The Open 5.70 North American Championship was held last weekend at Long Beach Race Week. The Open 5.70s had 21 boats on the starting line making them the biggest one-design class at the event. Incidentally, there hasn’t been a fleet of 20 or more boats at this event since 2005.

This was an unusual year weather wise. Both Friday and Sunday saw light variable conditions which made staying ahead of the pack more of a challenge than usual. Saturday the breeze filled in by the early afternoon and racers saw 15-18 knots of breeze – very typical for long beach. Combined with the relatively flat waters of the inner break water these were perfect conditions for the Open 5.70s allowing them to stretch their legs after a day of light wind reaching boat speeds in the low teens on the downwind legs.

The 2011 North American Champion is Jerome Sammarcelli who was sailing on USA 275, “Semi-Aquatic”, with long time crew Doug Weitz. By consistently finishing in the top 5 in all 7 races Jerome clinched the title by 6 points. 2nd place went to the defending Long Beach Race Week champion Tracey Kenney. Third place went the young Festa/Dair team – Tony Festa (age 17), Greg Dair (age 18) and Frankie Dair (age 12). The teenagers sailed USA 286, “II Havic”, flawlessly until race 6 where they sailed to the wrong mark with a group of other boats – a decision that ultimately cost them their title. The podium was dominated by the Open 5.70s from Southern California who were racing in their back yard and the light conditions on both Friday and Sunday were definitely favorable for the local sailors. The top boat from Northern California finished 4th overall, Tom Baffico sailing on USA 288 “The Maker” with crew Nick Burke.

Full results : www.lbrw.org

Photos : Day 1 – Day 2 - Day 3 - Trophy Presentation

Video : Onboard Footage

Kattack Replays : All Races

The Open 5.70 North American Championships are going to be held at Long Beach Race Week, CA from June 24th through June 26th. There are already 21 Open 5.70s registered for the regatta setting a new record high fleet size for the Open 5.70 class. For all the latest information about the event, the boats, the teams, and the parties check out the Open 5.70 North American Championship facebook page!

Open 5.70 North American Championships

Last weekend, it was time to put the Pogo 2 to the test. For this first test, we chose to participate to the first race of the Whitney Bogart Series, organized every year by Los Angeles Yacht Club. This is without knowing that we were going to be the slowest rated boat (117), by a long shot: to name a few: Pendragon VI (-144), Pyewacket (-84), Medicine Man (-96) were still wondering until the start gun what we were doing in their play yard!! (more…)

Definitely the highlight of the 2010 Open 5.70 racing calendar, Long Beach Race week saw a record 15 Open 5.70s on the starting line. Open Sailing was there in force and had a professional videographer on a chase boat with a nice HD camera to capture the action. Many thanks to Jeff who trawled through almost 6 hours of footage and put together this little video.

Photo Credit David McBride

Long Beach Race Week is one of the largest events on the Southern California racing calendar. It has also been the host for the Open 5.70 Pacific Coast Championships for the last two years. For the 3rd Pacific Coast Championship boats travelled from all over California to compete and try to take the title from the two time winner – Team Festa. There were 15 boats on the start line – the largest one-design fleet at Long Beach Race Week which had a total of 140+ boats competing on three race courses. Click through to read more and see some video…

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Open Sailing is going to be at the Long Beach Boat Show from Thursday through Friday this week. Come by and see the Open 5.70 – we have one on the trailer and one in the water that you can go sailing on for free! If you’d like to reserve your sail feel free to contact us or come and see us at the show. Click through to see a map of the boat show and our boat show specials (more…)

With Long Beach Race Week already a week behind us it’s already time to start reminding ourselves of what a great regatta it was and how much fun it was planing downwind at 12+ knots!!

Susan Sherrard was on the Open Sailing rib on Friday taking pictures – you can see her pictures here.

Pat Reynolds from The Mariner Magazine was on the Open Sailing rib on Saturday taking even more pictures – his pictures are available here.

Start Line crowded with Open 5.70s

Long Beach Race Week is one of the biggest events on the Southern California racing calendar. This is the 2nd time that the Open 5.70s have held their Pacific Coast Championships at this event. The venue is ideally suited to the Open 5.70 with breezy conditions and protected waters inside the extended break water. With only one month since the suceessful Cal Race Week where 8 boats took the start the fleet has already grown to an impressive 11 Opens making it the 2nd largest fleet at Long Beach Race Week (only 2 boats behind the J105 class). (more…)

Eleven Open 5.70s docked at ABYC waiting for the first day of racing at Long Beach Race Week.