Alter Cup Area J Trials Captured by Wallace/Gumpel

Updated 02/16/07

Alter Cup Area J Trials
King Harbor Yacht Club, Redondo Beach, CA
June 9-10, 2001

by Roger Jenkins

(Redondo Beach, CA)

King Harbor Yacht Club holds the Alter Cup Trials for Area J each June. The top sailors from Southern California gather to see who will represent Area J and compete for the coveted US SAILING Multihull National Championship known as the Alter Cup. As always KHYC did a great job working hard for the sailors. They had plenty of staff busy making sure that the catamaran sailors were having a good time and that we would have a well run event.
     The early thought going into the weekend was that if Brandon Wallace and James Gumpel, San Diego Inter 20 Flying Aces, showed up they would win. Sure enough the Stealth Fighter Jet black boat rolled into the lot joining Hobie Foxes, Hobie Miracles, Nacra 5.8 NAs, a Nacra 5.5, a Prindle 19MX, a Hobie Tiger, another Inter 20, and an A-Cat. One of the competitors engaged Brandon, "so you are the famous Brandon Wallace.” "That's what they say", replied the good natured Brandon, looking more like a Professional Hockey Player than a sailor. "Your reputation precedes you."
     "I guess you do good in one race and everything changes", Brandon continued, referring to this spring’s Alter Cup where he came ever so close to pulling off the Cinderella story. Until that time Brandon Wallace and James Gumpel were virtual unknowns in the east and south. On the CatSailor Forum a subscriber mentioned, during this past Alter Cup, that he knew the names of all the competitors in the who's who event except this Brandon guy. Did he get lucky? The response back was that he was "The Real Deal". Brandon and James have been quietly working on perfecting their hobby pretty much on their own in San Diego. Well, their hard work and determination have paid off. Because this very talented team is exploding onto the catamaran sailing scene, they have to be one of the favorites going into this year’s Performance Nationals in Corpus Christi, Texas. But on this weekend, the Black Inter 20 would find all the competition it could handle from the Hobie Factory with Champions Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier on a Hobie Tiger. The Dynamic Duo are preparing for the upcoming Hobie Tiger Worlds.
     There were four races held in what Californians call "June Gloom" conditions. June Gloom is a heavy marine layer that the area experiences each June. The marine layer usually burns off about midday and then comes back late in the day. The winds were light to moderate with a slight swell running with a lot of chop. The fleet was surprised in the first race as Karl Wagner won on corrected time on his Prindle 19MX. The new sail configuration has really powered up this boat. It was interesting to see the different designs interact with one another. The A-Cat was an upwind animal and would usually capture the first leg, rounding the top mark in first, but it would be short-lived as the spinnaker boats would turn the corner and go by in a rush. Hey, guys, where’s the fire? The next surprise was that the Tiger had almost the same rating as the non-chute Hobie Miracle, Prindle 19MX and A-Cat. Has the boat never had good sailors on it before? Regardless, it has now and many times the Tiger was in a top spot even against the bigger Inter 20 and Hobie Fox. The Tiger corrected out in first for the second race. Dan DeLave, who has been doing well in big fleets of Southern California Hobie 20s, saw the power of the spinnaker boats and declared, "I feel like I have brought a knife to a uzzi fight, and I am no Jackie Chan!” Putting a twist on a comment Larry Harteck made a couple years ago after Larry won the Area J Trials twice with an Inter 20 against non spinnaker boats. It seems that Wallace had enough of all of this fooling around and won the next two races. He actually won every race in convincing style but he also corrected out in the last two of the day.
     At the end of the day it was a close contest between the top three boats. Greg Thomas on the Hobie Tiger was first with 5 points, Brandon Wallace on the Inter 20 was second with 6 points, and last year’s winner Roger Jenkins on the A-Cat was in third with 7 points. That evening the sailors dined on salmon at the yacht club as they recanted the day’s events.
     On Sunday the clouds were gone and the beaches and boardwalk were bustling with race fans, well er... at least beach-goers who peered over their sun glasses once in awhile as they reapplied sun tan lotion. It was a great beach day but, unfortunately, the light to moderate conditions and chop were still pretty much like the day before. And pretty much like the day before the A-Cat rounded first at the top mark but by the bottom mark the Black Inter 20 had a large lead over the fleet with the Hobie Tiger right there in the hunt with the Hobie Foxes (which means they were going really fast). Thomas and Bernier on the Tiger looked like they were going to the Alter Cup as they won the first race, but in the last race they missed the shift and fell back and so did their chances. Wallace and Gumpel stepped it up a notch for the last race blasting downwind, flying a hull in the light breeze, taking the finish and the corrected time.
     At the award ceremony the Blue Blazers of US SAILING and King Harbor Yacht Club handed out the medals and plaques. It was the big guys on the big black boat that would take home the big trophy to be displayed at their home yacht club. Brandon Wallace and James Gumpel held off the Hobie Champions Greg Thomas and Jacques Bernier, beating them on the tie breaker.
     It is always fun to get all the sailors and different boats together to check it all out. As always. Commodore Mark Hansen and his yacht club, KHYC, did a great job hosting the Trials. Rumor is that the Alter Cup will be on the West Coast on Hobie Foxes, but that is still just a rumor.