King Harbor Race

Thanks to unusually light winds, the top three spots in last weekend’s 81-mile Santa Barbara to King Harbor (Redondo Beach) Race — our favorite in Southern California — were Class A Ultra Lights. The top spot went to Akela, the R/P 77 sailed by Doug Baker, who for so many years campaigned the Magnitudes. He bested fellow Long Beach YC member Bob Lane — who happily told us he recently got married for a fourth time, to a woman in China he met online — aboard the Andrews 63 Medicine Man by about half an hour, and Jorge Ripstein of the Acapulco YC on the TP 52 Patches by 40 minutes.

The race started with promise, as there was an unusually good wind for the getaway from Santa Barbara. But the skies never cleared, so the wind never built to more than about 10 knots, which is why Akela didn’t cross the finish line until nearly 10:30 pm., about five hours off the record.

Indeed, the most interesting action was in the water. First, a few miles off the east end of Anacapa, when we sailed by a ‘dead in the water’ whale. Based on his behavior, we speculated that he’d been hit by a ship. We’re told that a number of whales have been hit by ships in the Santa Barbara Channel, so the shipping lane has been moved in an attempt to prevent further such collisions.

For us, the best part of the race was in the dark near Pt. Dume when the dolphins came to play. Thanks to a decent amount of bioluminensence, they looked like torpedos about to hit Profligate broadside. The new offshore crew loved it. As has been the case along the West Coast all year, it was unusually cool.  And the ocean temperature was even worse — a nasty, cojones-shrinking, nipple-perking 59°. About the only thing that loves cold water is the kelp off Catalina, which grows up to a foot a day in cold water and dies whenever it gets over 72. We don’t think the water has ever been 72 in Southern California, which must be why there is so much kelp down there.