2021 was another successful year of Finn sailing for the SDYC Finn Fleet and SoCal Finn sailors up and down the California coast with a total of 33- Finns sailing for the SDYC Highpoint Champs and 44 Finns sailing for the Ironman Highpoint trophy. A special thanks go out to the participating Finn fleets from Mission Bay Yacht Club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club w/ Finn sailors continuing to travel north and south depending on the regatta schedule making for a lot of fun weekends on the water in a wide range of conditions. Also, a special thanks go out to our fine team of RC volunteers here at SDYC where they make it look easy- spoiling us with high-quality race management… Without their time on the water and commitment to running super races, these results would not be possible.

In December 2021, Ian and I had the chance to travel halfway around the world to a place we would never have thought we would travel to in order to participate in the Youth Sailing World Championships. The regatta was held in Mussanah, Oman in the Middle East and ran from December 11th to the 17th, 2021.

Our regatta started several days beforehand when we left our house to travel 36 hours to get to the venue. We drove to LAX and from there flew to Qatar, had an 8 hour layover and then flew on to Oman. It was quite confusing when we arrived due to the twelve hour time change and the fact that we had lost a day traveling. Luckily, we had a few days before the event to get used to the time change.

U.S. SailGP Team athletes CJ Perez and Andrew Campbell joined with the team’s #RacefortheFuture partner RISE to discuss how exploring our identities helps us realize the importance of diversity, and the core values that unite us on their latest "Champions of Change" podcast. It’s a privilege to work together with organizations like RISE as we continue to challenge our sport to change. 

Listen Here: https://apple.co/3Ej6roS

A second-place finish at the Australia Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG qualified the United States and event winner Australia, for the winner-take-all $1 million Season 2 Grand Final at the United States Sail Grand Prix San Francisco, March 26-27. The team includes two SDYC members: Jimmy Spithill and Andrew Campbell.

Per SailGP rules, only the top three overall teams at the end of the season will qualify for entry to the high-stakes, final race of the season.

Securing the team’s Grand Final berth sets up a dream comeback scenario for U.S. SailGP Team’s CEO and Driver Jimmy Spithill, who now looks to win sailing’s largest prize in front of the hometown, San Francisco crowd.

The array of container, tanker, and cruise ships in Long Beach Harbor shook up the breeze while the Santa Anas fought to come in all weekend, giving us moderate wind on Saturday resulting in a delayed start and sporty conditions on Sunday.  Traci Miller, Kim Stanford, Jessica Sweeney, Marnie Jenkins, Kara Voss, Julie Mitchell, Tiffany Billings and Alexa Cavalieri joined helmswoman Kris Zillmann for 7 races against some of the best female sailors on the West Coast. Team SDYC ended up 5^th overall, but was proud of the effort and the comeback on day 2 when we finally got our Catalina 37 moving. 

It was all smiles and high energy for the 275+ sailors who visited San Diego Yacht Club from all over Southern California, with a few special guests from as far away as Chicago, Sept. 18-19 for what has become one of the most popular regattas in Southern California. In fact, at 38 boats, organizer Barrett Canfield of South Coast Yachts realized their formula for the regatta made this Beneteau Cup the largest B-Cup in the USA and possibly the world, rivaling the B-Cup in Sydney, Australia.