Fast Start for Richard du Moulin at International Masters Regatta

San Diego, CA (October 21, 2016) – The opening day of San Diego Yacht Club’s International Masters Regatta wrapped up with the twelve teams completing two races along the San Diego City Front.

After a postponement of about 2 1/2 hours to allow the wind to build, the race committee was only able to run two out of the four scheduled races due to extremely light winds.

Race one started a little before 2:30pm with five boats OCS at the start with the right side of the course clearly favored upwind. Richard du Moulin (Storm Trysail Club/Larchmont Yacht Club) gained a giant lead upwind which he was able to keep at every mark rounding. Chuck Nichols (SDYC) and Chuck Driscoll (SDYC) were trailing in second and third for most of the race. After du Moulin won the first race handily, Nichols secured second place and Dick Tillman (Melbourne Yacht Club) finished third.

This is Richard du Moulin’s first Masters Regatta and the first for most of his crew which has a lot of miles together, as du Moulin raced the Transatlantic with four of them last year. “It was a great day out there for us. The Race Committee did a good job of getting two races off. We stayed as clear of people as we could and then just tried to go fast. It was a lot of fun!”

At the end of race one, the wind was at 6 knots and patchy, causing the race committee to shorten the course during the middle of the second race. In a repeat performance, Du Moulin led the second race, though by a smaller margin–only about one boat length ahead of Don Trask (St. Francis Yacht Club). Chuck Nichols finished third.

Don Trask, the founder of the regatta, has been to every Masters Regatta, starting as crew before he was old enough to skipper. Trask grew up sailing the heavy winds of San Francisco, but now lives in North Carolina where the wind conditions are light and similar to today. After racing, Trask confirmed, “It’s hard to sail in the light air. It’s always really tricky.”

Day One Standings

Event details – Scoreboard – Team list – Facebook

Source: Emily Willhoft, SDYC