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This website gives information about our boat, Lizzie B, and also about the Sunset Series run by California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, California, which is where we compete these days. Check out a photo of Lizzie B rounding the weather mark and setting the chute. We have individual race results and overall series standings for the current 2011 season as well as class series standings (A, B, C, D, M242 and E).

Lizzie Who??? - Lizzie B is a Mariah 27 (under MORC the boat was referred to as a G&S 27, referring to the designers Scott Graham & Eric Schlageter). Lizzie is hull #2, launched in 1986 (Lizzie is the second production hull of the Mariah 27 but the third hull of the same shape if you count the original prototype, which was built as a custom boat two or three years before the Mariah 27 started production). The Mariah/G&S 27 was designed under the MORC rule and has a very similar hull shape to several well-known later G&S designs - the S-2 7.9 and S-2 9.1.

There aren't a lot of Mariah 27s around anymore. A while back we came across one named Nemesis for sale on the East Coast and as you can see from the photos she is laid out pretty much the same as Lizzie B except that she has an outboard (we don't know her hull number). As of July 2009, there was a Mariah 27 for sale in the Chicago area. That boat was the original Insatiable from the Chesapeake (Fishing Bay YC) but she was bought and moved to the Midwest about 2007.

Dick Hampikian has been an owner of Lizzie B since the boat was first launched. Originally, he was a co-owner with Mike Braney but Mike died in 1999 and Dick has been the sole owner since then. The boat was actively sailed by Dick and Mike all around the US under MORC in the late '80s and early '90s, winning her class (2nd overall) at the MORC Internationals in San Diego in 1986. Lizzie B has a lot of silverware in the trophy cupboard from the many National, North American and International regattas she did during the years she was actively campaigned around the country on the MORC circuit. Now she is like a retired racehorse - a thoroughbred that likes to show her ablities and relive some of her past glories when she can.

"Lizzie B" is short for "Lizzie Borden," the Fall River, Massachusetts girl alleged to have killed her mother and father with a hatchet. Mike Braney was born and raised in Fall River. According to nursery ryhme:

            Lizzie Borden took an axe
            And gave her mother forty whacks.
            And when she saw what she had done,
            She gave her father forty-one.

In 2007, Art traveled to Fall River, Mass. and visited the birthplace of Lizzie Borden, now a fancy Bed and Breakfast! (Check it out.)

The Crew of Lizzie B

The Regulars

The Semi-Regulars

PHRF Rating - We have had some issues with our PHRF rating over the last 10-12 years. A description is available here.

New for 2011 - There isn't anything really new for 2011. We got a new #1 genoa and mainsail about halfway through the 2010 season. Dick had the interior of the boat painted between the 2009 and 2010 season. As always, we had the bottom redone this spring.

2011 PHRF D Competition - The class splits were changed for 2011 with five PHRF classes instead of four (reverting back to what we had pre-2009). This year we were in PHRF D, which went from 102 to 135 (in 2009 and 2010 we were in PHRF C, which went from 93 to 135). That meant three boats were moved out of our class (Jubilation, a J/100 at 93; Jokers Wild, an Olson 29 at 96; and, Agua Cheetah, an Olson 30 at 99). Otherwise, our class was mostly the same as in 2010 except that Redline, Santana 30/30GP, didn't come out at all in 2011.

As in 2010, there was a fairly wide gap between the top few boats and the next level down. Creeper wasn't serious at the start of the season and then was sold to new owners so they weren't in the top tier in 2011. That left Avet as the other boat in the top tier. They wound up in 2nd, about 13 points behind Lizzie B. The next tier down included Toon Town, Ultimate 20, and Teaser, Santana 30/30PC, who wound up competing for 3rd place. Toon Town wound up 3rd with slightly better results even though Teaser did more races.

MisQue, C&C SR25, missed three or four races and their series results were impacted as a result although they won two races. Hitchhiker, Laser 28, had even better results (they won two races also) but didn't come out often enough to be in contention in the series standings. Traveler lost their tactician and really fell off the pace again this year after doing pretty well two years ago.

PHRF D was the third biggest class in the Racing Division in 2011, averaging 9.8 starters per race. PHRF C, with 12.3 starters per race, and the Martin 242 class, with 10.2 starters per race, were the only bigger classes.

Marylyn Ritchie Competition - The Marylyn Ritchie Trophy is awarded to the boat with the best record in the Racing Division of the Sunset Series. The scoring for the Marylyn Ritchie Trophy was modified in 2002 so that class size is much less important than it once was (points table). Hence, boats from different-sized classes can now be competitive for the overall trophy and the level of competition has increased dramatically (top boats each year). CYC has a list of prior winners [you may have to hit refresh on your browser].

In 2011, the competition for the Marylyn Ritchie trophy was particularly intense. Grace O'Malley (PHRF C, Alice Leahey, CYC) and Lizzie B were the top two boats for the entire season. During the last third of the season, we swapped the lead back and forth several times. In the end, it all came down to the last race when we had a slight lead but Grace O'Malley could overtake us for 1st by getting a better finish in the last race (we didn't sail in the same class so it wasn't really an issue of who beat whom). As it turned out, we each wound up winning the last race in our respective classes so Lizzie B wound up winning the overall for the seventh time (sixth in a row) by just 0.196 points (145.525 vs 145.329). That was the narrowest margin of victory for the Marylyn Ritchie ever!! Dean (Martin 242, Duncan Cameron, CYC) wound up 3rd for the season.

You can check out the final 2011 Marylyn Ritchie overall series standings as well as class series standings (A, B, C, D, M242 and E). We also have individual race results from the 2011 season.

King of the Hill - This race is always a lot of fun and after winning the Sunset Overall again in 2011 we were looking forward to this race! A list of invitees for 2011 is available here. Unfortunately, didn't do so well in 2011 and wound up 14th. We are one of only three boats to have qualified for this race each year it has been held (full results); the other two are Bandit (Santana 20 - picture) and Ho'omele (J/24). We were hoping to finally win this race but it was not fated to be. Even so, it is a fun race to end the sailing season and we enjoyed it again this year!!

Visiting Crew - For visiting crew in 2011, directions to CYC and the boat are available here.

Webpages from prior years are available: 2010; 2009; 2008; 2007; 2006; 2005; 2004; 2003.

Last updated: September 15, 2011