The Etchells West Coast Spring Series is back and better than ever for the 2024 season, promising a thrilling series of regattas. San Diego Yacht Club, in collaboration with the local Etchells Fleet 13, cordially invites sailors from near and far to participate in this prestigious sailing event on the challenging Coronado Roads course. The Series comprises four regattas, one of which may be used as a throw-out in the final scoring of the Series.

Long-time SDYC members Jim Pugh and John Reichel not only celebrated the fortieth year of their naval architecture studio here in Point Loma, but did so with purpose by sweeping the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race podium. Reichel/Pugh Design No. 162 66' Canting Ballast Alive, owned by Philip Turner and skippered by Duncan Hine, was awarded the coveted Tattersall Cup, as the overall WINNER of the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with the best corrected time under IRC—a symbol of supremacy in one of the toughest races in the world. The result seals a terrific performance for Reichel/Pugh in the race, as the top three overall came from their design board, with the Reichel/Pugh 72' URM Group second overall, Reichel/Pugh 69’ Moneypenny taking third place overall, and Reichel/Pugh 40’ Chutzpah 3rd in IRC Div. 2.

Women's sailing events and regattas are essential for growing the sport, proving an atmosphere where skill development and opportunity go hand-in-hand.

At a recent coed Grandmasters Team Race Regatta, a teammate told me he didn’t understand why there were women-only sailboat races—as if to say, what’s the point? His comment was a brave one in today’s “woke” world, but it’s something that men and women alike probably think about a lot more than they talk about. Yet it raises a valid conundrum as our predominantly male sport pushes toward wider female inclusion: Why isolate women to their own sideshows when the long-term goal is organic integration across the sport?

As I listened to his comments, many of which I’ve heard before, I thought about the fact that several signature women’s events, like the International Women’s Keelboat Regatta and the Santa Maria Cup, are either dead or not as popular as they once were. And later, as I reflected on our discussion, I took stock of our competitors at the Newport Harbor YC Palmer Trophy. Eight of the 54 sailors—15 percent—were women.

“It’s important to have this dialogue,” says Nicole Breault, the first woman to earn St. Francis YC’s Yachtsman of the Year. Breault is a one-design champion and currently competing in the revived Women’s World Match Racing Tour. “Segregation,” she says, “is part of the process of developing a deeper talent pool among women.”

SDYC's Bruce Golison aboard Midlife Crisis, with teammates Steve Hunt, Erik Shampain and Jeff Reynolds finished second at the recently completed J/70 World Championship at St. Petersburg, Florida.  Ten races were sailed in spectacular conditions from October 31 through November 4.  Bruce Golison’s team withstood a UFD penalty in Race Two to gain the runner-up position with a scoreline of: 5, UFD/84, 2, 39, 1, 4, 2, 6, 17, 5. For Bruce and his team, this makes back to back second place finishes at the J70 World Championships.

Eighty-three teams from 15 nations competed from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA. 

San Diego Yacht Club’s annual Women’s Winter Invitational Regatta returns this upcoming winter, February 16-18, 2024. Recently having won the US Sailing One Design Regatta Award, this all-woman, three-day competition attracts sailors from all over the world.

The Women’s Winter Invitational is sailed at SDYC directly off the docks in La Playa and features the Club’s J/22 sailboats, which are sponsored by Mount Gay. The course can expect more than 80 sailors over 24 teams for an action-packed regatta weekend on and off the water.

At the end of September, I traveled to Rochester New York to compete at the 2023 US Match Racing Championship for the Prince of Wales Bowl. My three other teammates, who are all current or past members of my collegiate sailing team, traveled from around the country to meet me in Rochester.

This event was our first time to test ourselves against some of the best match racers in the country, including world-ranked #1 and multiple other top 30 world-ranked match racers. The format was a single round robin into quarter-finals, then sem-finals, and then finals. Rochester Yacht Club had a great setup, with 8 sonars and warm hospitality. Lake Ontario also provided great conditions, each day brought wind into the teens and one day over 20kts. These conditions provided a challenge for all competitors trying to optimize their boat handling, which is all-important in match racing.