Entry open for 2022 Yachting Cup

San Diego Yacht Club will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of its signature regatta in 2022 with their Yachting Cup on April 29-May 1 in San Diego, CA. Buoy and random leg racing will be held on bay and ocean courses.

New this year will be the inclusion of a Classic division and a Navigator division which will start in the ocean and finish in the San Diego Bay and sail a random leg course.

On April 29, Yachting Cup registrants are invited to sail in the Ton Cup, a long-standing tradition of the event that has been on hiatus for the past two years. The race will be scored separately from the Yachting Cup on April 30-May 1.

Eager to race, Schock 35 Whiplash, owned by Ted Thompson, John Rossbach and Felix Basadre, was the first boat registered. Whiplash won their division in both the 2018 and 2019 editions of the regatta.

“We do five or six major regattas a year and Yachting Cup always goes in the books as a crew favorite,” said Thompson. “We get Schock 35s from as far away as Santa Barbara to come to the event, so we have a solid representation of boats with close racing.”

The regatta was founded in 1972 by John Gerald “Gerry” Driscoll III (1924-2011), an international yachting champion and businessman. With sponsorship secured from Yachting Magazine, it was originally called the Yachting Ton Cup.

The Ton Cup originally had classes set at ¼ ton, ½ ton, ¾ ton, 1 ton, and 2 ton under IOR rules. As the IOR fell out of favor, the races reverted to a straight handicap to allow more boats to participate; eventually they moved to PHRF. The first running of the Yachting Ton Cup was over the Memorial Day weekend in 1972.

Now, in 2022, the Yachting Cup resumes on its newer traditional date, usually the first weekend of May to follow the iconic Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. The event expects around 100 boats.

The overall winner of the 2021 Yachting Cup was Stewart Cannon’s J/105, J-OK. “Our crew has been practicing and racing together for a long time now and everything meshed for the 2021 Yachting Cup,” said Cannon, who will be sailing again in the 50th anniversary of the regatta.

Part of the anticipation of the Yachting Cup is preparing for the high-level competition. “Yachting Cup was conceived 50 years ago as modern yacht design and construction really began to evolve,” noted SDYC Waterfront Director Jeff Johnson. “The event was a proving ground of sorts for some great local designers, turning out highly competitive offshore racing boats.

“Today, the Yachting Cup seeks to stay true to that heritage and provides a field of play for highly competitive keelboats. Windward/leeward racecourses with passing lanes going up and down the course, and a ‘seven races over two days’ schedule gives competitors numerous opportunities to test their sailing knowledge and tactical skills.”

Event information – Race details – Entry list