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

Trailering your boat through LA traffic, staying awake on the dusty hot I-99 through Bakersfield and Fresno. But you get to turn to starboard and elevate to a slice of heaven at Huntington Lake (elevation 6k’) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 7 Finns, 3 from SDYC, competed in 7 races over the last weekend in July. Gary Mitchell, John Reiter, Lee Hope and families shared a cabin in the woods near the lake. It was party time for the fleet as most gathered at our pad for food and grog. 

Typical lake sailing conditions, as the wind fluctuated from 7-15 knots both days. Many theories about which way to go, but the leaders typically won the drag race to the left side of the lake and never looked back. Beautiful low 80 degree weather, but cold water. Henry Sprague, 74 years old, dominated the fleet with all bullets except for the last race. Henry is coming off the Finn World Masters in Europe, with 250 competitors. Henry finished 12^th overall and dominated the Grand Masters Fleet. He is the current World Grand Masters Champion. 

The 29er U.S. Nationals were held on the Columbia River Gorge, a sailing venue notorious for high winds and flat water. This was the first time my brother, Ian, and I would be sailing there. When we arrived at our campsite where we would be staying for the regatta, we were dumb struck by the shear awe of the venue.

The biggest challenge that lay before us was the fact that the Gorge is a river, which meant that water was always going to be pushing you somewhere and that it can completely change the way that you have to think about racing. Luckily for us, we had two days of training beforehand to get used to the current and when the first day of racing came we were feeling confident in the skills and knowledge that we had.

Nearly 200 sailors, both junior and senior, competed in the annual Dutch Shoe Marathon (DSM) today. This iconic regatta begins at the San Diego Yacht Club and finishes at the Coronado Yacht Club, a trek that for most junior sailors is their longest distance race yet. This year marks the 47th annual running of this Southern California right-of-passage.

Mission Bay Yacht Club’s Paige Tillson, 11, (C Fleet) came in first with a solid lead throughout the entirety of the race. Behind Tillson in second place was Siena Nichols (C Fleet) of Balboa Yacht Club, who pulled into the position in the second half of the race. Battling hand in hand with Nichols was Caleb Everett (C Fleet) of Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club. The three were able to hold their position in the front of the fleet right from the start.

When asked how it felt to win the Dutch Shoe Marathon, Tillson answered, “It’s exciting, but I’m also really tired.”

Across the pond and to the lake we go! I just completed the 18 Foot Skiff European Championships in Lake Garda, Italy. We had an outstanding, twenty-one boat, 18 Foot Skiff fleet competing on the legendary Lake Garda. 

The “ora” did not provide its typically conditions, but the racing was fun and tough nonetheless. For those that have raced on Lake Garda, they know that the wind comes from the South at 20+ knots in the morning, then dies from about 10:00-13:00, and then switches 180 degrees and comes from the North at 20+ knots. Unfortunately, we did not have those glamour conditions. However, the conditions provided tricky winds, various rigs, and crucial tactical decisions.