United States Sailing Center -- Long Beach

United States Sailing Center -- Long Beach

&nbs= p;

USC and Alamitos = Bay Yacht Club present the 20th Annual

R= ose Bowl Regatta

Jan. 8-9, 2005

&nbs= p; &= nbsp; Jan. 10, 2005

=

USC, Point Loma H= S Win Wet and Windy Rose Bowl

LONG BEACH, Cal= if.---Unpertur= bed by cool temperatures and occasionally heavy rains, the USC and Point Loma High School saili= ng teams claimed class victories in the 20th annual Rose Bowl Regatta Sunday= .

The No. 2-ranked Trojans, le= d by two-time all-American Mikee Anderson, topped runner-up UC Irvine and 22 o= ther college teams from across the country, while 17-year-old Adam Roberts led Point Loma's varsity over 5= 2 high school teams from California and Hawaii. =

USC was the official host of= the largest combined collegiate and high school regatta in the country. The US Sailing Center and nearby Alamitos Bay Yacht Club organized the event, wi= th the latter serving as host facility.

The teams, each consisting o= f four or more sailors, sailed 14-foot, two-person Club/Collegiate Flying Junior= s (CFJs) in 12 rounds of racing, rotating boats off the beach next to ABYC and the US Sailing Center on the protected bay adjacen= t to the Long Beach Marina.

The high school teams were s= plit into Gold and Silver divisions based on previous performance. The Gold sh= ared Alamitos Bay with the collegians; the Silver competed on the smaller bay fronting the = Sailing Center.

On Saturday, like the Tourna= ment of Roses Parade on New Year's Day, the event caught a window in the serie= s of rainstorms that have drenched California since Christmas. The 300-plus sailors enjoyed relatively dry, if overcast, sailing in 8-10 knots of breeze.

Sunday was a tighter window, preceded by a heavy downpour that abated before launch time. It was chase= d by a consistent southerly breeze of 16-20 knots that later brought an encore= of more rain for the last four rounds.

It seemed the conditions wou= ld test the mettle of the boats and crews but, while parents and coaches hud= dled under canopies on the beach, the sailors took it all in stride.

"It was actually refreshing," Anderson said. "When you're sailing you're getting wet, anyway. When the rain squalls came in it did make it tough to see the [wind] pressure, though."

USC's A boat with Anderson edged UC Irvine's A boat with skipper rank Tybor by one point. Anderson, switching crew from lightwe= ight Vanessa Decollibus on Saturday to the heavier Greg Helias on Sunday, won three of the 12 races with worst finishes of seventh and eighth.

Tybor, alternating between crew W= hitney Loufek and William Poche= reva, won two with worst scores of eighth and ninth.

USC's B boat with skipper Harrison Turner and crew Melanie Roberts (Adam's siste= r) boosted the overall winning margin over UCI to 85-120 by winning 5 of 12 races.

Brown University= , ranked No. 1 nationally, placed 10th overall but, like other Eastern entries, la= cked its strongest sailors. The Providence, <= st1:State w:st=3D"on">R.I. school was represented by skipper Isaac Ston= er and two men and two women from Northern California who were still on holiday break.

"We're kind of third-st= ring JVs," Stoner said.

But he started off strong wi= th a 1-2 in the first two races.

Roberts, coming off a win wi= th Marla Menninger in a 95-boat 420 class in the Orange Bowl Regatta at Miami, Fla. two weeks earlier, sailed Point Loma's v= arsity boat with Megan Magill. Tyler Sinks was the B skipper, alternating with B= en Todter and Brennan Clark as crew.

Between them they topped Newport Harbor's JV team, 129-135, followed by Newport Harbor's varsity and Point Lom= a's JVs. The latter's A boat was actually the hottest boat in the fleet with = six wins and two seconds in 11 races but shared fourth overall with the B boa= t.

Complete results will be pos= ted at http:= //www.ussclb.org/

Media outlets may contact the press officer for free high-resolution images.

MORE INFORMATION =

United States = Sailing Center

(562) 433-7939

www.uss= clb.org

Rich Roberts

Press Officer

(310) 835-2526

richsail@earthlink.net <= /span>

Full gallery will be posted ASAP at

UnderTheSunPhotos.com