Hot Rum Series 2023 Race 2 at San Diego Yacht Club
by J/Boats 26 Nov 2023 08:32 AEDT
San Diego Yacht Club Hot Rum Series Race 2 © Bob Betancourt
The second event of the three-weekend series for San Diego Yacht Club's famous Hot Rum Series took place this past weekend.
Again, despite the challenging conditions, the J/Teams across the spectrum from J/22s up to the J/145s sailed well enough to hang onto positions at the top of the leaderboard.
The biggest challenge is always getting off the starting line in the inner harbor, using every zephyr of wind as you are jib reaching or shy spinnaker reaching mode to get out the long channel on the east side of the mountainous Point Loma to get to the first offshore buoy in a reasonable position. Some faired better than others in that transition.
PHRF overall
On a PHRF Overall basis for a fleet of 126 boats, tied for first place is Rudy Hasl's J/145 PALAEMON with a 2-5 record for 7 pts. Not far off their pace is Robert Pace's J/145 ANDIAMO 2 with a 17-16 for 33 pts to sit in 13th overall. Then, a pair of J/111s are rounding out the top 15. Brian Ganz/s ZOOM has a 24-11 for 35 pts and Ed Sanford's CREATIVE has a 10-30 for 40 pts, sitting 15th and 16th, respectively.
PHRF 1 Division
Sitting in second place is Rudy Hasl's J/145 PALAEMON with a 2-5 for seven points.
PHRF 3 Division
The pair of J/111s are running neck and neck in this group, leading the division tied on points at 9 apiece with IDENTICAL records. Ganz's ZOOM has a 7-2, while Sanford's CREATIVE has a 2-7!
PHRF 4 Division
Surprise, surprise! Is anyone surprised that a perennial Hot Rum Series winner is a J/120 leading this division? Hahaha. Well, for this series it's John Laun's J/120 CAPER has a seemingly unassailable lead with a 2-1 for 3 pts in the first two races. Nevertheless, don't be shocked if their good friends on the J/120 CC RIDER, Chuck Nichols & Kyle Lark, currently in 6th place with a 3-8 for 11 pts, don't race up the ladder again to make it onto the podium!
PHRF 5 Division- e.g. the J/105 Division
Leading this group is Rick Goebel's SANITY with a 1-4 for 5 pts, which means he's currently stuck in a three-way tie for first place. Just two points back is Jim Dorsey's USA 45 with a 2-5 for 7 pts. Then, J/105s are all densely packed from 6th to 9th! In 6th is Bennet Greenwald/ Dave Vieregg, 7th is Bill Quealy's J/RABBIT SLIM, 8th is Steve Howell's BLINK, and 9th is Geroge Scheel's SUN PUFFIN.
PHRF 6 Division
Sitting in third overall with a 5-4 for 9 pts is Scott Bennet's J/92 FANDANGO. They are just one point off the silver medal.
PHRF 8 Division
This is the fleet that has all the J/22s and J/24s. Currently, Mike Hatch's J/22 J/ALMIGHTY is sitting in third with a 5-3 for 8 pts, just 2 pts in arrears of a silver medal. Sitting in 6th is Andrew Lee's J/24 LIMONCELLO with a 7-7 for 14 pts. A slew of J/22s are just 3-5 points behind them. Anything goes in this fleet for the 3rd and final race in 2 weeks!
For more SDYC Hot Rum Series sailing information www.sdyc.org