Over two dozen boats flocked from all over the country to Southern California this weekend to compete in the 2021 Etchells Midwinters West, the second regatta of the Etchells West Coast Spring Series. The regatta was hosted by San Diego Yacht Club in conjunction with the Etchells Fleet 13 - San Diego, one of the largest and most competitive Etchells fleets. Experienced and novice sailors alike towed out to the Coronado Roads for seven races over the three day event.
This week, Melanie Roberts, Race Official at the 2020 America’s Cup, joins us on the San Diego Yacht Club Sailcast to talk about her experiences with Sail GP and the 2020 America’s Cup in New Zealand.
Melanie joins us shortly after her return from the America’s Cup in New Zealand and starts the conversation with how she got started in the event. She tells us about working at St. Francis Yacht Club and basically being in the right place at the right time. She explains her roles in her America’s Cup in 2013 and meeting Iain Murray, the Race Director for America’s Cup, who led her into future races, including the Bermuda race in 2017.
I am so grateful for the SDYC Competition Fund. For the past three months or so, I lived in Fort Lauderdale, FL, practicing with the Laser 4.7 team at the Lauderdale Yacht Club. Recently, I wnet to the Midwinters East regatta in Miami, FL, to represent SDYC there. I had a great experience. The conditions were rough, from waiting all day to get almost zero knots of wind to the next day, when we had fifteen knots of wind with chop. The whole SDYC team performed amazingly. This was a great step forward for the SDYC Laser team, and hopefully we will be able to go next year with twice as many people. I was so glad to be there with my sailing friends and family because of the competition fund. Thank you SDYC for supporting my adventure at the Midwinters East.
Roy Disney's Volvo 70 Pyewacket sailed the 800+ nm NHYC Cabo Race course in record time, smashing the previous monohull course record by over 15 hours, averaging greater than 20 knots over the course. The new course record is 1 day, 21 hours, 22 minutes and 53 seconds. Only one multihull is verified to have completed the course faster, which was Mighty Merloe in 2015 having finished in 1 day 16 hours. The crew reports having had a great ride with tremendous boat speeds. Pyewacket sweeps the Cabo Race as 1st overall, 1st in Division 1 and 1st to finish.
Recently, I was lucky enough to compete in the Clearwater Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR) from February 4 - 7, 2021. I have been in Florida since mid-December, first training with Key Biscayne Yacht Club (KBYC), and now with Lauderdale Yacht Club (LYC) team, beginning in early January. Clearwater OCR was the third of four regattas I am competing in, after Orange Bowl and Lauderdale OCR, with Mid-Winters East coming up soon in late February.
Welcome Back to Your Club!
We’ve certainly missed you and are so glad to have the membership back at SDYC! Here is some information that would like to share with you! Learn more about current status of Bar Services, available menus, reservations, safety protocols and to go food.