LONG BEACH—Sailors will have to wait until 2022 for the next Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week (LBRW). Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club announced the 2021 iteration of the event scheduled for June 25 through 27 has been canceled. City-wide pandemic restrictions including constraints on dock space and parking lot permits, which would limit the participation of several classes of boats, prompted the decision, according to event Co-Chair Steve Mueller.
“If we are forced to eliminate a lot of our competitive classes, and can’t have our traditional parties, it just won’t be Long Beach Race Week!” said Mueller in a Feb. 25 statement. “As we cannot run it in the fashion it deserves, and history demands, we regrettably have decided to cancel.”
The 40-year-old event combines competition alongside nightly parties which rotate between hosts LBYC and ABYC. Each year the regatta draws more than 100 teams from the West Coast of the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and beyond for three days of windward/leeward and random leg races, in both one-design and PHRF fleets. Event organizers said Long Beach’s “classic conditions” guarantee a challenging breeze and venue for premier racing. In 2019, the regatta saw winds grazing 20 knots and testing conditions, according to the hosting yacht clubs.
LBRW is frequently a platform for national and regional championships, including the Schock 35 Pacific Coast Championship. The Catalina 37 National Championship is also a mainstay of LBRW. In 2019, LBYC’s Team DH3 recaptured the title for the fifth time in nine years, while ABYC triumphed in the Yacht Club Challenge.
LBRW 2020 was also canceled due to the pandemic. Competitors will have the opportunity or knock their rivals off the podium when LBRW returns June 24 to 26, 2022.
“We’ll see you in 2022!” said Mueller in the released statement. “It will be three times the fun!”
