San Diego Yacht Club's Yachting Cup - the wrap

by Lynn Fitzpatrick on 3 May 2010 Nearly 100 keelboats and over 700 sailors participated in San Diego Yacht Club’s Yachting Cup this weekend.

The winner of the Yachting Cup, which is awarded to the most competitive fleet, went to Chuck Nichols and his J/120 team on CC Rider. Said Nichols, 'It was a difficult weekend because we rarely have a southerly on sunny days and we had it both days. The only way to win is with outstanding crew work and that’s what we have.'

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The Melges 24’s sailed an eight-race, no discard series over three days and Brian Porter, Vince Brun and Bri and Clifford Porter were the first boat to return to SDYC in the Southwesterly. Their string of bullets and one third place finish gave them enough of a margin not to have to sail the final race of the series.

Low point for the regatta went to Hot Rum in the PHRF fourth Division. The CF33 partnership of Al Castillon, Richard Parlette and Brian Folkman that has been sailing together for over 20 years, posted five bullets and finished the regatta with a perfect score of five points. 'We had ideal conditions this weekend. It was nice to sail against other heavy displacement boats and have such close racing,' said Folkman.

Racing in the seven one-design fleets and one IRC-rated TP52 fleet was so close that it was commonplace to have overlapped boats cross the finish line throughout the weekend in which sailors experienced the Catalina eddy.

Cold air coming down from the north deflects north of LA and hooks back into the San Diego area as a southerly. It wasn’t until well into Sunday’s racing that the wind started to shift left as a light haze burned off. 'It was a Chamber of Commerce weekend,' said Jim Dorsey of the J/105 Wings,

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 three’s competitors on the Roads course off of Coronado, experienced a 10-12 knot SSW, a large swell, sunshine and temperatures in the low 60s throughout the weekend. Even rail meat had an important job this weekend – spotting kelp.

Schock 35’s, J/80’s and the smaller PHRF boats sailed in the flat waters of the South Bay. Longtime J/80 fleet Champion Curt Johnson, who steered his J/80 Avet to a very close regatta victory; 'We had excellent conditions on the South Bay. Yesterday (Saturday) it was all left and today (Sunday) it kept going right. I like the waves outside, but my crew loves the flat water. We had really close racing among the top three boats,' he emphasized, 'within inches.'

'It was a chamber of commerce weekend,' said Jim Dorsey of the J/105 Wings.

The West Ocean Course

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

SRM was the winner in the TP52 Class, however Andy Rasdal’s team on Valkyrie were happy with their performance, 'we were a close second,' said one of the crew.

Dennis Pennell’s R/P 50, Blue Blazes and Edward McDowell’s Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion traded first place finishes throughout the weekend in the PHRF first division. Grand Illusion won the final race, but Blue Blazes slipped in a second, which was enough for Blue Blazes to win the regatta by a point.

Tom Hirsch’s USA 10 set the pace among the Flying Tigers throughout the weekend with one, two, one, one, two. Payson Infelise’s Mile High Klub had two, one on Sunday and distanced itself on Anarchy, which scored a consistent three, three for the day.

David Voss’ Piranha won the Farr 40 Class on the water, but the time of this writing protests that would affect the places, were still being heard.

The Roads Course

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 throughout the weekend. They won all but one of the reatta’s seven races that they sailed.

Kent Pierce’s team on Average White Boat won the two races that the Porter/Brun team did not. 'We have such a great group of people in the Melges Class. I’m happy to see Kent’s team win two races and the competition got tighter as the weekend went on. It shows how clinics, debriefings and time on the water can raise everyone’s game,' said Brian Porter following the regatta.

Loren Colahan’s Lounge Act was third place for the regatta and won the trophy for the top Corinthian team in the Melges fleet.

Jack Nichols’ CC Rider was low point in the 9-boat J/120 fleet on Saturday and Sunday. CC Rider’s victory in the most competitive fleet earned the team the 2010 Yachting Cup. John Snook’s, JIM and Peter Zarcades’, Meltemi were second and third overall. They were tied on 16 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 both days and the regatta, and there were at least a couple of races in which places were decided during the last jibe across the finish line.

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 races during the regatta and Doug and Pam Werner’s Javelin came out on top with 11 points. Everyone worked hard throughout the weekend and Blow Boat moved into a solid second on Sunday. Sanity, Wings and Current Obsession finished third, fourth and fifth with only four points separating them.

South Bay Course

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, got off to a stellar start on Saturday with three bullets. Others came on strong on Sunday, but could not snatch the lead from MAKO.

'We had excellent conditions on the South Bay. Yesterday (Saturday) it was all left and today (Sunday) it kept going right. I like the waves outside, but my crew loves the flat water,' said longtime J/80 fleet champion Curt Johnson, who steered his J/80 Avet to a very close regatta victory.

'We had really close racing among the top three boats,' he emphasized, 'within inches.'

'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,' said J-World’s Jeff Brown, whose team finished second overall. Bob Hayward and his crew on Blue Jay were third in the regatta.

Hot Rum, a CF33 continued to post a string of bullets to its scoreline on Sunday and won the PHRF division four. Dave Vieregg’s Toy Box took second and Larry Leveille’s Rush Street was third.

The Party

San Diego Yacht Club is undergoing massive construction projects and that didn’t stop Commodore Campbell, Regatta Chair Jon Gardner, staff and all of the volunteers from being spectacular hosts during all of the weekend’s festivities.