350+ sailors and 42 Beneteau yachts came to San Diego Yacht Club the weekend of Sept. 16^th and 17th from all over Southern California, for what has evolved over 10 years into the largest All Beneteau Regatta in the world, the San Diego Beneteau Cup!

With an instructional, encouraging, and fun format, especially tailored towards new and novice racers, Regatta Co-Chairs Barrett and Lily Canfield of South Coast Yachts are very pleased with how the regatta has grown over the years, and with how many of the sailors introduced to racing at Beneteau Cup have gone on to compete in, and place well in other Southern California and regional regattas such as the Beer Can Series, Hot Rums, CRA Sponsored races, and long distance races, like Newport- Ensenada.

Every winter, women head to Southern California for a weekend of one-design racing

It was fast, it was frenetic, and it was fun. The Women’s Winter Invitational Regatta brought 26 teams from across the United States and Canada, plus one from Brazil, to the San Diego Yacht Club in February.

“It was the best organized chaos I’ve ever seen and absolutely a blast,” said Kaci Yachechak-Gibbs, who traveled to the competition from North Flathead Yacht Club in Montana.

The final of four events in the 2023 Etchells West Coast Spring Series was the US Nationals/Orca Bowl, held this weekend, May 19-21, at the San Diego Yacht Club. Twenty-two boats, including several teams back from the World Championship, competed over three days. Jim Cunningham’s Lifted finished the regatta with another win under their belt – securing them the overall winners of the West Coast Spring Series.

This weekend, the Etchells fleet sailed the Bill Bennett Cup, the third regatta in the Etchells West Coast Spring Series. Team Louise (Tom Carruthers, Bill Hardesty, Jeff Reynolds) finished first in the regatta, winning a 10-point tie with The Martian (Marvin Beckmann, Ezra Culver, Eddie Adams). Reposada (Steve Wright, Joe Erskine, Joe Markee) was the winning Corinthian team. 

Congratulations to Chick Pyle’s Beneteau 36.7 Kea, the overall winner of the 2023 Yachting Cup! The team finished first in their class by winning every race - a total of six bullets. The teams impressive scores in a competitive class earned them their championship title at SDYC’s signature spring regatta.

Kea's success didn't come without a battle from the rest of the class. While technically Pyle and his crew won after race five, they stayed in the regatta for the picket fence - a goal that was almost interrupted by Eric Hanson's Given-Ho. "Given-Ho is stronger than us and faster than us. We had to out-wit them. And then fate struck," explained Pyle. Hanson's kite twisted on the last hoist, giving Kea the chance to drive below them and finish first.

Pair a little bit of experience with a well-adjusted crew and you'll be bound for success at this year's Yachting Cup. After the first day of racing, it's clear that most of these teams made way to their course intent on defending their title - and the ones that didn't came ready to play.

Current First in Class Standings:
J/105 - Juiced - Chuck Driscoll
Beneteau 36.7 - Kea - Chick Pyle
Classics - Sally - CF Koehler
Navigator - American Girl - Lisa & Craig Leweck
ORRSub - Adjudicator - Paul Dorsey