Building a pathway to Los Angeles 2028

Nine fleets have been invited back for the 2019 San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta (SDOCR) on September 7-8 in San Diego, CA. With the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games in sight, the San Diego Yacht Club introduced the event in 2018 to provide a venue for sailors to train and compete in international, high-performance classes.

Invited fleets are the 29er, 49er, Finn, I420, Laser, Laser Radial, Nacra 15, Star, and Snipe.

Winners from the inaugural event in 2018 included Eric Anderson (Finn), Ian and Noah Nyenhuis (29er), Justin Lim and Patrick Mulcahy (I420), Christopher Barnard (Laser), Gavin Malcolm McJones (Laser Radial), and Ernesto Rodriguez and Kathleen Tocke (Snipe).

The Nyenhuis brothers – Ian (12) and Noah (14) – were among the youngest to compete. “I love the SDOCR because it’s another chance to bring together all of the sailors in Southern California to race at some of the highest levels,” remarks Noah.

“It helps to improve the Southern California fleet so we can race nationally, hopefully giving us more chances to advance into Olympic class boats. My goal for the future is to go to the 2028 Olympics with my brother, Ian.”

In addition to the SDOCR, the Snipe Fleet will be doubling the regatta as their Snipe North American Championship. The Snipe format will begin one day prior to the SDOCR event, on Friday, September 6, 2019.

Prior to the regatta, SDYC is hosting a weekend clinic from August 23 to 25 to help youth sailors prepare for the SDOCR. The Pre-SDOCR clinic will feature many coaches including JJ Fetter (1992 Women’s 470 – Bronze, 2000 – Silver), Giselle Camet Nyenhuis (1992 Olympic competitor), Nevin Snow (currently campaigning in the 49er fleet for 2020 Tokyo Olympics), and Dane Wilson (campaigning with Snow).

“The high-performance, double-handed boats that are included in SDOCR as the Olympic Development classes (i420, 29er, Nacra 15) teach skills like how and why to adjust sail shape, apparent wind sailing, advanced spinnaker and trapeze techniques, and how to prep a boat for racing,” notes Fetter. “These are essential skills that our top juniors should learn in order to become life-long sailors and be able to race everything and anything from an Etchells to an I14 to Pac52s to even Olympic boats if they are so inclined.”

SDOCR details: https://sdyc.org/calendar/event/san-diego-olympic-classes-regatta19
Snipe North Americans NOR: https://sdyc.org/assets/documents/2019/2019-Snipe-NA-NOR.pdf