Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week starts Friday
by LBYC Race Office 19 Jun 12:33 NZST
June 20-22, 2025
Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week © Bronny Daniels
With some 115 boats signed up to participate in the 20th edition of Ullmans Sails Long Beach Race week, the regatta is thrilled to welcome plenty of newcomers to enjoy three days of world-class sailing in the best racing conditions that the West Coast offers. For the first time Ullman Sails LBRW will host the Moore 24 fleet and its National Championship, while first-timers like Arnaud Benahmed and Colin Suvak will be racing boats that are new to each of them: Benahmed on his J/70 NunuHunu, and Suvak on the J/120 Dani Girl.
"We think it's going to be an incredible event with big breeze and a high level of competition," says Suvak, who grew up racing dinghies in Australia and enjoys team racing. "My wife Colleen Roney and I are in our late 20s and this is our first foray into sailboat racing. We got involved with big boat racing in the last couple of years after finding a partnership opportunity with Dani Girl. We've been racing the boat 3-4 times a week over the last few months. We're excited to see how we're doing relative to people who've been sailing this boat for a long time. One of our close competitors is Jim Snook racing on JIM so we're looking forward to sailing against them."
Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club member Arnaud Benahmed bought his J/70 NunuHunu last October. He grew up sailing in France on Lasers and Mumm 30s, and during grad school at UCLA 20 years ago he sailed Stars. This week he'll be racing with son Benjamin, 15, who races the 420 in high school.
"It's fun to be sailing with my son and the J/70 is a great boat - closer to the Mumm 30 than the Laser, and a bit drier," smiles Arnaud. "In preparation we recently raced Cal Race Week as well as some other smaller races. This is our first time racing Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week, and we're mostly looking forward to a great venue, great competition, and wind."
Ever popular with locals, many sailors have raced this epic event for many years, like John Turpin, who this year will be racing Vigilante, the Concordia 47 which he shares with boat partner Ray Godwin. They've been competing in the regatta for some 30 years, starting with Whiplash, the Schock 35 they raced for ten years, then Temptress, their Farr 40 they raced for almost 20 years. Vigilante is relatively new to them and they'll be keeping an eye out for Paul Casanova's RP44 Flaquita who they have been going up against in recent local racing.
"This is our second Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week in the new boat," says Turpin. "Coming from the Farr 40 which is a strict racing platform without any comfort down below, Vigilante is the opposite although not much faster unfortunately but she's still a fun boat. We love this event; the venue is fantastic and there's almost always a guaranteed wind compared to other regattas we do up and down the coast. The racecourse and race management are spectacular and they always have the best people they can get to make sure our courses are well done. We have LBYC Vice Commodore Bob Piercy with us this week and my son James will be sailing with us. We just picked up a new jib for the weekend from Ullman Sails and we're looking forward to great racing."
With registration open through Thursday June 19, 6:00 PM, there's still time to sign up at www.lbrw.org. Exciting racecourses with flat water offerings inside of the Long Beach breakwater, and big waves and big breeze on the outside are just a few of the factors that make the Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week regatta one of the most enjoyable on the West Coast, drawing competitors from up and down the coast including San Francisco Bay Area competitors who look for warm weather and champagne conditions.
Tim Russell, who is a frequent top three finisher in the tight Bay Area J/105 fleet on his boat Ne*Ne, has chartered a Catalina 37, and Peter Wagner will race Skeleton Key, his J/111, the reigning J/111 World Champion and North American Champion.
"This is our second Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week; we had a blast a couple of years ago and are excited to be back," says Wagner. "The J/111 Class in Southern California has organized a regional One Design Circuit, consisting of San Diego Yachting Cup, Cal Race Week and Ullman Sails LBRW which is the grand finale of this circuit also serving as the J/111 Pacific Coast Championship, which adds to the excitement. The boat planes readily in high winds and holds its own in lighter breezes so we are looking forward to some tight racing and the spectacular conditions we generally find at Ullman Sails LBRW!"
Russell was looking to buy or charter a Viper when he went to the Ullman Sails LBRW website to see what classes were racing this year and noted the option to charter a Catalina 37.
"My application to charter was accepted, I put together a team, rented a house in Long Beach and look forward to sailing in shorts and just a long sleeve SPF shirt," says Russell. "It's been a while since I've sailed Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week; I'm competing to have fun and to see what it takes to win in class!"
Race Day one begins Friday June 20, with a weather briefing at 10:15 AM by Ullman Sails, and skipper's meeting at 10:30 AM at LBYC. The first warning will sound at 12:55 PM on Friday, and at 11:55 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Conditions permitting, it is expected that two races will be held in most classes on Friday, three races on Saturday, and two races on Sunday.
Hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) and the Long Beach Yacht Club (LBYC), the event is grateful to the generosity and support of its 2024 sponsors including long-time title sponsor Ullman Sails, Evans, Clarke Marine Insurance, Cabrillo Boat Shop, Durant Design and Construction, Mt Gay Rum, Pirates Lair, The Oriana Shea Group, and Tom Walker Photography.
"As title sponsor, Ullman Sails is looking forward to another amazing Long Beach race week," says Bruce Cooper, owner of Ullman Sails Newport Beach. "It's exciting to see 115 boats entered with fleets of big boat PHRF Racing and one Design fleets fighting for top spots over three days. Racers from all over SoCal are joined by racers from San Francisco and as far as Mexico making this the top regatta on the West Coast to attend! I am more than confident ABYC and LBYC will run precision perfect races and then take care of sunburn sailors with food, drink and fun every day."
LBRW is open to multiple classes and in 2025 the event will host the Catalina 37 National Championship, the J/109 West Coast Championship, the J/111 Pacific Coast Championship, the Schock 35 Pacific Coast Championship, the Viper 640 Pacific Coast Championship and the J/70, J/105, J/109, and J/120 Southern California High Point Series. For the first time this year, LBRW will host the Moore 24 fleet and the Moore 24 National Championship. A perpetual trophy, the Campbell Cup - PHRF Big Boat Class Winner - will also be awarded.
Parties featuring music and dancing will be hosted by ABYC on Friday night, then Saturday and Sunday night at LBYC. Prize giving will be held at LBYC on Sunday at 5:00 PM. Competitors are invited to enjoy both clubs' services and amenities including the ice machine, and free water taxi service between the clubs until 9:00 PM Friday and Saturday. For full details on entry, schedule, mooring requests and more, go to www.lbrw.org.