Day two of the 2017 A-Cat North American Championship was characterized by lighter winds and consistent competition. The 32 competitors completed races 4-6 of the series, with 3 races scheduled for Saturday and 2 for Sunday.
Race Committee described Friday as a “righty day” with the wind direction at 300+ for most of the day. The forecasted wind was around 10-15 knots, but unfortunately the wind didn’t fill in like it was supposed to and was more in the 6-9 knot range all day. Regardless, the day was sunny, the water was flat, and the foiling boats foiled.
San Diego displayed a healthy amount of breeze for the first day of the 2017 A-Cat North American Championship. There are 32 sailors out in the waters of Crown Cove in South San Diego Bay competing for the title of A-Cat North American Champion. Today sailors finished the first three races of the four day event.
The first race of the day was abandoned due to Race Committee error- RC failed to signal which course was being sailed. While there was a lengthy discussion at Thursday night’s skippers meeting and a general agreement on which course to sail, not all the competitors were present at the meeting and no changes to the sailing instructions were made. Therefore, RC abandoned the race and the first race that they scored started at 1pm. Races generally lasted 23-28 mins and competitors sailed course 2.
With one month until the 2017 Lipton Cup, we checked in with Team SDYC to see how preparations are going. Skippered by SDYC hero, Tyler Sinks, the team has won the 2011, 2013, and 2015 Lipton Cup Regattas – every other year for the past 6 years. Can Sinks, along with crew members Jake La Dow, Chris Busch, Jake Reynolds, Erik Shampain, Melissa Denman, and Max Hutcheson, stick to the pattern and take the title for 2017?
Competitors, spectators, coaches, and Race Committee breathed a sigh of relief today as it was finally breeze ON for the final day of the 2017 Moth North American Championship. When Race Committee first arrived at the race venue at 10am, winds were at 10 knots. When racing got underway shortly after 11am, the wind was at 12 knots which continued to build throughout the race. For the next 3 races, the wind was between 12 and 15 knots, allowing competitors to fly through the air on their foiling boats.
Day two of the 2017 Moth North American Championship proved more frustrating for racers than day one. Though five races were scheduled, Race Committee only managed to run two races because of unfortunate light wind throughout the day. After a period of postponement, race one started in 9.5 knots of wind at the signal boat and 8.5 knots at the weather mark. Shortly thereafter the winds died down again, making 9.5 knots the heaviest the wind got all day. Race Committee managed to start race two at 7.5 knots at the signal boat and 8.5 knots at the weather mark though the wind was shifty through the course. Similar to race one, the wind died down again after the start, but boats were able to finish. Generally speaking the wind was heavier at the weather mark throughout the day, but just barely.
Thirteen Moth sailors had a fun and tiring first day of the Moth North American Championship at Crown Cove. Racing was postponed for about an hour and once the wind picked up and the fog cleared, competitors experienced a little bit of everything with the maximum wind speed at 10 knots. Races went quickly with Matt Struble (MBYC) dominating day one winning all five races and Ryan Lorence (MBYC) right behind him placing second in each race. Zack Downing (SDYC) ended day one in third. A few boats had to drop out of certain races due to mechanical issues, but 12 are expected to continue on to day two tomorrow.
Event organizers would like to thank the event sponsors (Velocitek, Harken, North Sails, Sailcloth Technology, California State Parks, Hullspeed, Zhik, and Murrays Sports) and Race Committee for a great first day of the championship.
An outstanding weekend for racing and nostalgia, San Diego Yacht Club hosted the 22nd annual J/Fest Regatta on September 22-24, 2017. Over two days, 27 J/Boats raced on San Diego Bay and ocean courses in 4 classes and competitors had the opportunity to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of J/Boats at numerous social events scattered throughout the weekend.
Anyone who participated can tell you that this year’s J/Fest was a weekend full of fun and comradery among competitors and guests. Starting with a sellout crowd on Friday night, almost 100 attendees heard from J/Boats President, Jeff Johnstone, in SDYC’s Frost Room. Johnstone presented on the Past, Present, and Future of J/Boats, an appreciated topic for these sailors. Following the first day of racing on Saturday was the spirited “Sending it Back to ‘77” Party on the Spinnaker Deck and Sail Wash Lawn. With the help of 70’s music from the band “Side Traxx” (the lead singer is SDYC member Mike Palumbo), J/Fest sailors fully adopted the theme and time-traveled back to the 1970s, which is very apparent if you look at photos from the event. S/C Kyle Clark won the oldest J/Fest t-shirt competition (J/Fest was started back in 1986) and Rich Bergmann and his crew on Zuni Bear won the best dressed contest, with one crew member decked out in a tie-dyed suit!
San Diego Yacht Club will host the 22nd annual J/Fest Regatta on September 22-24, 2017 with J/70, J/105, J/120, and a handful of other J/Boats racing on San Diego Bay and ocean courses. With 29 boats registered, 2017 will be one of the largest J/Fest events in recent years.
Seven boats are registered in the J/105 class, a valued class at SDYC. Many of the J/105 owners generously lend their boats for SDYC’s annual International Masters Regatta and the Challenge for the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup Regatta, both held at the end of October. The J/105 class boats are well-maintained and rigged to a one design standard, and therefore the racing is kept fair among the teams. SDYC is very grateful to the local J/105 class for their contributions.
The trip to A Coruna, Spain for the 2017 Snipe Worlds was quite the adventure. It stared with cancelled flights, lost luggage, gear and sails as well as a missed connection. We ended up arriving a day late to the event which eliminated our only full practice day. This was quite unfortunate as the charter boat needed a ton of work to be ready, some of which was not discovered until after the first day of racing. For the first time ever, the Worlds was broken up into Silver and Gold fleets which was disappointing. 85 Snipes on one line is bold but not that big of a deal for most venues. The first two days had 5 qualifying races, 3 on day one and two on day two, mostly in big breeze. Day one was tough as we had no ability to point, had not had enough throw in the jib halyard due to some poor engineering and had not enough time in the new boat. Four hours working on the boat in the evening of Day 1 addressed many of our bigger issues and Day 2 was more enjoyable. We qualified for Silver and had 6 more races over the next three days. Your place from the qualifiers was pulled into the finals and was counted as your first race and was not discardable.