SAILING : Go to Catalina and Take a Left (or Right)

Del Rey Yacht Club’s run from Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta presents a unique navigational challenge: Do you go inside or around Catalina Island on the first day?

It’s about 7 1/2 miles longer taking the island to port, but the wind is sometimes better--especially in an offshore Santa Ana condition that may prevail when the 11th biennial race starts today.

Fred Preiss was the first to make the move in the 1981 race when he took his custom 84-foot sloop Christine, the largest boat ever to compete in the event, around Catalina to a runaway sweep--first to finish, first in class, first overall (handicap).

In ‘85, Dick and Camille Daniels’ MacGregor 65 Joss followed the same route and set the record of 4 days 23 hours 14 seconds. John DeLaura also sailed his Santa Cruz 709 Silver Bullet, the defending champion, around the island in ’89.

But here’s the catch: It hasn’t always worked.

In ‘87, Joss and Pat Farrah’s SC 70 Blondie went the long way and found dead air. Blondie finished 22 hours behind the next boat in its class.

And in ‘89, Silver Bullet and Les Crouch’s Maverick went outside and Hal Ward’s Cheval and Ed McDowell’s Grand Illusion went inside, and they all met at the other end, sailing within sight of one another the rest of the way.

All of the navigators, such as Tom Leweck, will be studying the weather right up to the gun. Leweck, executive director of the ULDB 70 Association, will be aboard Brack Duker’s SC 70 Evolution, as strong a favorite as any in this race.

The long-range forecast called for light winds of only 10-12 knots, and in a high-pressure mode, Leweck says, “If there’s going to be any wind at all, it’ll be out to sea.”

Of the 22 boats entered, half are sleds. The event starts their expanded nine-event season, which also includes the Transpac this summer. The one to watch is Roy Disney’s new Pyewacket, the latest and lightest of the Bill Lee-built SC 70s.

The start is scheduled for 1 p.m., 1.4 nautical miles south-southwest of the Marina del Rey breakwater. For a record, the first boat must finish before noon next Wednesday.

Sailing Notes

OLYMPICS--The first of four Can-Am events for the 10 Olympic classes this year drew 246 boats from 14 countries to Miami. Winners included ’88 silver medalists Mark Reynolds and crewman Hal Haenel in Stars, Canadian veteran Lawrence Lemieux in Finns and Long Beach’s Pease Glaser and husband Jay in Tornado catamarans.

A surprise was San Diegan Larry Klein’s victory in Solings. Klein replaced ailing Don Cohan and, with Cohan’s crew of Wally Corwin and J.P. St. Germain, beat a first-rate, world-class field of Dave Curtis, Kevin Mahaney, Hans Fogh and John Kolius. Klein is out of the America’s Cup, so he is thinking about an Olympic campaign.

Other winners were Morgan Reeser and crewman Kevin Burnham in men’s 470; San Diego’s J.J. Isler and Pam Healy in women’s 470 (sixth overall); Carolyn Ulander in Europe dinghy; ’88 Olympian Paul Foerster and Paul Bourdow in Flying Dutchman and Greg Fenton and Lanee Butler in men’s and women’s boards.

AMERICA’S CUP--Although he’s spending more time raising money than sailing these days, Dennis Conner hasn’t lost his touch. He finished second to Britain’s Chris Law among 65 boats in the Etchells 22 world championships at Fremantle, Western Australia, site of Conner’s ’87 America’s Cup victory.

At San Diego, Bill Koch’s America-3 team has finished two weeks of training, including match-race practice in Catalina 37s, and has turned USA2--its new America’s Cup Class boat--back to the French team that built it for the next two weeks. . . . New Zealand has had one of its two red boats out for shakedowns and hopes to have the other going next week.

LITTLE AMERICA’S CUP--The Chula Vista Yacht Club’s consolation for losing to Australia’s defenders, 4-1, is that in seven events since 1976 no challenger had won a single race. That’s when Alex Kozloff and Robert Harvey took the Cup from Australia for the Cabrillo Beach YC.

This time Long Beach sailors Pete Melvin and Steve Rosenberg and designer Gino Morelli, like their ill-fated predecessors, were squeezed by time and money in developing a program for a very specialized boat--the C Class catamaran with fixed-shape sails.

Also, time was so short near the end that they had to spend $45,000 to fly their boat to Australia, rather than $5,000 to ship it.

NOTEWORTHY--The Southern California Yachting Assn. and the Yacht Club Assn. of Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors will conduct a race management seminar at the Long Beach Yacht Club Saturday, Feb. 9, 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fee is $15. Details: (213) 427-8504.

The SCYA presented awards recently--the Andy Gram Olympic Trophy to Mike Schoettle, director of the Olympic Yachting Committee; the Warren Ewert Memorial Trophy to Dick Ohst, for distinguished service to SCYA; and the James M. Webster Perpetual Trophy to Tom Ehman, executive director of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee, for many contributions to the sport.

Cruising workshops featuring author-adventurers John Neal and Barbara Marrett will be presented at West Marine stores in San Diego Feb. 6, Long Beach Feb. 12 and San Pedro Feb. 13. All start at 7 p.m and admission is $4. Details: (213) 598-9408.