Last weekend our team representing SDYC sailed in the third and final 2018 California Dreamin' match race event which was held in Long Beach. This 2018 season has offered unusual weather which cut the San Diego stop (#1) short only providing enough wind for 6 races and turning the San Francisco stop (#2) into a non event with only two races in two days, not enough to even score it. The Long Beach stop (#3) in contrast offered more consistent breeze and two complete round robins of racing, a first for the 2018 series, but was still sailed in lighter pressure overall than prior years events there.
On February 17-18, SDYC welcomed 17 teams from all around the country to race in the first annual Women’s Winter Invitational. Teams from Southern California, Northern California, Washington, Texas and New York gathered in La Playa on a sunny and breezy February weekend for excellent racing and fellowship. The regatta was not your usual regatta – and even though the competition was close, regatta organizers went out of their way to make sure that fun was had by all.
Puerto Vallarta, MX (March 9, 2018) - It has been five, six or seven days since the 2018 San Diego Yacht Club’s Puerto Vallarta race left San Diego Bay, depending on when you start counting. One thousand rhumbline miles later, the boats are piled into Marina Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta. Sails are being flaked, lines are being dried, along with foul weather gear being given a chance to exhale after some serious work. Every two years a new cast of characters hop on board to head south for fast sailing and warm weather...a Puerto Vallarta Race tradition since 1953.
“It’s going to be Champagne Sailing…” is a phrase that is meant to bring to mind ‘optimal’ sailing conditions. In the case of the San Diego Yacht Club's Puerto Vallarta race, it would bring to mind a full moon lighting the seas at night, fresh winds of 12-15 kts aft of the beam, and long ocean swells just large enough to lift the transom and give your boat a little invisible push, followed by a subtle roar of your bow wave peeling past the hull. That was the case for Thursday starters, but as roll call 0600 reports trickled in Saturday morning, it was apparent that the champagne was running low.