San Diego Yacht Club's Yachting Cup -700 sailors on 100 keelboats

by Lynn Fitzpatrick on 3 May 2010 On the West Ocean Course - IRC, PHRF 1&2, Farr 40's, Flying Tigers

San Diego Yacht Club's Yachting Cup kicked off today for nearly 700 sailors on 100 keelboats on three courses. The big boats on the West Ocean Course off of Point Loma and the J/120's, Melges 24's, J/105's and the PHRF 3's competitors on the Roads course off of Coronado experienced an 10-12 knot SSW, a large consistent swell, sunshine, temperatures in the low 60's and a bit of kelp. Schock 35's, J/80's and the smaller PHRF boats sailed in the flat waters of the South Bay. All fleets completed three races.

San Diego Yacht Club is undergoing massive construction projects, yet there is plenty of space to host parties. Today's parties started on the deck, near the flag pole and near the hoist where the Melges 24 hoist as soon as the boats hit the dock in the early evening. It didn't take long for everyone to swoop in on the food and start to swap stories and listen to the Lomatones.

The West Ocean Course

Calvin Borel's rail riding on Super Saver to win the Kentucky Derby was not nearly as exciting as the first weather mark rounding in the Farr 40 fleet. Ray Godwin's Temptress skirted the mark so closely that there was barely any daylight between the hull and the mark. The rest of the 8-boat fleet approached from the right and the left and popped their chutes within minute of the leader. David Voss' Piranha is the early leader with at 2,1,3 for the day. Jeff Janov's Dark Starnov's Dark Star is a close second with 7 points.

Chuck Sinks stepped in as helmsman for Jim Madden on SRM and started the regatta with two bullets. SRM has dazzling speed. Says Sinks, 'It's a phenomenal boat, and its great to have other TP52's here from out of town.'

This is the second regatta in which Mick Schlens has chartered Flash, a TP52 from the San Francisco Bay area. He is happy with his boatspeed, having rebounded from two OCS' and to take a second and a third. Flash is in second overall with 7 points and Andy Rasdal's Valkyrie is one point behind with 8 points.

Edward McDowell's Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion outpaced the other sleds, Taxi Dancer and Alchemy on the water, but Blue Blazes, Dennis Pennell's R/P 50 won the day in the PHRF 1 Division with a 1,3,1 for the day. GI is in second place after scoring at 2,1,3 for the day.

Tom Hirsch's USA 10 set the pace among the Flying Tigers for the day with a 1,2,1. The day's racing was tight with Mile High Klub, Daem and Anarchy ending the day 8,9 and 10 points, respectively.

On the Roads Course

J/120's, Melges 24's, PHRF 3, J/105's

After Friday's racing in the sheltered waters of the South Bay, the 12-boat Melges 24 fleet took the racing of their inaugural California Cup out on the Pacific off of Coronado. Brian Porter, Vince Brun and the next generation of Porter's Bri and Clifford, displayed great teamwork once again and placed another two bullets in their scoreline today. In today's opening race, Kent Pierce's Average White Boat became the only other boat to have won a race in the Melges fleet. Average White boat sits in second place, a distant 12 points behind the leaders.

Jack Nichols' CC Rider played the left hand side of the course and slid across the finish line ahead of the rest of the 9-boat J/120 fleet in the first race and managed to tie for first on the day with J Almighty. Both boats have 9 points.

The Beneteau 40.7's shared the starting line with two IMX38's, an NM41, a Fers and a J/36. A Beneteau 40.7, French Toast won the day with a 1,2,1.

The 15-boat J/105 fleet comprises the largest one-design fleet participating in Yachting Cup. Most of the fleet is from San Diego and they take no prisoners when they play. Three different boats won a race today and Sanity, which place fourth in the San Diego NOOD, is tied on points with Javelin. Both boats have seven points.


On the South Bay Course

Schock 35's, J/80's, PHRF 4

Many of the Schock 35's that sailed Newport Harbor Yacht Club's Ahmanson Regatta earlier this month are competing on the South Bay this weekend. Dave Michaelis' MAKO, which placed second in the Ahmanson is sitting in first place after winning all three of today's races. Stephen Arkle is in second with 7 points.

J/World San Diego is the J/80 to beat. Said J-World's Jeff Brown, 'Sailing on the flat water in the South Bay is fantastic. We have three J-World boats here and it is a lot of fun. We had very competitive sailing with second and third place finishes within boatlengths of one another.' Curt Johnson's Avet, visiting San Diego from Cal Yacht Club is a close second to J/World San Diego with 5 points.

Hot Rum, a CF33 has a perfect scoreline in the PHRF 4 division. Dave Vieregg's Toy Box is four points behind going into the Sunday's racing.