Anna Tunncliffe Tobias and I have been full time campaigning for the 2020 Olympics since last September. It has been quite the journey and challenge starting a new campaign with someone new, as I previously sailed the 2016 Olympics with Helena Scutt, but I have been enjoying the process! We are right now half way through our European events this summer. Beginning of March, we finished 13th at the Princess Sofia Regatta, barely missing out on the medal race. We also went to Genoa, Italy for the World Cup Series Genoa. Unfortunately, we struggled to get races in as the breeze was very light the whole event, but we made it into Gold Fleet and finished 21st. Our next event is the European Championships in Weymouth, England, followed by Kiel Week in Germany at the end of June. We are excited to get back out there and start racing! We do a daily blog of our racing on our website, www.henkentobiassailing.com so everyone can follow along! We also have a Facebook page, Paris & Anna: Tokyo 2020. The last Gold medal won by an American sailor was Anna and I believe we can do it again together. Thank you for your support and following along!
There were plenty of high-fives, handshakes and celebratory cheers back on the docks after the final day of San Diego Yacht Club’s Yachting Cup. Congratulations were exchanged and comradery was shared, but one class stood out this weekend and left their mark on the 2019 Yachting Cup. The Farr 40 class, hosting boats from all over the world, started off their class series at SDYC’s premier regatta of the season. Seven Farr 40 boats from the class joined us in the Pacific, their large sails taking over the Far Ocean course.
Wolfgang Schaefer, owner of Struntje Light, dominated over eight races this weekend, earning him and his crew the title of Overall Yachting Cup winners.
Day two, North Sails Race Day, of San Diego Yacht Club’s Yachting Cup was really day one for the majority of the competitors. Nine more classes joined the Pac52s and Farr 40s in the Pacific today for their first opportunity to place on the scoresheet. This year, only two ocean courses are housing over 70 vessels, making for some tight racing… literally.
Rounding the marks alongside a boat over double his size didn’t bother Jeff Janov, owner of J/70 Minor Threat. “The race committee did a great job keeping things separated as well as they could. We saw some of the boats some of the time, but it never caused a problem. It has the potential of causing tension, but it went well. We picked up a good shift towards the end and our crew did a great job…”
The Yachting Cup, San Diego’s premier inshore regatta of the season, kicked off today with a big boat show on a wide open Pacific Ocean course. The high-performance Pac52 and Farr40 classes lead off today, and are also using this regatta as a part of their class series. Tomorrow, these two classes will be joined by the four others on the Far Ocean course, and five more classes filling the Near Ocean course. Both courses are located just south of Zuniga Jetty in the Coronado Roads and compete through Sunday.
It was close all day for the boats in today’s three races. Wolfgang Schaefer’s Struntje Lightis finishing day one in first place for the Farr40 class, followed by Rick Goebel’s Insanity in second and Mick Shlens’ Blade II in third.
Nine I-14’s headed down to San Diego over the weekend for SuperCup held out of San Diego Yacht Club. SuperCup is a great 14 skiff event held on the bay with short courses showcasing a mid course gate that you have to sail through both upwind and downwind. All of the races were twice around with three minute starts and the race committee kept the boats rolling by sending off the starts quickly.
What sight is more beautiful than a cluster of Stars floating low in the sky over the Pacific Ocean... the Star boat that is. Sailors and spectators can enjoy the view of the International Star Class Western Hemisphere Championship from Wednesday, May 22 through Saturday, May 25. Nearly 30 Stars are headed to San Diego in less than a month and will be making their way southeast of Point Loma for a four-day series of ocean races.