ABYC Multihull Invitational
Story and Photos By Rich Roberts

Hall Stratton of Oak Park, Calif. checks out A-Cat winner Pete Melvin, Huntington Beach, off the starting line.

LONG BEACH---Some days you're just meant to win. So it was for Dan Delave, Pete Melvin and Gordon Bailey at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's 2002 Multihull Invitational Saturday and Sunday.

Moderate winds the first day and the arrival of blustery breezes in the high teens late the second day set the stage for a wild windup in the outer harbor inside the breakwater. There were 43 boats in eight classes.

Sailing in the Hobie 20 fleet without the privilege of discarding their worst finish, Delave, from Long Beach, and crew Eileen Haubl won four of their first six races, then found they had broken a rudder casting before the final race. Their DNS (did not start) score left them tied for first place with Todd Hitch of Huntington Beach, but their four wins won them the tiebreaker.

Was it safe to go back into the water?

Melvin, the local A-Cat king, took a DNS in the opening race Saturday.

"I just didn't get to the starting line in time," he explained.

But after spotting Long Beach's Jeremy Laundergan that win and another in the second race, Melvin rolled off five first place to edge Laundergan by a point, 12 to 13.

Peter Smith, Huntington Beach, is windward of the Hobie 16s at the start.

Bailey, who hauled his Hobie 16 in from Las Vegas, made the most dramatic recovery to win the H/16 B fleet. He scored three firsts and a second on day one, but crew Adam Tarks suffered severe burns in an overnight accident and was unable to sail Sunday. Bailey roamed the beach looking for a replacement and found a young woman named Anita---he never learned her last name---from Newport Beach.

"She had never been on a sailboat before," Bailey said. "She was just wandering around looking at the boats. I told her it might be rough."

They capsized on their first tack coming out to the starting area from the beach but recovered to finish second in Anita's maiden race.

Chuck Brown, Capistrano Beach, and crew set their Hobie Fox spinnaker.

As the wind built, they pitchpoled before the second race and were unable to right the boat in time to start and took a DNS. Then they finished second in the finale to win by a point.

"She was made of titanium," Bailey said of his mysterious crew. "At the end she asked me how fast we were going."

Complete results at www.abyc.org

Mike Legge, Rancho Palos Verdes, and crew set up for a reach.	It's close competition offwind among Hobie Fox sailors (from right) Mike Legge, Rancho Palos Verdes; Chuck Brown, Capistrano Beach, and Jeff Newsome, Long Beach.	Todd Hitch, Huntington Beach, and crew Karen Christensen have a handful of their Hobie 20.
Scott Miller, San Diego, with crew David Meacock, fly their Hobie 20 upwind.	Gordon Bailey (right) of Las Vegas has a serious discussion with his volunteer crew, known only as Anita from Newport Beach (see story). They recovered to win the Hobie 16-B class.	It's a wet and windy ride for Jock McGraw, Huntington Beach, on his Hobie 20