Fleet News and Updates

In November of 2015, USITA Long Beach Director Henk Baars purchased USA-327 from Jeff Wightman, and we now have eight Tempests in our fleet. The boat was made by Mader in 1975 and will be a great addition to our fleet. As currently configured, the boat is set up to bag launch the spinnaker, but Henk is thinking about converting it to a tube launcher.

After way too many delays, we finally launched Breakthrough, USA-211 on Saturday, August 13, 2015. This event was very exciting for the dedicated crew that has been working on this boat for several years. The boat will be sailed by Christina Hall, our newest member, who has been working with Dominic to complete work on Breakthrough since she joined our group in June of this year. With Breakthrough ready to go, we now have four boats that are race ready.

Finco Fabrication completed their work on Arabesque USA-333, and the boat really looks good! We will start to add fittings later this year, and hope to have this boat ready to sail by the spring of next year. Next year should be the start of fleet racing with five active boats.

This summer and fall, our Tempest fleet will be focusing on fleet building. Right now, we have three boats that can be raced. These boats include USA-318 Showboat Gambler, USA-323 Class Act and USA-335 Showtime. Although Showtime is in great shape, Showboat Gambler and Class Act need some work. In addition, we are completing the rebuild effort on USA-211 Breakthrough, which should be finished by late summer. USA-333 Arabesque is at Finco Fabrication in Santa Ana to do minor repair work on the fiberglass, replace the teak rub rail, address some leaks around the bow and stiffen the front deck. Our goal is to have five race-ready boats by this fall, so that we will qualify for our own start during ABYC regattas.

In the morning of Monday, May 13, 2013,Dave McComb's Arabesque rolled through the front gate of the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and joined the Long Beach Tempest fleet. We are extremely pleased that Dave is joining our fleet, and we look forward to sailing with him as often as possible. Although Dave will continue to live in Bolton Landing, New York, we hope that he will be visiting Long Beach at least once or twice a year and sailing the boat that has been an important part of his life for many years.

With the addition of Arabesque, we now have a total of seven Tempests in our fleet. Of the seven, four are race-ready, but this will change quickly when work on USA-120, Breakthrough is completed and we have five boats that are ready to race.

In April of 2013, Dominic and Brenda drove to Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas to take delivery of Long-Term Affair, USA-329 the newest addition to our Tempest fleet. The boat is one of the Tempests sent by Mader to the Canadian Olympic Trials back in 1976, in the hope that they would all be sold, and they all were! The newest addition to our fleet sailed as KC-55 in Canada before it was purchased by Jack Carter in Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas.

We now have three "Canadian Tempests" in our fleet. In addition to Long-Term Affair, we have Showboat Gambler, USA-318, another of the Tempests sent by Mader to the above mentioned Olympic trials, and Class Act, USA-323, which was sailed by Allan and Lorne Leibel in the 1976 Olympics.

The addition of Long-Term Affair to our fleet brings the total number of boats to six. Later this year, we will take delivery of Arabesque, USA-333, which was sailed by Dave McComb for years. This will bring our fleet to a total of seven boats!

Spring is right around the corner, and the Long Beach Tempest fleet is getting ready for an exciting year of fleet building and racing. Work is continuing on Breakthrough USA-211, which should be racing this summer. With the launch of Breakthrough, the fleet will have four, actively-racing Tempests. In April, Brenda and Dominic will be driving to San Antonio, Texas to pick up Long-Term Affair USA-329 and trailer the boat back to Long Beach. Later this year, Henk will be flying to upstate New York to meet with Dave McComb and trailer Arabesque USA-333 back to Long Beach. By the end of the summer, we will have seven Tempests in the fleet!

Anyone interested in knowing more about the Tempest fleet is encouraged to contact Dominic at (714) 377-3155. The fleet works on boat rebuilding and practice racing most weekends, so this would be a great opportunity to meet.

The USITA Long Beach Tempest fleet ended the 2012 racing season with the ABYC Turkey Day Regatta, sailed over the weekend of November 17 and 18. On the positive side, Dee Morse graduated from crew to skipper, as she ably skippered Class Act through 4 races on Saturday. Joel Giacomino and Matt FitzPatrick sailed Showboat Gambler on Sunday and worked their way thru some minor rigging problems to finish all three races. They are excited about sailing together in 2013.

Lisa Sall crewed for Dominic Meo III on Sunday in Class Act and did an outstanding job. She was terrific on the trapeze and handled the spinnaker like a pro. She is looking forward to learning how to skipper in 2013. Her crew of choice is her husband David Sall, who is looking forward to having more free time for sailing with Lisa when he graduates from USC business school in June of 2013.

On a sad note, Matt injured his right hand while assisting a fellow sailor dock their Viper sailboat at the club after racing on Sunday. He will be out of action for a while, but he now has the title of Honorary Boat Rebuilding Supervisor until he has fully recovered.

Tempest fleet racing has returned to southern California! The Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) Halloween Regatta was conducted on Sunday, October 28, 2012, and a fleet of four Tempests were given their own start and race course. The fleet consisted of three boats from USITA Long Beach and a visiting Tempest from San Pedro, California.

This marks a major milestone for USITA Long Beach, which has been working hard to build a fleet of six, identical Tempests which will serve to teach and promote sailboat racing to sailors between the ages of 23 and 35.

The push is on to launch Breakthrough and Dr. J. in 2013. With the launch of these boats, USITA Long Beach will finally have five race-ready boats, and Tempest fleet racing at ABYC will become a more common occurrence.

The sailing season in 2012 started off with a bang, with the launching of a totally-rebuilt USA-335, Showtime. This boat is the model for how we want to rebuild all of our boats, and if you are in the Long Beach area, you really need to drop by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and check her out. With the launching of Showtime, we now have three Tempests ready to race, and we are very excited. If you own a Tempest, or are thinking of buying a Tempest, you really need to see this boat to see how beautiful a Mark I Tempest can be when it is properly rebuilt.