By Rich Roberts
(As reported to the Long Beach Press-Telegram)

The Transpac 52 Yassou splits its spinnaker over the mast of J/30 Friction Loss---the first of Yassou's kite woes Saturday.

LONG BEACH, Calif.---Big boats don't necessarily love big winds.

A brisk sea breeze of 20 knots, with gusts to 23, stirred up a steep chop and literally blew some of the heavyweights right off the race course on the first day of Long Beach Yacht Club's 24th Long Beach Race Week Saturday.

The largest boats among 68 entries in eight classes suffered most. Jim Demetriades' Transpac 52, Yassou, headed for shore with two injured crew members midway of the second of two races after suffering its second disaster with a spinnaker, the billowing headsail used when sailing downwind.

Jared Morford and Tom Pollock suffered severe cuts and abrasions when the spinnaker sheet (control line) wrapped around their legs under pressure from the spinnaker which the boat was dragging in the water like a sea anchor. They were treated at a local facility.

Dale Williams' Farr ILC 46, Wasabi, from San Francisco, had two spinnakers rip apart, but the record for blown-out sails was set by Oscar Krinsky's locally based 1D48, Chayah: two spinnakers, a main sail and a jib headsail.

Yassou drags its second spinnaker past the leeward gate as crew amidship rushes to help two injured crew members who became tangled in the sheet.

Chayah dropped out of the second race to go in and collect a spare spinnaker from Krinsky's garage, then returned for the last race only to have its main sail split from back to front.

Those were three of the six boats in the 50-foot class, which was pretty much defaulted to Mike Campbell's Transpac 52, Victoria, with a second place and two firsts on the day.

In PHRB-A, the second largest boat, Dave Fell's 49-foot Gold Digger, and Randy Hawkins' 41-foot Reliance called it a day after various minor breakdowns.

Meanwhile, at the top of the PHRB-A fleet, John Carroll, with his Dencho 51, and San Diego's Ross Ritto, with his ILC 41, could only ask, "What problems?" They finished 1-2 in every race.

Dave Hammett's J/80, DnA, is about to be rear-ended in this pin-end start.

The little guys also had few complaints. Blur, a B25 with class developer Dixon Hall calling tactics and son Aaron Hall at the helm, reveled in the conditions at 2-1-1, which is no surprise. They are from San Pedro where they do a lot of sailing in "Hurricane Gulch," which is notorious for the strongest winds in Southern California.

"We're used to this," Aaron Hall said. "It was a regular day on the water for us."

The regatta is scheduled to conclude today (Sunday) with two races, starting at noon, conditions permitting.

Class leaders after three of five races: 50-FOOTERS---

Victoria, Mike Campbell, Long Beach Yacht Club, 2-1-1, 4 points; PHRF-A---Arana, John Carroll, California YC, 1-1-1, 3; PHRF-B---Tie between Defiance, Scott Taylor, Cabrillo Beach YC, 1-4-2, and Whiplash, Ray Godwin, LBYC, 3-3-1, 7; PHRF-C---DnA, Dave Hammett, Bahia Corinthian YC, 2-1-1, 4; B25---Blur, Aaron and Dixon Hall, CBYC, 2-1-1, 4; CAL 25---Discovery, Warnock/Willingham, Huntington Harbour YC, 3-2-1, 6; OLSON 30---Intense, Allan Rosenberg, Alamitos Bay YC, 2-1-1, 4; CATALINA 37---Bruce Wallerstein/Bill Durant, LBYC, 1-1-1, 3.

Spinnaker problems were commonplace in Saturday's big winds. The Tripp 50 Falcon displays a nicely set chute---from the wrong end of the boat.

Crew member of the Santana 30/30 Redline earns extra points in the 20 knots of breeze by going up to fix a problem between races.