Nine Finns signed up for the SDYC New Years Day Race with sunny skies treating the fleet that shook off the New Years Eve cobwebs and made it out on beautiful San Diego bay. Even though the line was quite long to accommodate some of the 75+ larger yachts including 12 meter El Moro, and many other big boats, all the Finns fought it out at the heavily favored pin end of the starting line.

The Last weekend of 'So Cal Finn racing' in 2019 had 11-Finns sailing in 2-day Hot Rum regatta hosted by MBYC.  The Hot Rum regatta delivered beautiful sailing conditions with a wide range of breeze, something for everyone. Saturday was sunny w/ a southerly influence providing light to moderate winds with big oscilitating shifts keeping the fleet on their toes sailing inside Mission Bay on sail bay, just off the MBYC club house. Three long 'bay tour' races were run making for some fun 'navigating' tour of the bay, finishing early.... plenty of time for the FINN BAND to set up and play music Saturday night for the Finn sailors and guest-always a great time!  Sunday greeted the sailors with strong breeze early w/ 3 more bay races sailed in the 12-15 knot range w/ reported puffs to 18 knots... Pretty spoiled sailing in December when sunblock must be applied and only a long sleeve t-shirt over hikers needed to stay warm in the 65 degree air temps!  Our San Diego Finn Fleet continues to improve, racking up 5 of the top 6 overall places, including winning the regatta.  Could not think of a better way to end the 2019 So Cal Finn season...!!!  So many highs- to many to list here. 

For one team, San Diego Yacht Club’s 2020 Puerto Vallarta Race will be the first step towards a journey around the world.

Viva Mexico, a VOR 65 skippered by Erik Brockmann, will be making their racing debut during the 2020 Puerto Vallarta Race as part of their campaign to compete in The Ocean Race 2021. Brockmann’s goal is to bring Mexico back into The Ocean Race almost 50 years after Mexico’s Sayula II competed and won the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973-74. Among the crew we will see Co-Owners Ricardo Brockmann, Loernzo Berho and Yon Belausteguigoitia who have been competing in the PV Race during the past decade in the Vincitore and Peligroso Racing programs. Also involved in supporting the Viva Mexico project is San Diego Yacht Club’s Malin Burnham.

This annual gathering of master skippers and crews reaffirms that teamwork is as essential on the racecourse as it is in life

At the prize giving of San Diego YC’s International Masters Championship in October, Malin Burnham, the 91-year-old sailor and business executive, spoke about the virtues of teamwork; how everything he has achieved in his storied career was a result of being part of a team. As he did so, I scanned the room and observed the faces of sailors on all 11 teams invited to the annual regatta. Many of them were nodding with agreement, because each of us who had skippered in the event, myself included, deeply appreciated the collective efforts of our crews during the intense 11-race, round-robin series.

As masters-age sailors—defined as 45 years or older (the helmsman had to be 60) — many of us listening to Burnham that evening were long in our years and wisdom, but we greatly appreciated the athleticism of our younger crew. The competition in San Diego was strong, even though there was a considerable amount of grey hair among the skippers. For me, the regatta was the conclusion of a full summer of racing 12-Metres, so I felt more confident than ever when racing got underway. I’d assembled a first-rate crew I felt would gel quickly.

Without a long wind delay this morning, all three classes were able to get some racing in 9 knots that built to about 15-16 knots by mid-afternoon. After four races in the 49erFX and Nacra classes, Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) and Anna Tobias are leading the 49erFX fleet, and Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) are in third in the Nacra 17 fleet.

25 teams from 5 countries competed in the 22nd Hobie 16 Women’s World Championships in Captiva Island, Florida, November 6-8. My crew Sarah Anne Kraft from Marina Del Rey and I are happy to report that our training and focus paid off.

Our competition included 2012 Olympic silver medalist Nina Curtis from Australia plus 3 other previous Hobie 16 world champions, an Aussie, a Mexican and a Puerto Rican, all very talented and strong female competitors. I’d won in 1991 and 1995 but do the math. That’s a LONG time ago! And I had not been racing Hobie’s for many years until May when Eric and I were in Florida on our cat El Gato and decided to do the Midwinters where I placed 4th in an open fleet. Since the worlds were to be held in Florida, and we would be taking a break from cruising, it felt like a good idea to just go for it. To train I started doing yoga and pilates, and sailed with Sarah in the North Americans in September. She also came down to SDYC and we trained on her boat.