Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week Overall
by Michelle Slade 24 Jun 03:23 NZST
June 20-22, 2025
There were few surprises on the final day of racing at Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week as class leaders who took control on Day 1 skillfully navigated the unusual-for-Long Beach conditions to prevail in their respective classes.
Two races were sailed in most classes on Sunday and as event title sponsor Bruce Cooper, owner of Ullman Sails Newport Beach, noted, it was a typical final day of racing when often the best racing of the regatta IS the last day.
"The last race today was maybe the best of the regatta; the breeze came up and made a turn like we expected so for pure tight racing it was all right there," says Cooper. "It was fun to see new faces like Nunuhunu in the J/70 fleet - we got to watch them in their line up chasing Ryan (Cox) around; it was another successful, and this year in particular, well-attended Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week."
For the first time this year, Ullman Sails LBRW hosted the Moore 24 fleet for their National Championship. The championship title went to Kurt Lahr (Richmond Yacht Club) and his team on Safety Third who finished with 23 points; Lahr's team also took home the One Design Boat of the Week award. Rowan Fennell on Paramour placed second with 28 points and also won the Golison & Kent Family Trophy sailing with his wife and two daughters. Joel Turmel on Firefly took third with 33 points. The talent-stacked Moore 24 fleet has been around since the 1980s and continues to build in skill year after year.
"It's been a phenomenal regatta - I used to sail my I-14 here and it's amazing to bring our little rocket ships down to a new area, you can't ask for better champagne sailing than Long Beach," says Lahr. "It's a tough fleet to do well in, anyone out there can win; they are just incredible sailors. I've been in the fleet for 23 years and there's a reason I'm still here. They're my friends and at the same time they are all world class sailors. Conditions were super challenging; I can't think of a regatta where I finished this mentally exhausted!"
Six of eleven teams racing in the Catalina 37 class were all-women crews, two of whom made podium. Chris Orlando (LBYC) and his team defended their 2024 Catalina 37 National Championship, easily taking first place with 11 points and taking home the 2025 Catalina 37 National Championship title. Allie Blecher (California Yacht Club) took second with 24 points to take a tie breaker from Alli Bell (SDYC) who finished third.
"I want to thank the crew, we're really fortunate to have a lot of hours and a lot of years in the boat together so we relied on that," says Orlando. "This year was a tougher fleet than last year, conditions were challenging all weekend with not a lot of obvious lanes upwind and you really had to work on solid fleet management. We had decent boat speed but it was hard. Justin Law at the helm was super strong as usual and I'll chalk our win today up to a lot of hours as a team. Thanks to ABYC and LBYC for hosting this awesome event."
Peter Wagner's (StFYC / SFYC / NYYC) J/111 Skeleton Key, racing Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week for the second consecutive year, took home his second win in class prevailing in six of seven races sailed. Steve Flam (ABYC / LBYC) on Flambouyant took second, finishing with 22 points, and John Staff (California Yacht Club) on Obsidian finished third with 23 points. Skeleton Key also won the J/111 Pacific Coast Championship.
"I always love sailing Long Beach, the conditions are spectacular and while it wasn't prototypical Long Beach conditions, it was still good racing," says Wagner. "It was our first-ever Pacific Coast Championship regatta for the J/111 fleet so that added some fun to the whole event. It's really great to see the numbers in the fleet growing and the level of competition getting higher and higher as more good sailors jump into the class."
In the J/70 fleet, Ryan Cox from the Ventura Yacht Club (VYC), racing on his boat DJ, took seven bullets over seven races, finishing with a significant 18-point lead on second place Nunuhunu, owned by Arnaud Benahmed (Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club). Cake, owned/skippered by Scott Deardorff (SBYC) took third with 36 points. Cox puts his success in the boat down to time in the boat.
"Last year we only had seven J/70s in the fleet and this year we had 12 racing; it's a great time for the class here and we're happy that the fleet is doing well," says Cox. "It was a great event and I think I've been lucky to be racing two J/70s - my boat which I drive and another boat on the east coast where I trim, so I have really learned a lot about the boat in the past few years. Learning how to trim on a boat has helped me with driving. When you've done it over and over you know what works."
Robbie King and Karla Reinhardt (ABYC) maintained their lead position in the Melges 15 class to finish the regatta with 15 points. Morgan Paxhia (MBYC) sailing his boat Enigma with his sister Emily Paxhia took second with 20 points, and Tim Zimmerman (Oceanside YC) finished third with 25 points. A Brit who moved to Los Angeles four years ago to complete a PhD at CalTech in Pasadena, this was King's first regatta in the Melges 15, and his first Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week.
"It was a super fun weekend, it was great to be out there," says King. "Huge thanks to my crew Karla for taking me and letting me drive her boat this weekend. It was a really tough fleet and the racing tight. Our main edge was our downwind boat speed which got us out of some tricky spots. We were always able to pass boats downwind. It's an awesome event and I want to do it next year for sure."
Random Leg A winner Dan Murphy (California Yacht Club) on his J/125 Javelin finished with 35 points, Steven Mee (LBYC) on the Sydney 41 Kibosh took second with 11 points, and third place went to Raymond Godwin (LBYC/ABYC) on Vigilante, a Concordia 47 who finished with 12.5 points. Murphy also took home the Campbell Cup, a perpetual trophy awarded to the PHRF Big Boat Class winner.
"We always have a great time at Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week," says Murphy. "This year we had an absolutely fantastic time with the courses, the race committee and most importantly with my crew who have been with me since I bought Javelin 21 years ago. We've done five LBRW events in the boat and Random Leg races have always been a good fit for us."
Crushing it in the J/109 class, Bob Little (ABYC) owner/skipper of Blue Crush took home the J/109 West Coast Championship, finishing first with 4 bullets over 4 races. Jack Meyer (Del Rey YC) on Zephyr finished second with 11 points, and Peter Nelson (California YC) took third with 11 points on his boat Spray.
The race for first was nothing short of hot in Random Leg B, with Mark Stratton (Del Rey YC) on the J/122 Cheeky taking the tie breaker for first with Derek Williamson (ABYC/LBYC) who finished second on his new-to-him ID35 Relentless; both were just one point ahead of John McEntire (DRYC) who finished third with 8 points on his Santa Cruz 37 Encore. Cheeky also won the Boat of the Week award.
The Beneteau 36.7 fleet gathers at Ullman Sails LBRW to race Saturday and Sunday, and in his second year competing at Ullman Sails LBRW, Eric Hanson (NYYC / SDYC / CRA), owner/skipper of GIVENHO, won in class again finishing with 6 points; John Sivak (CRA / SDYC) owner/skipper of Kraken finished second with 10 points and Mark Williams (DWYC) owner/skipper of Buenos Aires took third with 16 points.
Sailing his Melges 32 The Baby Screams in PHRF A, Jeff Janov (California YC) led the class solidly throughout, finishing with seven bullets after seven races - a significant lead over Jack LeMaire (Channel Island YC) on the Melges 32 Iris who finished in second with 21 points. Dirk Freeland (Santa Barbara YC) made the podium on his Cape 31 Full Send, finishing third with 26 points.
John Snook (Hawaii Yacht Club) racing on his J/120 JIM maintained his lead in PHRF B to win class with 10 points. Heinz Butner (LBYC/NYCLB) on Raptor II, a J112E, took second with 13 points, and Chris Raab took third on the J/105 Swordfish with 24 points.
The Travel Trophy, awarded to the boat owner who traveled the farthest distance based on hometown, went to Mackenzie Cook's team on the Moore 24 Nobody's Girl. Cook hails from Kailua, HI.
Chuck Clay, ABYC Staff Commodore and past regatta chairman, has been involved in Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week since 2011 and has continued his involvement because he wanted to see the event continue to grow. He used to sail it before switching to the organizational side, winning the Catalina 37 class five times representing ABYC.
"It is just such a great event for the participants and for both clubs who come together to organize the event," says Clay. "I always felt that there is a lot of value in this regatta, and I wanted to keep expanding it as the biggest regatta on the West Coast. I love that it brings everybody together to have a good sail and a lot of fun."
Pulling off the addition of random legs combined with buoy racing for two classes this year, John Busch, LBYC regatta co-chair and deputy race officer for the Charlie Course, notes that Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week is always about the competitors first.
"We had a great weekend of champagne sailing here in Long Beach hosted by both ABYC and LBYC, and we were pleased to accommodate some classes who wanted to sail some random leg racing along with buoy racing," says Busch. "The J/109 class had 2 days of random leg and finished off with 2 buoy races to get the gamut of Long Beach experience, and the Moore 24 class typically have a long-distance race for their National Championship, so today they had a buoy race and a random leg distance race to finish up their Nationals. We haven't done that before, but I see that it may become a trend going forward."
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 2025 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.
See you next year for the 21st edition of Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week June 26-28, 2026.
Results can be found at www.lbrw.org/results