Spring Conditions for Yachting Cup

San Diego, CA (May 1, 2016) – After 29 teams competed in the Friday Ton Cup Race, the precursor of San Diego Yacht Club’s signature spring regatta, Yachting Cup, 85 boats in 12 classes competed April 30-May 1 in the Yachting Cup on three ocean course venues. Mostly sunny skies with 7-12 knots offered up to 7 races with tie breakers required to determine trophies in three of the fleets.

Report from event media:
Another spirited Yachting Cup has wrapped up and, as always, this year’s regatta was full of character. After a tiring, bumpy day on Saturday, many competitors were relieved that Sunday’s races were back to familiar conditions. On all three courses, most competitors looked less stressed and pleased to see smoother winds.

“Today was much nicer than yesterday,” confirmed Joanne O’Dea on the J/105, Viggen, which took fourth place in the J/105 class. “The breeze was perfect and steady at 220-225 on Course C for today’s three races. Our crew hadn’t all sailed together since the New Year’s Day Race and it was so nice to be with them this weekend and get back into a groove. Our roundings were perfect, the mechanics on the boat were great and though our starts were shy at first, they steadily improved each race.”

Today’s winds were slower to accelerate, but picking up to about 10 knots with gusts at 12 by the start of the second races. The wind was consistently blowing right all day, so many San Diego sailors were thankful to be back in their everyday conditions.

Ben Mitchell on the NM 50 Elixir, which won the Division AA class, also appreciated the classic San Diego day. “The sailing was much better than yesterday. Our first start was excellent, the second was mediocre at best and we just tried to stay as conservative as possible for the third start since we knew we were in the lead. We were fortunate that Fox and Staghound were engrossed in a battle out there and this saved us some time and likely helped contribute to our win.”

The J/105, J/70, and Division A classes faced very tough competition, with the top racers only a few points apart throughout the whole weekend. Resolute, a J/125 owned by Tim Fuller, took first place in Division A despite being down two crew members on Sunday.

“We were neck and neck with Rock & Roll this whole weekend,” explained crewmember Patrick Murray on Resolute. “But our fast boat speed and good starts helped us overcome the fact that we didn’t have our full crew. We were able to pull off a win and that really solidified the whole regatta experience for us.”

After Sunday’s races, competitors gathered on the Sail Wash Lawn for the award ceremony where Commodore Doug Werner and Regatta Chair Julie Servais presented awards to class top finishers and the overall winner, Rival, a J/35 in Division C skippered by David Boatner. Rival finished Sunday with three bullets to overcome Dennis Conner’s (Menace XVII) excellent performance on Saturday and earned their spot on the Yachting Cup Overall Winner perpetual trophy.

“For many reasons, Yachting Cup is one of my favorite regattas at the club,” expressed Werner. “It has a great liveliness which wouldn’t be possible without our incredible regatta chair, Julie Servais. I’d also like to thank the Race Committee, Protest Committee, SDYC staff, all the competitors and our event sponsors. The success of Yachting Cup is truly a team effort.”

Event details – Scoreboard