Trailering your boat through LA traffic, staying awake on the dusty hot I-99 through Bakersfield and Fresno. But you get to turn to starboard and elevate to a slice of heaven at Huntington Lake (elevation 6k’) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 7 Finns, 3 from SDYC, competed in 7 races over the last weekend in July. Gary Mitchell, John Reiter, Lee Hope and families shared a cabin in the woods near the lake. It was party time for the fleet as most gathered at our pad for food and grog.
Typical lake sailing conditions, as the wind fluctuated from 7-15 knots both days. Many theories about which way to go, but the leaders typically won the drag race to the left side of the lake and never looked back. Beautiful low 80 degree weather, but cold water. Henry Sprague, 74 years old, dominated the fleet with all bullets except for the last race. Henry is coming off the Finn World Masters in Europe, with 250 competitors. Henry finished 12th overall and dominated the Grand Masters Fleet. He is the current World Grand Masters Champion.
But Henry almost got chucked in this regatta by the regatta chair (me), as he forgot to bring money to the event. He somehow came up with the $40 entry fee, and paid off the park rangers for his camping fee, just before the trophy presentation.
2nd place went to Robert Kinney of NHYC, John Reiter in third.
The July one design weekend was one of the most well attended in recent memory thanks to the promotional skills of fleet captain Mike Dorgan. Mike was again dominant in his finishes as he pretty much buried the competition, but carded an OCS in the 4th race. The one design weekends do not have a throw so Lee Hope came out on top followed by Matt Dorgan.
We are approaching the busy season for Finn sailing as Mission Bay is hosting the North American Championships August 23-25th.
SDYC will host the 2nd annual Olympic Classes regatta September 6-8th. This regatta was reborn by JJ Fetter to promote and showcase the Olympic classes.
SDYC will also host the Pacific Coast Championships the next weekend, September 14, 15.