Yachting Cup Begins Inside the Bay

San Diego, CA (April 29, 2016) – Twenty-nine teams competed in the Friday Ton Cup Race, the precursor of San Diego Yacht Club’s signature spring regatta, Yachting Cup. Beginning tomorrow, 85 boats in 12 classes will compete in the Yachting Cup on Saturday and Sunday with racing on three ocean course venues each day.

When the first race started in late afternoon, the winds were a consistent 10 knots coming out of the Northwest. By the end of the race, held inside San Diego Bay, the early evening sky was filled with clouds with the wind dying down to about 5-7 knots at the end of the race. Fox, Anarchy, Gator and Grey Goose were the four class winners in the race.

Fox arrived from the builder, Cookson Boats in New Zealand, a few weeks ago and was commissioned in San Diego in preparation for Yachting Cup. Peter Isler, the tactician on Fox, felt pretty prepared for Friday’s race since the crew had practiced twice this past week in similar conditions. According to Isler, “We have what we consider to be the coolest boat on the west coast, so we’re proud to be out there. Yesterday was all about combining a sailboat race and a rules of the road competition. We’re excited to test out the ocean course on Saturday to see if the designers got it right.”

Staghound finished third in its class and was as surprised as Fox was to see a giant aircraft carrier in the middle of the race course. Chuck Skewes from Staghound confirmed that, “It was a challenge to deal with traffic on the bay and the conditions yesterday were certainly unique. I feel pretty good going into the rest of the weekend. We are mainly focused on sailing a really clean regatta and sailing well.”

Following racing on Saturday and Sunday, the awards ceremony will be held at San Diego Yacht Club after the completion of races on Sunday, May 1 where prizes will be awarded by class.

Event details – Scoreboard

Source: Emily Willhoft, Communications Director, SDYC