Charlie Welsh wins 2018 California Dreamin’ Series

LONG BEACH — Dave Hood, staff commodore of the Long Beach Yacht Club, won the third and final round of the 2018 World Sailing Grade 3 California Dreamin’ Series, hosted by the Long Beach Yacht Club and raced on the Long Beach Sailing Foundation’s fleet of Catalina 37s, on April 8.

Charlie Welsh, of the Red Star Sailing Team from Newport Harbor Yacht Club, beat out Hood by only 5 points in winning the three-venue series raced at St. Francis Yacht Club, San Diego Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club. The StFYC stop was a wash-out with little to no breeze over the two-day event. That meant that the skippers had only their performance at SDYC and LBYC to decide their overall series standings.

Welsh finished second in San Diego and fifth in Long Beach, just enough to take the title.

Taking second place at the Long Beach Stop was another flag officer at LBYC, Commodore Will “Bill” Hood beat Durant by only 1 point over the double round-robin, two-day format.

It is springtime in Southern California, which means the weather and wind can be, at times, unpredictable. However, the race committee team – led by US Sailing Principal Race Officer Randy Beers – did a very good job of adjusting the course as the wind couldn’t always decide how much it wanted to blow, or from which direction with 7-15 knots on Saturday, and 6-14 knots on Sunday.

Final Results for 2018 California Dreamin’ Series-Long Beach Stop

1. Dave Hood, Long Beach YC, 12 wins, 2 losses

2. Will Durant, LBYC, 11, 3

3. Chris Nesbitt, San Diego YC, 9, 5 on tiebreaker

4. Jeffrey Peterson, Balboa YC, 9, 5

5. Charlie Welsh, Newport Harbor YC, 6, 8

6. Liz Hjorth, California YC, 5, 9

7. Wendy Corzine, LBYC, 4, 10

8. Marilyn Cassedy, CYC, 0, 14

Final 2018 California Dreamin’ Series Standings

1. Charlie Welsh, Newport Harbor YC, 105 points

2. Dave Hood, Long Beach YC, 100 on tiebreaker

3. Nicole Breault, St. Francis YC, 100

4. Chris Nexbitt, San Diego YC, 95

5. Will Durant, LBYC, 75

6. Bruce Stone, St.FYC, 55

7. Jeffrey Petersen, Balboa YC, 40 on tiebreaker

8. Liz Hjorth, California YC, 40

9. Andrew Meade, Kaneohe YC, 30

10. Wendy Corzine, LBYC, 25 on tiebreaker

11. Marilyn Cassedy, CYC, 25

Full results of California Dreamin’ Series (Long Beach Stop) is available at www.lbyc.org.

Photo Courtesy Long Beach YC