Santa Barbara Yacht Club is heavily favored to defend the Ventura Cup in the prestigious regatta this weekend at Ventura Harbor.

SBYC's four-boat team has a much lower collective handicap than the two-yacht teams. A fourth team will be sailed by skippers from three different yacht clubs.

While those 16 boats are sailing for club bragging rights, even more boats will be sailing for individual honors in the Santa Barbara Channel Challenge.

The Ventura Cup will have three windward-leeward races on Saturday and two on Sunday. The Challenge will have two buoy races on Saturday and one on Sunday.

The Ventura Cup teams:

Santa Barbara Yacht Club, Dirk Freeland, Farr 40; Kenny Kieding, J-92; Kent Pierce, Melges 24; Grant Lepper, J-24; Team total 384.

Ventura Yacht Club, Paul DeFreitas, J-35; Avery Stewart and Garrett Baum, Olson 30; Ryan Cox, Melges 24; Deke Klatt, J-24. Team total 432.

Santa Barbara Sailing Club, Mike Wolfe, Melges 24; Thomas Tunberg, J-24; Evan Caves, J-24; Mike Schaumberg, Moore 24. Team total 594.

Non-club entry. David Randle, AYC, J-29; Eric Schalgeter, AYC, FT-30; Paul Moore, PBYC, J-24; Richard Sharpe, CIYC, Olson 30. Team total 429.

Boats already committed for the Santa Barbara Channel Challenge include spinnaker boats Fifty One Fifty, Decpetion, Colt 45, Wind Dancer, Tina, Tortoise, Commotion, Woody and Radio Flyer. Non-spinnaker boats committed are Vita Spark, Zuma Jay, Sisu, Velero, Epic and Scooter. There are also a pair of multihulls which had an incredibly tight match racing encounter last year: Indefatigable and No Regrets.

The action begins at noon both days. A lot of bragging rights, club-wise and individual are at stake in the two venues.

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Funatic, a Choate 48 skippered by Rod Abbott won a whisker-close victory Saturday in Channel Island Yacht Club's Richard Nix Memorial Race.

Funatic won by 12 seconds on corrected time over Ruckus, a FT-30 skippered by Eric Schalgeter in the 18-mile race.

The race is named in the memory of the late husband of this year's commodore, Colleen Nix.

Results:

1—Funatic, 3:05.43; 2—Ruckus, 3:05.55; 3—Perfect Balance, 3:19.56; 4—Harmony, 3:28.38; 5—Sisu, 3:28.40.

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Rookie Bill Varie won again aboard Varie Suite in last weekend's Santa Barbara Channel Series cruiser navigation contest.

Varie won handily with a net error of 0.9153 percent, besting last year's top skipper, Ivan Cox, who had an error factor of 2.0196 percent.

Results:

1—Bill Varie, Varie Suite, 0.9153%; 2—Ivan Cox, Voyage, 2.0196%; 3—Ed Kutchma, Pacific Pixie, 2.2539%; 4—Jim Cline, Nunziata, 2.4390%; 5—George Arglen, Ta-Kee-La, 37.8262%.

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Stan Whisenhunt skippered Tortoise to first place Sunday in the Fleet 145 J-24 regatta and took control of second place in the season championship series. Professional sailor Deke Klatt has already mathematically won the series with six first places so he was out practicing for the Ventura Cup in a Capo 26.

Tortoise won the first race, then took a third in the second after having equipment problems while leading to the weather mark, then won the final race to eek out a 1-point victory over Paul Moore's Angry Hillbillies.

Results:

1—Tortoise, Stan Whisenhunt (-1); 2—Angry Hillbillies, Paul Moore (2-2-2); 3—Commotion, Dave Witham (3-).

Two regattas remain in the series and all three boats are in the hunt for the second and third place trophies. The next regatta is Nov. 4.

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Ventura County High Point Standings:

Bikini Machine, Olson 30, Avery Stewart & Garrett Baum, 118; Perfect Balance, Olson 30, Richard Sharpe, 98; Funatic, Choate 48, Rod Abbott, 77; Velero, Islander 29, Brent Swanson, 58; Deception, Santa Cruz 50, Alex Blankfield, 57; XS, Mull 30, John Thawley, 55; Angry Hillbillies, J-24, Paul Moore, 55; Rival, J-35, Velthoen & DeFreitas, 46; Zuma Jay, Cal 25, Kevin Dickmann, 38; Coyote, J-29, David Randle, 37; West Wing, Ben. 44.7, Dennis West, 36; Superluminal, FT-10, Jerzy Poprawski, 31; Scooter, J-35, Larry Hansen, 26; Fifty One Fifty 23; Harmony 23; Jaded 18; Tortoise 15; Vignette II 15; Tina 13; Wind Dancer 13; PacSail.com 11; Runaway 11.

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Upcoming sailboat races:

Saturday, Sunday, Santa Barbara Channel Challenge. Hosted by Ventura Yacht Club, this is the second annual open regatta, sailed in conjunction with the Ventura Cup and scores double points in the Ventura County High Point Standings. It is open to PHRF spinnaker and non-spinnaker boats and open ocean multihulls. Last year's inaugural event attracted 23 entries. Entry fee is $75. The skippers' meeting will be at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and racing will begin at noon both days. For more information, call Jeff Stansfield at 444-1341, the VYC office at 642-0426, or visit the club's Web site at venturayachtclub.org.

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n Saturday, Oct. 6, Two Harbors Fall Series 1. This four-race series is co-hosted by Anacapa and Pierpont Bay Yacht Clubs. AYC will host the opening race and alternate with PBYC on subsequent races.

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2007 Ocean sailboat racing schedule:

Saturday-Sunday, VYC, Ventura Cup/S. B. Channel Challenge (double points)

Sept. 30, PCYC, TGIS Series 3

Oct. 7, VYC, Gal & Guy Series 1

Oct. 13, AYC, Two Harbors Fall Series 1

— Fax your race announcements, results and other information to Stan Whisenhunt at 659-3058 or call him at 659-1464. His e-mail address is Swhisenhun@aol.com.