schock 35 is the perfect racing boat.

I can't believe that Tom Schock doesn't market the boat more outside of California. J-105's are starting to proliferate in the fleets here, but they can not compare in terms of performance or livability.

We are starting to turn some heads in the fleet up here. We won the Lake Ontario 300 mile Double Handed race in 1998 and we just won the Susan Hood Trophy Race (75 mile offshore against 38 boats) and the Donald D. Summerville Trophy (15 mile offshore against 35 boats) last month. We also won a first in the Youngstown levels in 1997 and expect to repeat this year.

We are racing with a 1 year old Ullman main and a set of spectra jibs vintage 1991. We can only imagine how the boat would go with a suit of fresh sails.

Anyway, thats the news from the Schock 35 on Lake Ontario. If you want to check out Lake Ontario racing you can do it at LORC.org on the internet.

Keep up the good work on your unofficial website.

Gary Benner

Mischief Wins Inaugural Cal Race Week (31 May 99)

Perfect conditions for racing greeted the fleet for the first ever California Race Week, the second part of the Volvo Inshore Championship, with 7-10 kts and L-1's in the first races and 11-13 kts and H-1's in the last race each day. Other than for Nationals, this was the largest turnout for Schock 35 class racing in Marina del Rey ever - twice as many boats as any other class at the event - and again demonstrated that the class is very strong.

CALIFORNIA RACE WEEK
#	Boat	Race #1	Race #2	Race #3	Race #4	Race #5	Total
1	Mischief	4	4	4	1	6	19
2	Whistler	5	7	3	5	1	21
3	Water Moccasin	3	2	9	6	4	24
4	Troublemaker	8	1	2	13	2	26
5	Piranha	9	3	1	10	3	26
6	Outlier	1	9	6	7	8	31
7	Ricochet	2	12	7	3	10	34
8	Chayah	7	8	13	2	5	35
9	Wings	6	5	8	9	7	35
10	Ripple	11	6	12	15	11	55
11	Absolute	10	11	15	12	9	57
12	Last Tango	15	10	17	4	14	60
13	White Fang	12	16	14	8	12	62
14	Whiplash	19	14	5	11	16	65
15	Minnesota Fast	13	13	11	16	13	66
16	Power Play	14	15	10	17	17	73
17	Slippery When Wet	16	17	16	14	15	78
18	Stratagem	17	18	18	18	19	90

In some of the kind of close racing the Schock fleet is famous for, Mischief literally squeezed in by ten feet to take home the Jimmy Morris Trophy. With Race 5 winner Whistler looking on, Mischief needed to finish sixth or seventh in the last race to win the regatta. Mischief, Wings, Outlier and Ricochet all approached the finish line essentially in a dead heat from fifty yards out. Mischief and Outlier came into the pin on port jibe calling for room at the pin while Wings had jibed over onto starboard at them and had to jibe back to let them in and Ricochet jibed away to try to pull the end around. Mischief was the first of the cluster of four by maybe three feet over Wings and then maybe ten feet over Outlier who was sandwiched between them. Rico finished about four seconds later. As a result, Mischief claimed the regatta win.

The racing was so tight that there was only five points separating first from sixth after the first day of racing and five different boats - Outlier, Troublemaker, Piranha, Mischief and Whistler - each won one race. Water Moccasin sailed a solid regatta to take third while Piranha and Troublemaker saw a lot of each other - at the front and the back, but never in the middle and always in the same races - to tie for fourth with Troublemaker winning the tiebreaker. Piranha suffered the curse of the class president in Race 4 when it sailed off the course after reading the course flag from the Farr 40 start.

California YC did a tremendous job putting on a good show - both on the water and on shore - and I am sure that will mean even better participation in next year's event.

For the Volvo Inshore Championship, our class stands as follows: 1) Troublemaker, 5 pts. 2) Whistler, 8 pts. 3) Piranha, 10 pts. 4) Wings, 11 pts. 5) Water Moccasin, 11 pts. 6) Outlier, 13 pts. 7) Mischief, 15 pts. 8) White Fang, 17 pts. 9) Chayah, 19 pts. 10) Absolute, 20 pts.

Lipton Cup Won by Vince Brun/San Diego YC

Host, Coronado YC The famous "red jammies" Proving that money and talent is a potent mix, SDYC ran away with the 1999 Lipton Cup -- the seventh running of the event in Schock 35's. With multiple world championships to his credit, Vince led the SDYC team sailing Hotspur to two bullets and two seconds on the first day and coasted home with a 3, 1, 4 on the second day yielding a total only half that of the next closest team, defending champion Coronado YC.

Lipton Cup Race Action Kudos to Coronado YC for putting on a real class event with killer hors d'oeuvres Friday night and a great banquet dinner at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort on Saturday.

CCd La Paz support vessel obtaining vital race info Ed. Note: Contrary to the recent reporting, word has it that SDYC plans to select the Schock 35 again as the Lipton Cup boat. As the class president, I am most curious to hear your opinions on whether the participation of our fleet in this event is good for the class, or whether we have seen maximum benefit already and should now move on in light of the excesses exhibited by some teams in preparing the boats. Send me email by clicking on the email graphic on the left side of this page, above.

Troublemaker Wins Yachting Cup - Takes HiPoint Championship Lead (3 May)

With five races in the top five, Troublemaker eaked out a 1 point victory over Wings in the 1999 San Diego Yachting Cup. Jim Long and Todd Downey sailed an impressive regatta which was sailed for the most part in typical 8-12 knot San Diego conditions. Not so typical was the cold overcast weather. Of note, White Fang seems to be the most improved boat of the year and a new force to be reckoned with after moving up to 4th at this regatta (1st in race #1) building on a strongly improving team. Wild Thing resurfaced for their first class regatta since winning Nationals last year and took a solid third overall. Wooden Spoon nominations go to Outlier, for dunking three crewpersons at the start of race two and Piranha for taking the weight aloft issue too seriously and sailing sans boom on race three but still taking fifth overall. (Eds. Note - clearly the issue of pre-start prep is way overblown, who need sails hoisted with 1:30 to the start?) Unfortunately for Mischief, some bad diesel fuel prevented a timely delivery and they only got to sail day two; however, they got to go home with the last smiles of the regatta after taking the gun in the final race.

Corinthian Fleet winners were: 1) Troublemaker 2) Wild Thing 3) White Fang 4) Chayah 5) Whiplash

***A very special thanks and my personal nomination for an award for Corinthian spirit goes to Bill Lyons, owner of Ultraschock of Coronado YC. When Piranha needed a boom for day two, not only did Bill offer his, he called first thing Sunday morning to ask if it would be helpful for him to go to his boat disassemble the boom and bring it in his truck to SDYC for us! This was, as you can imagine, very much appreciated and way above what any reasonable person could have expected. Bill is also the chairman of that YC's Lipton Cup defense. If this is a sign of the hospitality to be expected there, I'm more excited than ever to get to sail at Coronado YC!

...If you haven't seen the official Class Cameras yet, you will. Brainchild of board member Claudia Wainer of Whistler, The fleet is being asked to take photos during the regattas which will be edited and presented at the National Championship regatta dinner for entertainment. The instructions are worth reading!

Schock 35's Dominate '99 Ensenada Race as Whiplash Wins (29 April/30 April)

Whiplash took home all the hardware in this year's Newport to Ensenada Race winning PHRF-C overall and the Bill Schock Memorial Trophy for first Schock 35 to finish.

According to Whiplash: "Our formula for finally winning something in the toughest fleet on the West Coast? Go back to your roots & race Newport to Ensenada. Ray Godwin and John Turpin started racing with this race 15 years ago but are beginners compared to Bill Lawhorn doing his 46th. The rest of the crew is just 'good.' From our start at 13:10 until midnight it was everyone on the rail. Then one hour of no wind followed by 1 to 4 knots of wind 'til sunrise. We awoke to the islands still ahead and J-120's all around. Saturday was perfect Schock conditions, light air, close hauled, no chutes until we turned into the bay. We finshed after 7:00 pm in a dying breeze and left Slippery When Wet to a hard fought 3rd place finish and the disappointment of not getting their name on the Schock trophy for a 3rd time. Tomahawk took fourth and Rivalry took 6th for a Schock dominated 4 out of 6 top places in a class of 20."

From the newest Schock - Tomahawk: (In their first race I might add) "Tomahawk stayed on the rhumb line after going out 7 miles at the start. As a inexperienced crew on a new boat and are happy to be one of the three Schock 35s to trophy. I want to thank Ray Godwin for taking the time to answer my questions after the race. With time on the water and lots of help we hope be joining you soon."

From two-time winner Slippery When Wet: "We were in PH-C. Also, they recognized the Schock 35 one design fleet and presented the perpetual. Worked out great.

Rum line was the way to go. Whiplash demonstrated good smarts by keeping to it and not getting sucked in like Slippery did. We spent most of the night between La Jolla cove and Mission Bay. For once, outside was not the way to go -- with the exception of an early out to clear Dana Point and take advantage of the nice breeze, which promptly shut off about 7:30 PM.

From what I gathered from crew interviews, the crew of Slippery ate a lot better than that of Whiplash, but hey - they came to win and did great job at that.

Tomahawk is fast and very sexy looking. We crossed tacks a couple of time early in the race. It was great to see them out with the fleet.

A good showing from the fleet with Schock 35's capturing three of the four trophy positions in PHRF - C."

Ahmanson Cup Strong for Schock 35 Class (19 April 99/22 April Update)

Hot! It describes both the weather and the Schock 35 class! 22 boats exceeded expectations and that was without Pinnacle, Whistler, Last Tango, and Roy Cedarstom's new boat all of whom are (or will be) active circuit boats this year. Great to see Power Play, O'Betty and the newest class member Stratagem (aka Phantom II) out racing. And how about the 3030's?! Our little brothers got 7 on the line to be the second largest class. PH-A had only 6, PH-B had only 5 and J-35's only mustered 4 boats. So, would you rather race a multi-hundreds of thousands of dollars Farr 40 against 5 boats in PHRF or be in a 22 boat one-design fleet! Get out the word to PHRF racers you know that the S-35 is the way to go!

OK, Wings did it again! Congratulations to Dennis and his crew. While the rest of us were cursing the wind gods on what seemed to be a fluky day, apparently, Wings was able to predict the shifts with clarity! Somehow, the cream always manages to rise to the top. Not unchallenged though -- going into the last race anyone of four boats could have won the regatta. Mischief and Shillalegh were right there, and I am especially proud that another owner-driven boat (Dennis drives Wings) challenged at the top with Mike Owens driving Hotspur to fourth overall. Hard luck boats this weekend were Outlier and Super Gnat (OCS race #1). Thank God they didn't make us race #4!

A final note: Best party of the weekend goes to Gordy Palmer (Outlier) who's birthday was celebrated in style on the dock! Thanks for the shrimp and pate!

For the Corinthian Fleet the winners were: 1) Shillalegh 2) Troublemaker 3) Absolute 4) Ripple 5) White Fang

Unfortunately, the surprise rainfall last week has delayed the yard work of Pinnacle and Whistler who had planned to attend. Look for them both at Yachting Cup where our fleet should be at least 24 strong! This kind of class participation certainly makes the Schock 35 the ONLY one-design to race in Southern California!

Welcome "Strategem" to the SoCal Fleet (7 April 99)

Mark Hinrichs of Tustin and his partner Joe Razor have purchased the former Phantom II and plan to start actively racing at the Ahmanson Cup. From there, they are doing the Ensenada Race and the balance of our circuit hipoints and championships. Please be sure to welcome them -- I promised that they would find all the owners would be very helpful in answering questions on boat setup ideas and go fast secrets to help them get up to speed.

WD Schock Memorial Won by Mischief (8 March 99)

Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Newport Beach showed two completely different personalities to the 17 boat strong fleet on Saturday and Sunday. On day 1, winds were 8-12 knots and generally south with lumpy seas. Chayah posted a 1-3-1 and Piranha a 2-1-4 to lead the fleet by a bunch. Lurking behind though was Michief and Troublemaker bith at 16 points. The big moment of day 1 was the last short beat from the leeward mark to the finish in race 2. Coming into that mark, the wind shifted far sounth making it almost possible to lay the finish line. Chayah found a way to go from 11th to 3rd while Mischief dropped from 3rd to 6th. Basically, anyone who tacked to starboard coming out of the leeward mark immediately lost positions. Chayah held on to port tack and pulled an 8 point swing out of their hat. But day 2 was a different day.

Day 2 found the fleet sailing in 10-13kts. true out of the WSW behind a low pressure system that had moved through in the early morning hours. Outlier showed that Saturday was a fluke and posted two bullets to pull up to fourth overall. But Mischief continued consistent sailing (with a crew of 8) with a 2 and a 3 to win the regatta with 21 points. The comeback was made possible by Chayah taking a last place finish in the first race of the day. Going into the last race of the regatta, Mischief and Piranha were tied for first. Mischief jumped to a quick lead while Piranha struggled with the wrong headsail on the first beat. Toward the end of the second upwiond leg however, Mischief was only able to cross Piranha by two boatlengths. The two rounded the weather mark in 2d and 4th, but Mischief picked the biggest shift of the day correctly while Piranha dropped 8 spots in the last downwind leg to drop out of not only the hunt for first, but all the way to fifth overall. Troublemaker also posted a consistent score to squeek into second overall for the regatta. Once again NHYC served up great food and a great time and we look forward to coming back for Ahmanson Cup in April.

New Schock 35 Launched for '99 Campaign

If you have not heard already, a new Schock 35 -- the first one to sport the new open transom design -- was launched in Dana Point. Word is that the boat "Tomahawk" will be seen on the circuit. The boat will be owned and raced by Roy Cedarstrom who has many years of PHRF sailing experience.

Rumors '99

In addition to the new boat, Tomahawk, rumor has it that at least four boats not seen on the circuit last year are planning to participate in '99. Jim Long is tearing up the fleet in Marina del Rey with Troublemaker - most recently winning the last two races at Nationals and then the Santa Monica Bay Championship Regatta in PHRF. Purchased late last season, look for them in '99. Two boats rarely seen last year are also rumored to be rejoining the circuit in '99 -- Power Play and O'Betty. Both of these boats have a successful racing history and we look forward to having them back. Finally, rumor has it that another very well prepared boat that has been off the circuit for a few years may be about to be sold -- I'm not allowed to say more right now.

Join Our Fleet

Tired of fighting rating battles? Want to race in a fun fleet? Want to play with more than a handful of boats? Buy a Schock 35. New base boats available at $90,000 and complete ready-to-roll used boats for less. Send us email for details.

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and are not officially endorsed by the Schock 35 Class.