From Rich Roberts: May 28, 2000 For Immediate Release  GPS WINS A FOGGY DAY AT DEL REY

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. -- As a heavy fog settled over the course during the last race of Cal Race Week Sunday, Kimo Worthington, tactician on the Farr 40 Shadow, raised his arms in an appeal to counterpart Robbie Haines on rival Crocodile Rock and yelled, "Where are we?" In 1997-98 Worthington won the Whitbread Round the World Race with Paul Cayard's team, but sometimes even the world's best sailors don't have the foggiest idea. This time his Global Positioning System (GPS) was broken. Haines said, "We knew where we were. Our GPS was working fine. I told Kimo, 'If you don't affect us, we'll tell you where we are and you can follow us.' " Such was the second and final day for 78 boats on the second stop of the Volvo Inshore Championships series, the Triple Crown of Southern California sailing that will conclude with Boatscape.com/North sails Race Week at Long Beach June 23-25.

The day was as frustrating for the California YC's race committee as it was for the sailors. The maddeningly shifty wind of 5-6 knots was even lighter than Saturday, when it momentarily peaked at 10 knots, but another problem was the fog. A patchy gray curtain fell late in the morning, limiting clear visibility to 50 yards or less and causing delays on the three courses from an hour to an hour and a half until the committee boats were able to see the pin ends of their lines.  Finally, the fog drifted past onto the beach for a race in brilliant sunshine -- and then another bank descended for a curtain call as the RC tried to start the last go-rounds. That's when the GPS games started.

The returning fog was so bad that the Schock 35s were unable to start their fifth race, which was OK with Wings skipper Dennis Case from San Diego.  Wings led the first day but finished seventh in the first race Sunday, which is usually its comeback day.  "The other guys put us in their gunsights," Case said. "It's too bad for them they didn't have a chance to get us in the last race. Normally, it's the other way around."

Top finishers:

SCHOCK 35 (13) - 1. Wings, Dennis Case, SDYC, 14; 2. Minnesota Fast, Jim Maslon, Del Rey YC, 16; 3. Whistler, Peter Johnstone/Claudia Wainer, Balboa YC, 16.

April 18, 2000 For Immediate Release: SAILING NEWS FROM BOATSCAPE.COM / NORTH SAILS RACE WEEK Long Beach, CA June 23 - 25

Golison & Golison / Premiere-Racing www.premiere-racing.com

MAJOR ONE-DESIGN CLASSES LEAD WAY TO LONG BEACH LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Traffic jams at every mark are in store when major one-design classes clash in the 16th Boatscape.com/North Sails Race Week June 23-25.  Racing boat for boat, the hard-charging Schock 35s, Farr 40s, J/120s, Olson 30s, Santana 20s and Melges 24s all promise big fleets, handicaps aside.  The expanded event, produced by the Golison family and their new partner, Premiere Racing, is the last stop of the Volvo Inshore Championships. VIC 2000 is the Triple Crown of Southern California sailing that also includes San Diego's Yachting Cup May 6-7 and Cal Race Week at Marina del Rey, May 27-28.  A boat is automatically entered in VIC 2000 when it enters any of the three regattas. However, each regatta also must be entered separately.

The Schock 35s are perhaps the busiest and most competitive of the inshore classes around Southern California. They will feature Boatscape.com/North Sails Race Week as their Pacific Coast Championships.  "The Golison regatta has since 1987 been the best-run event on our circuit and traditionally attracts a big class turnout," said Dave Voss, the immediate past president of the Schock 35 Association who campaigns Piranha. "Great parties, great racing and a family atmosphere make it well worth the trip."

The Schock 35s follow a circuit of a dozen events encompassing their home ports from San Diego to Marina del Rey. Dennis Case's Wings from San Diego, always a top contender in the class, came from behind on the last leg of the last race to win at North Sails Race Week last year.

Boatscape.com / North Sails Race Week is based at the Seaport Marina Hotel at the Long Beach Marina on the east side of the city. This year organizer Bruce Golison has ambitiously blown the former limit on total entries at 150 and anticipates the event will top 200 in 15 classes.  The addition of separate classes for J/105s, Olson 30s, Santana 20s, 1D35s and ULDB 70s will require three racing circles instead of two, inside and outside the breakwater. The Olson 30s had only four boats last year but will use the event as their national championships, so they requested their own class to accommodate up to 30 boats.

For the ULDB 70s, Race Week 2000 represents their first time at the event. Four or five of the powerful big "sleds" are expected to be on the course. 

Race Week also draws the cream of the West Coast big boat handicap fleet.  The fleet is divided into classes based on performance and displacement to create the most competitive racing possible. A dozen or more are expected in the 50-foot +/- class. Several in the 40-foot +/- group are expected from beyond Southern California. Their ratings will be reviewed and adjusted to ensure the continuity of the ratings from area to area.

Race Week's race management, considered by many to be some of the best in the world, will be coordinated on each of the three courses by Mark Golison, Mark Townsend of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Mike Segerblom of the U.S. Sailing Center.

Title sponsors Boatscape.com and North Sails will be on shore to enhance the sailors' experience, whether it is to go on-line to a "boater's webpage" or to have a sail repaired. Besides its title sponsors, other leading backers for Boatscape.com / North Sails Race Week are Volvo, Team McLube and Corona Beer.

CONTACTS:

Boatscape.com/North Sails Race Week  www.premiere-racing.com 

Bruce Golison (714) 379-4884 bruce@golison.com

Peter Craig (781) 639-9545 PremiereRacing@compuserve.com

PUBLICITY: Rich Roberts (310) 835-2526 cell (310) 213-2526 richroberts@compuserve.com

YACHTING CUP: