Sailing Event Begins Today at Long Beach

Oceangoing International Offshore Rule (IOR) racers will head a fleet of about 75 sailboats in as many as eight handicap and one-design classes that start competition today in Ullman-Washington Race Week at the Long Beach Yacht Club.

The three-day event formerly was called Long Beach Race Week.

Dave Ullman of Newport Beach again will be at the helm of Quintessence, Don Hughes’ Reichel-Pugh 42 from Santa Barbara that has won the IOR class the last three years.

Robbie Haines of Huntington Beach, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, will skipper Irv Loube’s smaller Farr one-ton Bravura, which has been refitted since losing its mast while leading a race in the Admiral’s Cup off England earlier this year. Other top IOR contenders include Bob Butkus’ Victory and Mike Wooten’s Allegiance, both from Long Beach.

The IOR fleet, with up to 20 entries, will be split into two or three classes, according to ratings. J-44s, Swans and other similar all-round racer-cruisers will compete in the International Measurement system (IMS) handicap class. There also will be no-handicap racing in one-design classes for Catalina 38s, Schock 35s, J-35s, Santa Cruz 50s and Olson 30s.

Sailing Notes

A half-hour of highlights of the final leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to England will be shown on ESPN Monday at 4:30 p.m. One-two finishers Steinlager 2 and Fisher & Paykel of New Zealand suffered damage in North Atlantic gales but continued while making repairs under way. . . . Coming up: Audi/North Race Week June 22-24 at Long Beach, with more than 100 boats rating 24-174 PHRF; the annual CHOC Regatta at Newport Beach June 23, for all PHRF boats with valid certificates, plus one-designs with five or more entries. Entry fee: $100. Details: (714) 721-5500.