Reports From Rich Roberts. Photo Courtesy Of Los Angeles Yacht Club
 

This month it’s sailboat racing, but someday soon many of the competitors in the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup/Cal Maritime Invitational Intercollegiate Regatta likely will be here on business.

 

Half of the 10 teams lined up for the Los Angeles Yacht Club’s third annual regatta March 12-14 are on track for maritime careers in commercial shipping or the military, which makes the event an appropriate fit for the sponsor, the Port of Los Angeles.

 

All will race for the three-foot-tall Deed of Gift Harbor Cup Perpetual Trophy. For the record, it’s nine inches taller than the America‘s Cup, which all the fuss was about for the last 2 1/2 years.Port of L.A. Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., said, “We are honored to host academic institutions from around the country to participate in this exciting event. It is the student athletes who make this regatta such a spirited and enjoyable event, and it’s our pleasure tosponsor this exciting competition.”

Some of the sailors may one day be her employees. A typical alumni group of California Maritime Academygrads, the Vallejo, Calif. school that organized the lineup, includes:    

Nick Leik, 2002, Engineer, shipped for several years and now works shore side;

 

Jesse Cartee, 2004, Deck, shipped for Seabulk for a couple of years, got his 2nd Mates & 1600 Master’s license and now teaches at CMA (also coaches the Offshore Team);

 

Andy Goodman, 2005, Engineer, worked in facility engineering, now shipping;

 

Bud McKay, 2007, Deck, works for NASSCO in San Diego;

 

Paige Johnston, 2009, Deck, ships with Military Sealift Command;

 

Piet van Os, 2008, Deck, shipping.

 

Van Os also was a member of the Morning Light crew featured in the late Roy E. Disney’s documentary film about a crew of young sailors sailing the Transpacific Yacht Race in 2007. He sailed for Cal Maritime in the first Harbor cup in 2008. Johnston was the team’s skipper last year.  

 

As for Knatz, in 2006 she became the first female executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s number one container port. About 40 per cent of the cargo entering the U.S. passes through the San Pedro Bay port complex, which also includes Long Beach to the east. 

Knatz was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan to reduce air emissions from port operations by roughly 50 per cent over five years. She started her maritime career as an environmental scientist at the Portof Los Angeles in 1977.

“The Port of Los Angeles sponsors this event to encourage young men and women to enjoy the benefits of competitive sailing,” she said. “Corinthian values that promote the highest level of sportsmanship, fairness, courtesy and grace in victory or defeat are valuable traits to which all young men and women should aspire.”

 

She also may have a rooting interest. She is an alumnus of USC, where she presently teaches in the Civil Engineering School.

USC placed second to Maine Maritime Academy the last two years. The rest of the fleet is Cal Maritime, Cal State Channel Islands of Oxnard, Chapman University of Orange County, , U.S. Coast Guard Academy of New London, Conn., U.S. Naval Academy of Annapolis, Md., University of Hawaii, UC Davis from central California and the Merchant Marine Academy of Kings Point, N.Y., which replaced Northwestern University when the latter withdrew.

 

All will sail Catalina 37s—the Congressional Cup match-racing boats—chartered from the Long Beach Sailing Foundation, with an 11th to spare in case of breakdowns. Each team will race with a crew of seven, male and female.

 

Activity ashore will be highlighted by a Saturday night dinner featuring US Sailing President Gary Jobson as keynote speaker. Tickets are available at www.csum.edu

 

The race course will be on the ocean about a half-mile offshore between the Angels Gate lighthouse entrance to Los Angeles Harbor and Point Fermin, a venue known locally as “Hurricane Gulch” for its brisk onshore breeze funneling into the San Pedro Channel between Santa Catalina Island and the mainland.

 

The eight races over three days may be viewed fromPoint Fermin Park atop the bluff at the end of Gaffey Street. Start times, conditions permitting, will be 3 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.