I read with great interest your story about the Hall of Fame and IOR race..

You mention that the Cat 30 that won the Ensenada race as first to finish in the IOR class.  I was involved in that effort as crew on the boat.  It was hull number 36 and skippered by Gary Swenson.  It was the first tall rig and was build without a bowsprit.  The bowsprit was added during the first summer to give the boat drive thru the chop.  We raced it in one Ensenada race and did poorly as we had a PHRF rating of 162.

For the second Ensenada race Gary and Frank Butler modified the boat and replaced the 5000 lb keel with lighter 2000 lb keel.  That is why they got the IOR rating and raced in the IOR class.  The boat was so tippy, you would have thought you were racing a laser.  The name of the boat was "So Long IV", and she did indeed correct to first over all in IOR

During that same race I was racing my own boat, a Ranger 26 called "So Long 3" which I purchased from Gary Swenson.  I was a rookie skipper and desperate to win my first race and took a flyer and went into the beach in light air.  I was the last boat to finish the race 5 minutes before the deadline.  So that year 1975, "So Long" got First to Finish and Last to Finish.

A few years later, and with more racing experience, I rigged the 1981 Cat 30 Chocolate 'O' and trophied in almost ever race I entered.  She was rigged as a PHRF racer from the beginning and was tricked out with a double spreader tapered mast, rod rigging, tiller, hydraulics and was rigged very light from the beginning.  All aluminum winches, no shower or forward water tank, and a faired keel.  The interior was standard and we raced with everything on board.  Chocolate 'O' rated 174 in PHRF and to this day I think it was the fastest Catalina 30 ever built. (Possibly second to So Long 4 with the light keel)  I won the 1984 Nationals in San Diego in the Tall Rig Class and in 1985 on Lake Washington using a borrowed standard rig boat that had never been raced.  Soon afterward, I sold Chocolate 'O' and retired from racing.

Nowadays I get my fun from my web site Burgees.com

Best Regards
Herb Halling, N6MGW
Chief Operator, HAMROC
Seal Beach Yacht Club