Story and Photos By Rich Roberts
(As reported in the Long Beach Press-Telegram)

Liz Hjorth drives the all-woman Catalina 37 from Cal YC to a pair of victories in Long Beach Race Week Sunday.

Victory did not come easily for the eight class winners in Long Beach Yacht Club's 24th Long Beach Race Week, not even for Allan Rosenberg.

The Long Beach dentist and three other family members among a crew of six sailed his 20-year-old boat, Intense, to six first places in the Olson 30 fleet, which was a tall order since there were only five races.

How so? Confusion about the timing of the start in the first race Saturday led to the race being resailed Sunday, and Rosenberg won that, too.

"This weekend was really good fun," Rosenberg said Sunday before receiving yet another trophy for his overcrowded shelves and walls. "Saturday the wind blew very hard and we were up for it. Today was your typical Long Beach sailing."

Cal YC bowperson Liz Tran signals the afterguard as Bahia Corinthian rival Bill Durant (red jacket) crowds the all-woman boat near the starting line.

Following Saturday's 20 knots-plus of wind, Sunday brought less than half that velocity and

allowed the 68 boats in eight classes to concentrate on competing more than surviving. There were some spirited showdowns.

In the chartered Catalina 37 fleet---the same boats used in the Congressional Cup---veterans Bruce Wallerstein and Bill Durant from Bahia Corinthian YC hung three 1-2s on Dawn McIntosh's all-woman crew from Cal YC Saturday. But the ladies, with Liz Hjorth at the helm, reversed the equation Sunday---once by half a boat length---to fall only one point shy.

John Carroll, sailing the Dencho 50 Arana in PHRF-A, stumbled to fifth place in the first of two Sunday races to drop into a tie with San Diego's Ross Ritto on the Farr ILC 40, High 5. Then Carroll's Cal Yacht Club crew reverted to earlier form with another 1-2 edge over High 5 to win by a point.

In PHRF-C, Dave Hammett's J/80, DnA, from Bahia Corinthian YC, fell off track into a tie with Joan and Greg Byrne's Laser 28, Takeoff, then went on the attack in the last race.

The Cal YC's all-woman boat strikes a contrast with a classic woody cruising the Long Beach outer harbor.

"They were great competitors," Hammett said. "We basically match-raced them in the last pre-start [sequence] and forced a foul, then we forced them into a bad start."

DnA, which also won class in the recent Tommy Bahama Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race, then finished third to Takeoff's ninth for the win.

In the B-25s, Gordon Miller from Oceanside YC stayed steady with his third and fourth second-place finishes to turn back a three-boat team from Cabrillo Beach YC. The first-day leading son-father team of Aaron and Dixon Hall stumbled with a fourth and third.

None of the above has as many trophies as Rosenberg, who said the most satisfying part of his two decades of success has been sailing with his sons and other family members. He hasn't tired of winning or driving the boat.

The Rosenberg family and friends sail their Olson 30, Intense, to a string of first places. Skipper/helmsman Allan Rosenberg is second from left, partially obscured.

"I pay the bills, I fix the broken parts, [so] I get to drive," he said, smiling.

Class winners: 50-FOOTERS (6 boats)---Victoria (Transpac 52), Mike Campbell, Long Beach YC, 2-1-1-2-4, 10 points; PHRF-A (11)---Arana (Dencho 51), John Carroll, Cal YC, 1-1-1-5-1, 9; PHRF-B (12)---Whiplash (Schock 35), Ray Godwin, LBYC, 3-3-1-3-2, 12; PHRF-C (14)---DnA (J/80), Dave Hammett, Bahia Corinthian YC, 2-1-1-5-3, 12; CATALINA 37 (5)---Team BCYC, Bruce Wallerstein/Bill Durant, Bahia Corinthian YC, 1-1-1-2-2, 7; B-25 (5)---Nocona, Gordon Miller, Oceanside YC, 1-2-2-2-2, 9; CAL 25 (8)---Discovery, Warnock/Willingham, Huntington Harbour YC, 3-2-1-1-6, 13; OLSON 30 (7)---Intense, Allan Rosenberg, Alamitos Bay YC, 1-1-1-1-1, 5.

Crew on Art Melendres' Cal 25, One Time, hustles to set spinnaker for downwind leg.