Sailors and spectators at San Diego Yacht Club were greeted by a fleet of Pac52’s and TP52’s med tied at the front dock from early last week through the weekend, and a fleet of Beneteau 36.7 boats, for the 2018 SCYA Midwinter Regatta. Racing was held on Saturday and Sunday with five races completed.

Nine boats sailed in the ’52 Class in a range of conditions from bumpy and windy on Saturday to smoother water, sunny skies and more moderate breeze on Sunday. The racing was tight as many lead changes occurred and finishes came down to a matter of seconds. Winning the regatta for the 52s was Tony Langley’s team of Land Rover/BAR Gladiator, with Langley on the helm and Sir Ben Ainslie calling tactics. The team from Great Britain is challenging for the America’s Cup, and is using the Pac52 class and also the TP52 SuperSeries as training grounds for their team. 

The San Diego Yacht Club (Calif.) received the National One-Design Club Award for the third time, recognizing administrative excellence, fleet growth, creative programming, regatta support, and member contribution from the one-design yacht club of the year.

The Club revitalized the struggling, but long established (100+ years), Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup. They accomplished this goal by using one-design boats, jump starting the event and renewing interest and participation, while reducing the cost of the event for participants.

Following a three-year hiatus and one week prior to the Lipton Cup Regatta, the San Diego Yacht Club relaunched the long established International Masters Regatta. They utilized the same one-design boats to sail both the International Masters Regatta and the Lipton Cup Challenge Regatta.

US Sailing provides recognition to individuals and organizations for excellence in a variety of areas. Learn more about US Sailing Awards and how you can get involved!

There were 140 teams that completed SDYC’s signature Hot Rum Series over three races (November 4, 18, and December 2) this year. Aside from some light winds, the weather was decent and sunny during all three races. Similar to past years, the race utilized a pursuit start so boats could finish around the same time and head back to the docks for the infamous after parties.

In addition to winning Fleet 1, Jim and Heather Madden and their team on Stark Raving Mad VII (Swan 601) took the overall 2017 Hot Rum Series title. At this point, the Maddens have made winning this race an annual routine. Most recently they won the 2016 Hot Rum Series on Stark Raving Mad VII and the 2015 Hot Rum Series on the Ranger 33 Raving Madness.

Other fleet winners included Dennis Conner’s NM43 Menace (Fleet 2), Joe Markee’s Swede 55 Ohana (Fleet 3), Fabian Gomez-Ibarra’s J/70 Vagazo (Fleet 4), Karen Busch’s Ericson 35 mk2 Wani Racing (Fleet 5), and Mick Moore’s Ranger 37 Masquerade (Fleet 6).

Jimmie Lowe from Nassau Yacht Club sent Commodore John Reiter a thank you note regarding the 2017 International Masters Regatta. We are grateful for his words and wanted to share them this holiday season. 

Chris Nesbitt and his San Diego Yacht Club team narrowly beat Long Beach Yacht Club’s Dave Hood by about one-meter in the last race of the regatta, Nov. 5, to win the 2017 World Sailing Grade 4 Butler Cup, thus becoming a three-time winner of this event hosted by the Long Beach Yacht Club and raced on the Long Beach Sailing Foundation’s fleet of Catalina 37s.

The San Diego Yacht Club Team Race Team returned to the Soiland Cup for the second consecutive year after a tight second place finish the year before. The event, hosted by Southern Yacht, began Friday morning with a light Northerly breeze. It was our teams goal to get back into Flying Scot mode as fast as we could and continue to improve as the event went on. We had finished the first day with all wins and we had been feeling strong after a few tight races.