J's Hanging Tough On Nasty Saturday
(San Diego, CA- Nov. 20th)- Saturday dawned grey, cool, hazy and wet.
Intermittent showers and a nasty WNW wind gusting from 8 to 25 knots was
the order of the day. San Diego postcard sailing weather? Not. More
like what Seattle's Puget Sound is renowned for with grey days and
frenetic breeze. With a ginormous swell pounding the surf beaches
around Point Loma, the SDYC PRO wisely kept the fleet "inside". For the
uninitiated, that simply means blasting around the inner San Diego
Harbor, getting huge wind bends (or mind bends), massive hell-holes
created by monster cruise ships and even more massive US Navy aircraft
carriers and avoiding a strong outbound ebb current up to 1.5 knots to
further spice things up a bit. Sounds like fun? Sure, for those not
intimidated by a 1,001 port starboard situations and moving packs
(sidewalks) of spinnakers entangled en'masse downwind squeezed along the
shoreline trying to stay out of the current.
After two races, the J/105s again proved they're hard to beat in these
crazy "pursuit-style" races, where the slowest start first and the
fastest last. First boat across wins. By virtue of where they start,
the J/105s often get "launched" on the rest of the fleet and this is
reflected in their consistent placings near the top of the fleet.
Overall J's have 8 of top 15 spots. The J/105s are 3rd, 5th, 7th and
11th. J/120s are 6th and 13th. And the J/125 9th and J/111 10th so
far. Leading the J/105s in Class 3 is WINGS sailed by Dennis and Sharon
Case. Second in J/105s is Dave Vieregg's TRIPLE PLAY and third BLINK!
sailed by Steve and Lucy Howell. In Class 2, the J/120 CC RIDER sailed
by Chuck Nichols is leading Jeff Brown's J/111 by 2 points. Class 1 has
the J/145 BAD PAK and a bunch of J/125s battling it out in the top 10.
For more San Diego YC Hot Rum Series sailing information.