The weekend of June 15th-16th found the SoCal Finn Fleet at Coronado Yacht Club for their annual small boat regatta. South San Diego Bay is a great dinghy boat sailing venue and twelve Finns registered to compete in this event.
On Saturday the skies cleared by the start of the first race and the wind had already built to 12 to 15 knots. These are the conditions that Team Dorgan (Mike and Matt) revel in and they got off the line quickly leading wire to wire as they had their own father-son match race around the course. Some of the competitors left the launching area a little late probably believing that the sail from CYC to the racecourse near channel marker 28 would be relatively quick but they ended up missing the first start. Lee Hope got to the line a couple of minutes late, started and showed off some of his heavy air sailing skills by passing six boats to finish fourth. Race two was a near repeat of the first race with Mike and Matt on top but being closely challenged by Greg Morton in third and Lee in forth. The second wave of finishers included the two MBYC Finn stalwarts Mark Tegio and Jim Hecht along with your author. For the next two races the wind moderated somewhat in the 10 to 12 knot range. Greg sailed a strong race three to take the win and race four saw Mike back in front taking the win to finish off the first day of racing. After the sail back to CYC and boat clean-up, the skippers took serious advantage of the $3 dollar well drinks at the bar (Finn sailors may not know everything, but they do know a great adult beverage value when they see it).
Father’s Day racing started off with cloudy skies and unsettled light winds with big shifts oscillating between the left and right sides of the course. In the first race most of the fleet went left but a few of us (your author included) went right and got the favorable shifts. I took the win, my first since joining the Finn fleet last year. It felt great to finally break through to the top against the very talented sailors in the fleet. A stronger more stable breeze filled in for races six and seven. The usual suspects were again finishing at the front of the fleet, but the competition was very close. Congratulations to perennial champ Jr. Staff Commodore Mike Dorgan for taking first overall, his son Matt for finishing second with Lee Hope in third. It was also nice to have new Finn owner SDYC Vice Commodore Brian Thomas come out to sail with the fleet. Brian had a solid regatta and on Sunday recorded consistent finishes of 4,6,4. Nice work Brian! Many thanks to Coronado Yacht Club and their Race Committee for putting on a very fun and well managed regatta.
The SoCal Fleet is getting into the heart of the Finn summer race schedule. At the end of July, a group of our skippers will be heading to beautiful Huntington Lake in the southeastern sierras for a weekend regatta. This was arranged by Lee Hope in association with the Mercury fleet that invited the Finn sailors to join them. Hopefully if all goes well it will turn into an annual event. In August it is all happening at MBYC with the Single Handed on the 11th, Fall Invitational on the 17th and 18th and the Finn North Americans on the 23rd, 24th and 25th.
The Finn fleet continues to grow at SDYC and other San Diego area yacht clubs. If you are interested in trying a Finn give Mike Dorgan a call or talk to any of the fleet members. It’s a lot of fun and the fleet members are having a great time.