Byline: The Log Staff
LONG BEACH — This year’s second annual Border Run2 is designed to be new and different, and organizers said it will bring the same fun, excitement and challenges to Southern California sailors as the Three-Bridge Fiasco race delivers to more than 320 Northern California skippers each year on San Francisco Bay.
The Three-Bridge Fiasco is currently the largest sailing event on the West Coast, and it is like no other race in the region, explained Bob Long of XSSAILING.com, one of the Border Run2 organizers. “It allows skippers to choose their own course, with a pursuit start, making the event challenging and testing sailors’ seamanship like never before. But most important, it’s fun and gets sailors out on the water.
“But, of course, Border Run race organizers had to add a Southern California flavor to the regatta to make it even more fun for SoCal sailors,” Long said.
Besides the main “Fiasco” event set for Saturday, June 22, Border Run2 organizers have made the delivery of the race boats to and from Long Beach, part of the race, creating a three-race series and allowing skippers to be home on Sunday.
“We wanted to make the new Border Run2 fun and convenient for all sailors,” Long said. “With a late start on Friday and making the delivery ‘to and from’ Long Beach part of the event, it allows sailors to enjoy a long weekend of great fun and sailing, without interfering to much with work.”
Stephen Ashley of the organizing Shoreline Yacht Club of Long Beach added, “Long Beach and Rainbow Harbor make for a great sailing venue, with great wind and weather. Add a fun and challenging race course like the Five-Platform Fiasco, and we think sailors will have a great time on and off the water.”
According to Long, some of the key ingredients of the new Five-Platform Fiasco event include:
* Race dates are scheduled the first weekend of summer, June 21-23.
* Delivery “to and from” Long Beach is made a part of the event, making the Border Run2 a three-race ocean racing event with a full weekend of sailing and parties, and one that will have the skippers home by Sunday.
* Skippers have the option to race one or all three races for trophies. Participants can race one day or all three.
* Racers will enjoy variety: Two races are pursuit starts (inverted) with one race using a conventional class start.
* Entry Fees have been kept low — from $39 to $99 for a three-race event with three parties.
* Everyone’s invited — from sleds to multihulls, PHRF, dinghies, windsurfers and kiteboards — on two courses; one inside and one outside of Long Beach Harbor. The Inside Course is for smaller boats, dinghies and boardsailors; and three races will be sailed on just one day: Saturday, June 22.
* For skippers racing in Long Beach Race Week the week after, the Border Run2 makes for the perfect “feeder race,” with a Sunday race course finishing in Long Beach.
* At the Saturday night Border Run2 After Party in Rainbow Harbor at Gladstone’s, everyone can come aboard and preview the 72-foot trimaran Tritium, which will soon attempt to break the current Transpac Race record.
Parties include a Friday night Trophy Party June 21 at Shoreline YC, followed by more festivities at Rainbow Harbor; a Saturday night Trophy Party June 22 at the club, followed by an After Party and Open House aboard Tritium — the fastest-rated ocean racing multihull on the West Coast — at Gladstone’s Long Beach in Rainbow Harbor; and a Trophy Party Saturday, July 13 at Shoreline YC, followed by an After Party at Gladstone’s Long Beach at Rainbow Harbor.
The Border Run2 Five-Platform Fiasco is being designed to be like no other race in Southern California. Registration is now open, and the Sailing Instructions will be available by June 12. The race is being organized by XSSAILING.com and Shoreline Yacht Club of Long Beach.
For more information, visit TheBorderRun2.org or call (800) 366-8584. Check the Notice of Race online for race courses, start times and venue details.