dear mr. az. Highly recommend short course, there will be plenty beach cats in it. The conditions are usually what you would call "southern california benign", though it can vary from extreme light and fluky to (rarely) sorta heavy 20+ There are several bailout points such as oceanside where you could get a ride to your trailer. There will also be a chase boat. The general average for the race is it starts out fluky and light, sometimes on the nose and generally builds and goes aft until darkish time when it start going back to light and shifty. There are about a billion launch ramps in and around s.d. I think this race is gonna rock and soon become the mini tybee of the west!