LBYC Midwinter Regatta: Heck wins Farr 40 class, Marcus takes Schock 35 class honors

LONG BEACH — Sam Heck and Merry Cheers decided that just having bought a new Farr 40 race boat, Viva La Vida, wasn’t quite enough. They wanted to race it, right away. So they entered the 2017 Southern California Yachting Association Midwinter Regatta through Long Beach Yacht Club, which hosted their class, and won in the first racing sailboat that they have ever owned.

SCYA’s annual midwinter returned for its 88th year in 2017, with more than 25 host clubs, 600 boats and 2,500 sailors participating. Long Beach YC hosted two One-Design classes (with five Farr 40s and six Schock 35s) in its iteration of the annual midwinter regatta.

“We were lucky and had good starts,” said Heck. “[Ray Godwin’s] Temptress was our race. They were fast and were always close to us.”

“This was really fun for us,” said Cheers, “to get to race on our own boat… and win!”

Robert “Bob” Marcus and his Schock 35, Code Blue, team took first place in their very competitive class.

“This regatta was a lot closer than the scores indicate,” said Marcus. “We only won by half a boat length in every race.

“In the last race at the leeward gate, [Roland Duphily’s] Impulse was actually winning the regatta. We were tied in points when they went to the west gate and we went to the east gate. We sailed into and out of a hole and ended up winning the race. This fleet, in general, is really tightening up.”

Moving towards the weekend’s racing Southern California was bracing for what was being called an “epic storm” by the media. Hammering the coast during the afternoon of Feb. 17 with flooding, downed trees and power lines, anxious sailors were wondering if the event organizers would even be able to get the regatta started on Feb. 18.

The morning of Feb. 18 dawned with dark skies, moderate breezes of 8-12 knots and on-and-off showers. The race committee determined they had acceptable conditions for racing and took the fleet out, completing three of the five scheduled races in good time with no delays for weather.

The race committee had challenges on Feb. 19 with post-storm conditions of confused and inconsistent breezes that delayed the start of the first of two races by about an hour. Once the breeze settled in at about 7-8 knots, they were able to get both races done, completing the regatta.

“Everyone on the race committee did a really good job,” said Heck.

Final Results

Farr 40 Class

1. Sam Heck, Long Beach YC, Viva La Vida, 1-1-2-1-1, 6 points
2. Raymond Godwin, LBYC, Temptress, 2-3-1-3-2, 11
3. Corey Lynch, Balboa YC, Groovederci-Cal Maritime, 3-2-3-4-3, 15
4. Gary Ezor, Del Rey YC, Coquille, 4-4-4-2-4, 18
5. Gordon Leon, Cabrillo Beach YC, Foil, 5-7DNF-5-5-5, 27

Schock 35 Class

1. Robert Marcus, ABYC, Code Blue, 1-2-2-3-1, 9
2. Ted Thompson/John Rossach, LBYC, Whiplash, 4-4-3-1-2, 14
3. Roland Duphily, Alamitos Bay YC, Impulse, 3-1-4-2-5, 15
4. Mark Hinrichs, ABYC, Strategem, 2-5-1-5-3, 16
5. Barrington Darcy, Buccaneer YC, Bully, 5-3-5-4-4, 21
6. Joe Braun, Oceanside YC, Shaman, 6-6-7RET-6-6, 31

Complete results are available at lbyc.org.