Event Recap: Butler Cup 2014

Yacht Club recognized Frank Butler, designer of the Catalina 37

Any chance I get to escape the weather in New England I typically take, so when I got the call to crew on a boat for the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup (Grade 3) I didn’t hesitate. The event, running November 15-16 out of Long Beach Yacht Club, is named in honor of Frank Butler, designer of the Catalina 37 and president of Catalina Yachts. Frank donated a fleet of 11 boats to the Long Beach Sailing Foundation who continues to maintain and repair these boats two decades later. Also used for the Congressional Cup, the longest running match race in North America, the Catalina 37s have been sailed by world-class sailors since their inception.

My first time sailing the boat would also be with a crew I largely had never met. Skipper Shane Young, Long Beach Match Race Team member and former Cal State Long Beach Sailing Team standout had the helm with the assist from tactician Steve Flam. Main trim was another LBMR Team member Max Moosmann, with John Hill (former CSULB Sailing Team skipper) at primary trim and myself at offside trim. In the pit was Chase Young (brother of Shane) and on the bow was LBMR Team member Ben Wheatley.

Saturday morning dawned with a mild 4-6 knot southerly that built slowly throughout the day. We motored out of the harbor and towards the Long Beach Pier (same venue as Congressional Cup) to get some practice in before our first match. Format was a double round robin, meaning 58 races in two days, which, in the current wind conditions, was a formidable task for the race committee.

After a first race mishap in the pre-start against Justin Law (2014 Hinman Trophy winner), it was apparent we were out of sync. A late entry to the box and sloppy boat handling handed Law leverage that they maintained for the rest of the race. As the breeze built and our communication increased, so did our pre-start maneuvers, speed and decision making. Our first loss would also prove to be our last as we finished up the day at 6-1 with key wins over Bill Durant and Dave Hood.

Day 2 brought screaming Santa Ana winds that blew all hopes of an early start out the window with gusts upwards of 25 knots (above the Catalina 37 wind range, as specified by the Long Beach Sailing Foundation). After a brief meeting we sat on land until noon, hoping that by then the land breeze would have switched to a sea breeze with more manageable wind speeds. Due to the loss of time on the course, the race committee amended the sailing instructions to reflect a Day 2 format of semis and finals for the top four teams (first to 2 points) and a single round robin for the bottom four teams.

Out in the harbor the course was set further out than Saturday to take advantage of as much breeze as could possibly fill. As luck would have it, our semi-final match up was with Law, a revenge match of our only loss of the weekend. Taking advantage of our starboard entry, we forced an early penalty and started clear ahead, leading by several boat lengths at the first mark. A spinnaker mishap and some ill-timed jibes saw that lead squandered and by the final run Law had a good-sized lead. Luckily for us a combination of a poorly timed penalty turn and failing to completely exonerate gave us a late victory in match one. Match two was light and shifty with Law yet again winning the start. We stayed close and made our move on the last run pulling off a clean hoist and jibe to new breeze. Letting us split to course left, Law and company parked themselves in a massive hole on the (course) right while we marched on into the finish. Just like that we were on to the finals. “No worse than second overall!” joked Ben. Unfortunately, this was about the time that the wind decided it had had enough and quit entirely for the day; nothing but random puffs scattered across an otherwise glassy bay. Without a full set for the top four boats, the medal rankings came down to the previous day scores. Both our boat (Young) and Durant had 6 points, but with the tiebreaker we scored first overall and winners of the 2014 Butler Cup.

The Butler Cup Race Committee deserves ample recognition for the job they did pulling off the first round robin on Saturday in less than ideal conditions. They were quick to adapt to the situation and their quick thinking allowed all 28 of the first days races to be completed. Additionally a thank you to the other skippers and their respective crews, Bill Durant, Dave Hood, Justin Law, Wendy Corzine, Sandy Hayes, Lisa Meier and Stephen Ashley, for making the event competitive and fun.

Full results can be seen here or on the Long Beach Yacht Club website. Thanks to the LBYC for facilitating this event and the Long Beach Sailing Foundation for providing the boats.