Trust me on this — watching match sailboat racing on the pier is second only to watching the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

This is Congressional Cup week, and there is excellent free viewing from the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier. Food and beverages will be available on site, and public parking is located at the end of Termino Avenue. They even provide free golf cart shuttles to the end of the pier.

I’m a second-generation match racing fan: my mom was a boat hostess from the inaugural race in 1965 and back then, viewing was only available from another boat — far from shore. I can recall being seasick while viewing on more than one occasion.

It wasn’t until 1994 when race Chair Bob Kristine moved the action to the end of the pier so viewing the “cat and mouse game” of racing became more like a classical race, where viewers could see what was happing from an elevated view.

What my mom enjoyed more about the sport was that it was a “test of man against man” — with the boats all being equal. She raved about it being a level playing field.

It was only a few years ago that I overheard my son explaining match racing to a friend on the pier.

“Basically,” I heard him say, “the skippers are trying to get the other skipper to foul them.”

That made me wonder how sailors explained the racing to their friends. So I texted Dawn Riley, probably one of the greatest sailors on earth.

“You’re offense or defense at all times,” she said. “It’s a game of chicken in the pre-start followed by a duel/knife fight around the course.”

Principal race officer Randy Smith texted me a short reply: “Cage-fighting.”

The Long Beach Yacht Club’s judge advocate, Dave Weil, first texted “gunfight” — before changing the metaphor to “chess match.”

“It’s a mano-a-mano duel,” said LBYC 2026 Commodore Bob Piercy, “where helms are gladiators, sails are swords and every tack or luff can decide who will take the contest.”

This year’s Congressional Cup chair, Ken Mattfeld, had some great reasons to watch the racing.

“I know match racing is somewhat esoteric, but who doesn’t love a dog fight,” Mattfeld said, “What these sailors do in the prestart is not that different from ‘Top Gun Maverick’ — and some of these sailors are better looking than Tom Cruise or Glenn Powell, who I’ve now met several times as Perry’s co-star.”

(Mattfeld’s daughter is well-known actress Perry Mattfeld)

“I used to think monohull sailing was too slow to draw an audience but after trying to watch the Olympics and finding primarily coverage of curling, I’m not so sure,” the elder Mattfeld said. “Does that stone make 4 knots? What makes curling exciting is the athletes yelling at each other in languages we don’t understand. I noticed that for Macao Cup, 1080 Media (our contractor also) had audio and video on every boat.  Some foreign language swearing would make our video similarly entertaining.

“I’m pretty sure we continue to put up the best collection of racers on the best sailing water with the best spectator arrangements,” he added, “using the most evenly matched boats watched by the best collection of umpires and managed by the best race committee.”

One of the most exciting parts of match racing is the prestart, called the “dial up.” Much like earning the pole position in NASCAR, the dial up determines who has the favored position for that race. The dial up is when the two skippers match wits in a five-minute “dance” immediately preceding the start of their race.

The goal is to get the best spot/wind and be as close to the starting line without going over when the starting horn sounds. Each skipper tries to earn this spot while pushing their opponent into a bad position — or better yet, luring them to commit a foul.

Umpires follow each pair of vessels in small power boats. They call fouls immediately by raising colored flags. Skippers will sail directly at each other going head to head in a breathtaking game of “chicken” or sail right up to the starting line and almost sail backward trying to hold their position.

These skippers are so skilled at moving these large boats that the pre-race falls into an intricate game of cat and mouse, with 37-foot yachts coming within inches of colliding into each other or being pushed into the pier.

At the end of this five-minute pre-start chess game, the horn sounds and the race begins – two laps out to a buoy and back, finishing at the pier. The next pair starts their dial-up one minute after the last group starts to race – creating non-stop excitement.

Racing starts about noon each day. Day 1 was on Wednesday, April 29, and the final day is on Sunday. Live results can be found at matchracingresults.com/2026/congressional-cup. The daily results, race highlights and on-the-water coverage will be posted at thecongressionalcup.com.

Learn to swim

The Long Beach Grunions, in partnership with Los Cerritos YMCA, is offering three free basic beginner lessons to adults who do not know how to swim. This is part of the United States Master Swimming Adult Learn to Swim National Program.

Grunion instructors are USMS-certified to coach adults on how to swim — and look forward to doing so. The lesson will take place at the indoor pool at the Bellflower Aquatic Center, 14001 Bellflower Blvd., in Bellflower, from 1:45 to 3:15 p.m. May 9, 16 and 23. For more information, go to lbgrunions.org.

New pool

A groundbreaking ceremony for the city’s new pool will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 30 at Termino Avenue and Olympic Plaza (the construction site, adjacent to the Belmont Memorial Pier lot).

The new Belmont Beach and Aquatics Center has been in the works for years, after the former Belmont Plaza Pool was demolished in 2014 because of seismic safety concerns. The project is estimated to cost $103.6 million. Earlier this year, the City Council approved a construction contract with San Fernando company Bernards Bros., Inc., not to exceed $59.8 million, according to a staff report.

The groundbreaking is expected to include remarks from Mayor Rex Richardson, Councilmember Kristina Duggan, City Manager Tom Modica, Director of Public Works Josh Hickman and Director of Parks, Recreation and Marine Stephen Scott.

Launch ramp closed

The Davies Boat Launch Ramp, which served about 28,000 boaters last year, closed on Monday, April 27, to undergo major renovations.

During the closure, which is expected to last until early 2027, the boat launch ramp, restroom and parking lot will not be accessible. More information about the Davies Boat Launch Facilities Improvements Project is available at lbcity.info/dblaunch.