The USA Finn Association (USAFA) is proud to announce a new USAFA Travel Grant Program. This program is tailored to help young Finn sailors to travel and participate in Finn regattas around North America. All the USAFA members in good standing who didn’t reach their 26th birthday on the first day of the eligible event may apply for a grant. USAFA obligates to reimburse up to $400 in travel expenses for the eligible sailors. For more details about how to apply for the program visit: http://www.finnusa.org/usafa-https://islandsrace.com/documents/
J/Boats of all types are invited to the 2019 J/Fest Regatta. Any J/Boat is eligible to participate, and all are welcome to race in One-Design or J/PHRF classes.
The event features two days of racing, a BBQ/party on Saturday evening, and trophy ceremonies on Sunday following racing.
Eighteen teams are entered so far, with one-design classes for J/22s, J/70s, J/105s and J/120s, plus two J/145s entered in the J/PHRF Division.
In the J/105 class, you have class leaders like Rich Bergmann's ZUNI BEAR, Jan Dekker's AIR BOSS, and Steve & Lucy Howell's BLINK participating. And, in the J/120s, many of the top crews are entered, such as John Laun's CAPER, Ernie Pennell's MAD MEN, Chuck Nichols' CC RIDER and John Snook's JIM.
One race today completed this weekend’s Snipe North American Championship at the San Diego Yacht Club – and that one race curated some bizarre results on the score sheet.
Eleven Snipe’s competed in a series of seven races over three days. Each day saw a variety wind speeds that scrambled up the positions at the end of each day. Today, however, was particularly tricky. Due to very light winds on the course, the teams had to adjust the techniques they had been using the previous two days.
Over 100 sailors in seven Olympic class fleets made their way to San Diego this weekend for the 2nd annual San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta. Skippers and crews of all different skill levels sailed in five races on their designated Pacific Ocean course, besides the Finn and Snipe fleets, who sailed seven races over three days.
The pressure was on for the Snipe fleet today. Ending yesterday's races with a three-way tie for second between George Szabo, Doug Hart, and Peter Commette made today's scores crucial to the outcome on the score sheet. In addition to their competition, the course got a little more crowded. Joining the Snipe fleet on their course for the San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta was the International Finn Class.
Enrique Quintero came prepared to dominate today with Kathleen Tocke, crew on the winning team of the 2018 Snipe North American Championship. Back for another title on Tocke's list, she and Quintero had a picket fence in three races to kick off the first day of the 2019 Snipe North American Championship.
The 2019 U.S. Women’s Match Race Championship was held at Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, MI. The match race regatta consisted of seven all-female teams sailing in Ultimate 20s. The format included two round robin qualifying series followed by a semifinal and final series. Team SDYC consisted of Dana Riley at the front of the boat trimming both jib and spinnaker, Molly Vandemoer calling tactics and doing middle, and Giselle Nyenhuis at the helm.
Our team set out to sail this regatta with two goals in mind. One, as always, was to have a great time on the water. All three of us seldom get the time to race anymore so it was a special occasion to get back in a boat and compete again! The second goal was to get me, Giselle, more familiar with match racing. I hadn’t match raced since I was in my late teens so I had a lot to catch up on! I credit our success to the two amazing crew members on board, who did a great job encouraging me to go head to head with some of the best women match racers in the nation.
Olympic hopefuls Nevin Snow and Dane Wilson led the 29er coaching team at the recent pre-SDOCR clinic at SDYC. Forty two youth sailors from all over California attended the three-day clinic held in late August in three of the Olympic development classes (29ers, Lasers and Int’l 420s). Additional 29er coaches included Chuck Eaton, JP Barnes, Giselle Nyenhuis and Pearce Mendoza. Both JP and Pearce coached one-on-one on a 29er to ensure that several brand-new skiff sailors had a very steep learning curve in two loaner boats that are part of the High-Performance Youth Sailing activity at SDYC. The head Laser coach was Mission Bay’s Doug Hart with new SWYC Junior Director Jackie Hollander assisting. JJ Fetter and Shawn Bennett volunteered to coach the four i420 teams.
On Sunday morning, all the sailors heard an inspiring talk by Nevin and Dane about their 49er campaign that focused on the importance of goal setting. Several parents donated support to the clinic including Morgan Spriggs and Steve Shughrou who were on the water in safety RIBs, Gordon Wanlass brought his motorboat from Newport Beach to run practice starts and short-course races and the Holthus family loaned their RIB to the clinic. Plus Paula Schmid provided snacks at the end of each day for the tired and hungry sailors and pizza on Saturday night. The next clinic will be for 29ers only and will be held on September 21-22.
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of representing Team SDYC at the final 2019 US Match Racing Champs qualifier, hosted by LBYC on their fleet of wet, wicked, and wild Catalina 37s. For me, the event was full of firsts: my first time match racing, first time on a Catalina 37, and first West Coast travel regatta since my aerospace engineering career brought me to sunny San Diego. Unfortunately, the only first we didn’t get was in the regatta!
Nine fleets have been invited back to San Diego for the 2nd annual San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta (SDOCR) on September 7-8, 2019. With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games in sight, the San Diego Yacht Club introduced this new event in 2018 to provide a venue for sailors to train and compete in international, high-performance classes. The regatta will include two courses in Coronado Roads, allowing for national level management and competition.
Invited Fleets: 29er; 49er; Finn; I420; Laser; Laser Radial; Nacra 15; Star; Snipe