Southern California Sabot sailors get to hone their skills all year long and the SDYC Junior Board makes the most of our great conditions by starting each season off with their Junior Invitational Regatta in early January. This year’s event saw 89 competitors hit the waters of La Playa, and Junior Commodore Scott Sinks and his Board added a couple creative twists to make a traditional favorite even better!
The first critical change was to move to a split schedule format, with C fleet sailors competing earlier in the day, and the upper fleets sailing later. Veterans of the JI know that there can be a lot of waiting around for breeze in January. Even an alert Race Committee has to be ready to jump on any sailable conditions to get a good regatta in. Normally we can count on a Chargers playoff game to entertain us through a postponement, but this year we knew we needed to make a change. While the morning fleets still got their share of light air, with only half the fleet on the water, the quality of racing was much better, and in the end, a high race count and throw-out race were achieved for every fleet. Did you like the new format? Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts or suggestions.
The second change for 2013 was to invite Senior Sabot racers. Lately there has been a lot of discussion worldwide about how separated the worlds of adult and junior sailing have become. While many parts of the junior experience have improved, I think that the opportunity to share the sailing experience across generations is one of the most special aspects of our sport. And one of the most unique aspects of the venerable Naples Sabot is that all ages can and do jump in. The experiment was launched, and with the dual time format, there was even the opportunity for parents of C Fleeters to “hot boat” it and sail their kid’s boat in the afternoon. Several parents did just that, and the entertainment value alone made the gambit a success. Can you guess which SDYC Director ran away with the victory, accumulating less than half the points of the nearest competitor?!
Results-wise, Team SDYC had a fantastic showing, making this year look very promising. Our C3 squad made up no less than half the fleet, which is encouraging in itself. Congratulations to Gabriel Campbell (5th), Katie Olsen (4th), Cameron Cage (3rd), and James Ozaki who won the division with three bullets along the way and moves up to C2! Team SDYC also dominated C1 where Daisy Holthus was 4th, Jack Plavan 5th, Sean Caulfield 2nd, and Taisei Hatter piloted his newly acquired Corsair 9403 to win the division by an impressive 14 point margin. More on young Mr. Hatter in a moment…
B Fleet saw great results with Emily Grob taking 4th, Jack Reiter in 2nd, and Jack Egan closing out a tight regatta for the win and a trip up to the A Fleet. Could you pick a colder weekend to take the traditional victory dunking?! In A Fleet, the largest in the regatta with 25 boats, our top performers were Charles Lindsay (10th), Zach Malcolm (6th), and A Fleet Captain Cole Harris who had a personal best to win two races and finish 3rd overall!
In closing, two unofficial awards deserve mention. Caylin and Casey Schnoor set the standard for family racing, even with Casey’s array of 1978 vintage Sabot gear! The Sportsmanship nod certainly goes to Taisei Hatter who, moments after securing the C1 Fleet victory, handed his new boat over to B Fleet teammate Emily Grob who was winning her division as well, but had just had her rudder broken off the stern in a collision. Taisei, that is the definition of Corinthian!