505 Pacific Coast Championship overall

by Chris Love on 21 May 2015 2015 Pacific Coast Championship - The West Coast contingent of the American 505 Class showed off its big guns as well as its infantry this past weekend at Santa Barbara Yacht Club May 15-17. Though the 505 is a dinghy, the boat’s technical prowess and penchant for speed apparently qualified the fleet of 17 for entry to SBYC’s yearly Santa Barbara Skiff Festival, sharing the water with slightly smaller fleets of International 14’s and 29ers.

Even in the boat park, the favorites were known to all. Perhaps the most notable this spring is Santa Cruz, Cal. skipper Mike Holt who successfully defended his world championship in South Africa in April, and his crew Rob Woelfel, who was also in the front of the boat when Holt won worlds the first time around in 2014. Howie Hamlin, who sailed with his regular crew Andy Zinn, has been the driving force of the class since the 1970’s, and has won several major trophies along the way including the 1999 505 Worlds in Quiberon, France and the 2002 JJ Giltinan Championship, known as the world’s championship of 18ft Skiff Racing.

Mike Martin of San Francisco won his first world championship crewing for Hamlin in 1999, then claimed the title again as helmsman in 2009. Martin and his crew, Adam Lowry, had planned to challenge Holt at the 2015 worlds, but were unable to get there due to unforeseen shipping complications. Another San Franciscan, Ted Conrads, who finished third at the recent Worlds, arrived with fill-in crew David Kenny, an accomplished part-time 505’er. Needless to say, these teams are intimately familiar with each other.

Friday’s racing kicked off in a spirited 10-12 knots and the veterans Hamlin/Zinn got off to a quick start with two bullets. The breeze dropped throughout the afternoon, culminating in a floater for part of race three, and a tough race for both Hamlin and Holt’s boats. Martin/Lowery took the win and the lead. With expectations high for more breeze, Saturday delivered a somewhat disappointing 6-8 knot choppy race course, but it was enough for Hamlin/Zinn to get back on track with two more first place finishes and top the leaderboard going into the final day. Sunday morning didn't look promising, but after an onshore postponement, the fleet went out for what turned out to be another two good, closely fought light air races.

Besides the roster full of sailing rock stars duking it out in the front, this regatta offered plenty of memorable moments for the entire fleet. SBYC’s deck was the perfect location for post-racing debriefs along with good beer, classic margaritas and even a stiff martini served under the guise of a 'Cold Remedy,” loosening tongues and making for fun conversations between competitors.

Sailors reported sightings and close calls with gray whales each day. In one instance, the local whales looked to be ducking the fleet on port tack. “In hindsight we should have lee-bowed them and lead them over to the right instead of crossing through to the left. Clearly whales are smarter than we are!” says Richard Mundell of Royal Victoria Yacht Club in British Columbia, Canada.

One boat served as the fleet’s recruiter, unexpectedly bringing on new sailor’s each day. On Friday Jeff Sharp jumped in to crew for Bob Tennant while crew Richard Mundell desperately sought some back therapy in downtown Santa Barbara. Then on Saturday and Sunday local youth sailing rock star and current 49er campaigner Dane Wilson gave 505s a try for the first time, driving for Rich (Bob had to fly home). Four people in one boat in one weekend!

When it was all said and done, it was the veterans Hamlin and Zinn who stood atop the podium with an impressive four race wins in seven total races. Next were Holt and Woelfel, edging out Martin and Lowery by a single point when factoring in the drop of their worst race. Not far behind in 4th were Kevin Taugher of Alamitos Bay, Cal. and local Don Smith, considered by the fleet to be an SBYC “founder” on account that he can remember when the current clubhouse was built, back in 1966. Their only race win came on the final race, putting the pair ahead of Ventura Yacht Club’s Ryan Cox and Garrett Baum on the tiebreaker.

Impressive distances traveled by sailors hailing from San Diego, Seattle, and even Hawaii made this a strong showing for the west coast fleet.Their ability to mix it up with the reigning world champion and have a great time doing it bodes well for the group as they look ahead to the North American Championship on the other coast, to be hosted by Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, Maryland, September 16-20, 2015.

Full results

Top ten:
1 Howard Hamlin, Andy Zinn, 1, 1, (7), 1, 1, 5, 2, 11
2 Mike Holt, Rob Woelfel, 3, 2, (5), 2, 3, 1, 3, 14
3 Mike Martin, Adam Lowery, 2, 3, 1, 3, 4, 2, (6),15
4 Kevin Taugher, Don Smith, 6, (7), 2, 4, 5, 4, 1, 22
5 Ryan Cox, Garrett Baum, 4, 5, 4, (6), 2, 3, 4, 22
6 Jeff Miller, Pat Diola, 5, 4, 3, 5, 6, (12), 5, 28
7 Douglas Hagan, Paul Von Grey, 7, 6, 11, 7, (18 OCS), 6, 8, 45
8 Robert Tennant, Rich Mundell, 9, (15), 12, 9, 11, 7, 7, 55
9 Pierre Jeangirard, Antoine Laussu, (14), 9, 9, 12, 12, 8, 10, 60

International 14 fleet

Rank	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total	Nett
1st	1187	SWYC	Terence Gleeson	Evan Sjostedt	USA	3.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	(4.0)	14.0	10.0
2nd	1189	CYC Seattle	Kris Bundy	Fritz Lanzinger	USA	2.0	2.0	4.0	1.0	2.0	(7.0)	7.0	25.0	18.0
3rd	1161	SDYC	Brad Ruetenik	Garrett Brown	USA	1.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	4.0	(8.0)	2.0	26.0	18.0
4th	616	Royal Canadian Yacht Club	Lauren Laventure	Jason Lemieux	CAN	4.0	(5.0)	5.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	25.0	20.0
5th	1192	CYC Seattle	Kris Henderson	Martin Fabiansson	USA	6.0	3.0	1.0	7.0	(9.0)	5.0	1.0	32.0	23.0
6th	1545	ABYC	Jamie Reid	Chris Weis	USA	5.0	6.0	6.0	5.0	6.0	3.0	(8.0)	39.0	31.0
7th	1183	CRA	Steve Shumaker	Alex Bernal	USA	(8.0)	7.0	7.0	8.0	8.0	4.0	6.0	48.0	40.0
8th	1177	Santa Barbara YC	Ron Boehm	Pete Mohler	USA	7.0	8.0	8.0	6.0	7.0	(9.0)	9.0	54.0	45.0
9th	1176	RYC	James Clarkson	Josh Leihe	USA	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	5.0	(10.0)	10.0	61.0	51.0
10th	1154	SYC	Michael Lazzaro	Nick Delfino	USA	(12.0 DNC)	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	10.0	12.0 DNC	6.0	5.0	69.0	57.0
11th	1162	RYC	Chris Rutz	Micheal Radziejowski	USA	(12.0 DNC)	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	84.0	72.0

505 fleet

Rank	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total	Nett
1st	9080	NHYC	Howard Hamlin	Andy Zinn	1.0	1.0	(7.0)	1.0	1.0	5.0	2.0	18.0	11.0
2nd	9115	Santa Cruz YC	Mike Holt	Rob Woelfel	3.0	2.0	(5.0)	2.0	3.0	1.0	3.0	19.0	14.0
3rd	9106	StFYC / NHYC	Mike Martin	Adam Lowery	2.0	3.0	1.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	(6.0)	21.0	15.0
4th	90801	ABYC	Kevin Taugher	Don Smith	6.0	(7.0)	2.0	4.0	5.0	4.0	1.0	29.0	22.0
5th	8681	VYC	Ryan Cox	Garrett Baum	4.0	5.0	4.0	(6.0)	2.0	3.0	4.0	28.0	22.0
6th	9082	Santa Cruz YC	Jeff Miller	Pat Diola	5.0	4.0	3.0	5.0	6.0	(12.0)	5.0	40.0	28.0
7th	8680	Paia Bay SUP Club	Douglas Hagan	Paul Von Grey	7.0	6.0	11.0	7.0	(18.0 OCS)	6.0	8.0	63.0	45.0
8th	8970	RVicYC	Robert Tennant	Rich Mudell	9.0	(15.0)	12.0	9.0	11.0	7.0	7.0	70.0	55.0
9th	9027	WLYC	Pierre Jeangirard	Antoine Laussu	(14.0)	9.0	9.0	12.0	12.0	8.0	10.0	74.0	60.0
10th	8878	St. Francis	Edward Conrads	David Kenny	8.0	14.0	6.0	10.0	10.0	(18.0 DNC)	18.0 DNC	84.0	66.0
11th	910	NHYC	Jeffrey Condon	Reeve Dunne	10.0	8.0	10.0	13.0	7.0	(18.0 DNC)	18.0 DNC	84.0	66.0
12th	9083	Alamitos Bay YC	Rob Waterman	Aaron Ross	11.0	11.0	14.0	8.0	8.0	(18.0 DNC)	18.0 DNC	88.0	70.0
13th	7152	Mission Bay	Gary Lee	Dan Downing	12.0	12.0	(13.0)	11.0	9.0	13.0	13.0	83.0	70.0
14th	9004	MPYC	Eben Russell	Brendan Teague	15.0	10.0	15.0	(17.0)	13.0	9.0	12.0	91.0	74.0
15th	7153	CYC Seattle	Colin Dunphy	Max Thayer	13.0	16.0	(17.0)	16.0	15.0	11.0	9.0	97.0	80.0
16th	7069	Byc	Christopher Oleary	Chris Burlsion	(16.0)	13.0	16.0	14.0	16.0	10.0	11.0	96.0	80.0
17th	6991	Mission Bay Yacht Club	Channing Hamlet	Karl Liebat	17.0	17.0	8.0	15.0	14.0	(18.0 DNC)	18.0 DNC	107.0	89.0

29er fleet

Rank	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
1st	2003	San Francisco yacht club/Santa Barbara Y	Romain Screve	Quinn Wilson	USA	1.0	1.0	(5.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	10.0	5.0
2nd	1048	Richmond Yacht Club	Neil Marcellini	Robbie Englehart	USA	3.0	(6.0)	3.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	19.0	13.0
3rd	1998	MBYC/NHYC	Ian Brill	Wells Drayton	USA	(5.0)	3.0	1.0	2.0	4.0	5.0	20.0	15.0
4th	1258	Mission Bay Yacht Club/ Newport Harbor Y	Max Brill	Andrew Persom	USA	(6.0)	4.0	4.0	4.0	5.0	3.0	26.0	20.0
5th	2311	MBYC/NHYC	Samuel Merson	Michael Sabourin	USA	4.0	5.0	2.0	6.0	(8.0)	4.0	29.0	21.0
6th	2190	ABYC	Jocob Rosenberg	Evan Heffernan	USA	2.0	2.0	9.0	5.0	10.0	(12.0 DNF)	40.0	28.0
7th	1995	NHYC	Scott Mais	Johnny Horton	USA	7.0	7.0	6.0	(8.0)	3.0	8.0	39.0	31.0
8th	1413	NHYC	Marley Mais	Rhodes Garner	USA	8.0	8.0	7.0	7.0	(9.0)	7.0	46.0	37.0
9th	19	SDYC/MBYC/CorYC	Jack Joslin	Sam Roughneen	USA	(10.0)	9.0	8.0	9.0	6.0	9.0	51.0	41.0
10th	088	Santa Barbara Yacht Club	Kyla Murphy	Lauren Seigel	USA	9.0	(10.0)	10.0	10.0	7.0	6.0	52.0	42.0
11th	TBD	SDYC	John Majernik	Amanda Majernik	USA	(12.0 DNC)	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	72.0	60.0

For more information, visit the event website.