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By Roger
Brown, Area J Representative
 The
US SAILING Area J Alter Cup eliminations moved to a new venue in Long
Beach this year, and the catamaran sailors found the conditions there
challenging to say the least. Winds were a steady 12-16 knots throughout
the weekend with a nasty chop building up during the day, which made for
lots of excitement on the course. With the teams pushing their boats to
the limit (and sometimes beyond) there were plenty of capsizes and
ripped sails. (Photo:
Jeff Alter & Teri
McKenna receiving the Area J Alter Cup trophy from Jerry Montgomery,
SCYA Vice Commodore)
This is a bring-your-own-boat event raced under the Portsmouth handicap
system, and the entrants comprised many of the top catamaran sailors
from Area J. The Hobie Tigers were particularly well represented with 8
boats. The Tiger sailors were a formidable group, including multi
national champions Jeff Alter, Keith Christensen and Greg Thomas. But
2001 and 2002 Area J winners Brandon Wallace/James Gumpel on their
infamous black Inter 20 were the guys to beat.
 On
Saturday, however, Dan DeLave/Eileen Haubl on a “little” Hobie 16 were
able to stay close to the big boys and corrected out at 1-1-3 in the
first 3 races before experiencing some boat problems and dropping out of
the fourth race. In the meantime, Jeff Alter/Teri McKenna were in the
battle for the top spots along with Wallace/Gumpel. (Photo: start line
action)
 Sunday
saw virtually identical conditions to Saturday and 3 more races were
sailed. Keith and Curtis Christensen continued where they left off on
Saturday, with two more bullets. Unfortunately their DNF and OCS on
Saturday kept them out of the top spot. DeLave wasn’t able to keep up
with the spinnaker boats, and the regatta became a two-boat battle
between Alter/McKenna and Wallace/Gumpel. Alter/McKenna saved their
best for last and won the final race, propelling them to the top of the
fleet. Jeff is the son of Hobie Cat creator and Alter Cup namesake
Hobie Alter – who more appropriate to win the Alter Cup eliminations? Jeff and Teri are now qualified to represent Area J in the Alter Cup
finals next Spring. (Photo: downwind mark rounding action)
Seal Beach YC hosted this event for the first time – they were very
accommodating and put on a great regatta. Much thanks to Regatta
Chairman Steve Murphy and to the members of SlBYC who helped out!
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