Largest Regatta Begins Three Days of Racing at Long Beach

A high-performance fleet of 104 sailboats in five classes will start three days of competition today in the Audi Sobstad Race Week at Long Beach.

In its fourth year, the event is the largest Grand Prix-level Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) regatta in the nation, drawing privately owned closed-course racers from San Diego to Santa Barbara.

Today’s race at 4 p.m. and Sunday’s at 11:30 a.m. may be viewed from shore along the Ocean Boulevard bluffs above the beach. They are scheduled to start between oil islands Freeman and Chaffee in the outer Long Beach Harbor and follow a course along the beach.

The first of Saturday’s two races will start at 11:30 beyond the east end of the breakwater to seaward.