The three race Hot Rum series came to a close on the first day of December with Scot Tempesta on his Flying Tiger 10m “Anarchy” finishing on top of the 130 boat fleet. Competitors enjoyed sunny and warm ‘winter’ sailing conditions around the 11.9 miles random leg, pursuit race course located off Point Loma.
Race 1 was simple enough with nice sun and a great wind, and the usual inquisitions and opinions over ratings. The conditions favored the smaller sport boats and the early finish line looked a little like a J/105 regatta. But you know what they say about the Hot Rum, one nice day, one light day.
…And so we had our light day for Race 2. Sunny, yes, but very light winds. There was enough breeze (6+ knots) to whisk everyone out to the half-way mark in the Roads, but the wind evaporated from there. The larger boats, that have 50+ feet of mast and sail up in the air, managed to make enough breeze to ghost to the finish. A last little puff of wind just before the 1600 deadline brought the front of the other five fleets to the finish, but in total, only 57 of the registered 130 boats finished. Several boats received ratings adjustments that reduced their handicaps (estimated their speed faster) at the start of Race 2, and after a protest hearing, those boats were given redress (RDG) of a time credit for that race and their ratings were returned to those posted for Race 1. The redress did not change any of the results.
And the last part of the saying about the weather for the Hot Rum says ‘…one stormy day…” But despite the low clouds and rain through the night, a really nice day popped out of the clouds around 10 am. At noon, fluffy white clouds with 10+ knots of wind got the race going in perfect Hot Rum conditions.
There was an incident on the start line for two of the three sleds ( Bud, and Condor). Afterwards, the protest committee disqualified both of them. Unfortunately, this decision wasn’t reached until after the awards had been handed out and everyone had left, and it changed the results a fair bit.
Prior to the protest hearing, in a really close race for overall winner, Dennis Conner on Stars & Stripes was winning a tie breaker with Scot Tempesta on Anarchy at 34 points each. But after the protest, Anarchy moved up one point, while Stars and Stripes, finishing ahead of Bud in the last race, had no adjustment. Thus, Anarchy finished with 33 pts to Stars and Stripes 34 pts to win the 2012 Sinnhoffer Hot Rum Series and their Class 2. Congratulations to Scot Tempesta and his Anarchy crew. Congratulations also go out to Dennis Conner/Stars and Stripes who were still the winner of their Class 1, to Sharon and Dennis Case/Wings for winning Class 3 (5th overall), to Bruce Cooper in the new J/70 for winning Class 4 (20th overall), to David Basham/Cimarron for winning Class 5 (13th overall), and to Maddie Phelps and family / Windswept for winning Class 6.
And thanks to Mount Gay Rum and San Diego Yacht Club, and the Race Committee for their support of this hallmark event. See you next year (Nov. 9, 23, Dec. 7).
On January 1st, SDYC will host the annual New Years Day Race and invite all Hot Rum sailors to join the free and fun race.