Fun-racing J/80, J/105 & J/120 Fleets
(San Diego, CA)- 2011 marks the 39th year of San Diego Yacht Club's signature regatta, the Yachting Cup. This premiere regatta brings together competitive fleet and one-design racing at multiple venues on courses both inshore and offshore San Diego. This year saw 89 boats participate in 12 fleets, J's accounted for 33 boats (37% of the total) in 5 fleets- 4 in PHRF, 6 in J/120s, 16 in J/105s and 7 in J/80s.
The
J/120 crowd are a bunch of tough hombres, as usual. Past multiple
J/120 winners like CAPER and CC RIDER were always going to be tough to
beat. And, they proved that again this year. After leading off with
three straight bullets, John Laun's CAPER was going to be very tough to
knock off the top of the podium. While Chuck Nichol's team on CC RIDER
won the last two races, it was not enough to overcome the nearly
unassailable lead set by CAPER. John's crew sailed to a very strong
1-1-1-2-2 for 7 pts and Chuck's crew sailed to a 3-2-2-1-1 for 9 pts.
While the drama was unfolding upfront, perhaps more drama was unfolding
in the fight for the bronze position. Steve Harris' TAMAJAMA, Mike
Hatch's J-ALMIGHTY and Peter Zarcades' MELTEMI were flip-flopping for
3rd position contention virtually every race. After five races, just
two points separated all three boats! No question the last race was a
nail-biting, anxiety-driven, manic depression-inducing situation for the
tacticians. Earning his keep at the end was Steve's TAMAJAMA
tactician, ending up with a 2-7-3-5-3 for 20 pts to snag third position.
Like
their counterparts in the STS Annapolis NOOD Regatta taking place on
the "right coast", the "left coast" J/105s had several tight fought
races for the top 2, 3rd and 4th and for 5th overall. In the Case case,
Dennis and Sharon Case on WINGS were not able to overcome the
performance of the well-sailed team aboard Rick Goebel's SANITY- a first
for Rick? SANITY sailed to a 5-2-1-2-2 to win with 12 pts. Second
were the Case's on WINGS with a 1-1-6-1-4 with 13 pts. Similarly, the
BLOW BOAT and PHOLLY tussle went all the way down to the wire with
perhaps the Case's and Goebel acting as surrogate spoilers in this
drama. In the end, on a tiebreaker, Tom Hurlburt sailing BLOW BOAT
finished 3rd with a 2-5-3-7-1 tally for 18 pts. And, Chris Logan's
PHOLLY got the short end of the straw to finish 4th with a 3-3-5-4-3 for
18 pts. Fifth place also had its dramas between three boats! Steve
and Lucy Howell's BLINK!, Dave Vieregg's TRIPLE PLAY and Fisher
Dagostino's VIGGEN all finished just points behind Jon Dekker's AIR BOSS
who finished 5th with 4-4-8-11-5 for 32 pts.
The
seven boat J/80 fleet saw some spirited racing. A repeat winner was
Curt Johnson's AVET sailing to four 1sts and a 2nd for 6 pts. John
Steen sailed UNDERDOG to a 2-4-2-1-2 for 11 pts for second. And, third
was Bob Hayward's BLUE JAY with a 3-2-5-3-3 for 16 pts.
Amongst
the handicap crowd, the big guns in PHRF 2 included Tim Fuller's J/125
RESOLUTE and Tom Holthus' well-traveled and campaigned J/145 BAD PAK.
Perhaps for the first time in several regattas, Tim's RESOLUTE took on
all the course racers and sailed well to finish 2nd with a 2-2-3-2-2
score for 11 pts. Accustomed to trouncing the J/125s around the
closed-course race track was Tom's BAD PAK. However, after a slow
start, Tom's crew wound up the big beast, sailed faster and smarter and
finished strongly to just miss out catching stablemate RESOLUTE. BAD
PAK sailed to a 4-3-2-1-3 for 13 pts to get third in class.In PHRF 3, it was the battle of historically significant 35 footers. Included in the pack were a J/35, J/36, Frers 35, Beneteau 35 and Hunter 34. After the smoke cleared, Tom and Terri Manok's J/35 PREDATOR laid down a consistent 3-2-2-3-2 for 12 points to secure second place. Sailing photos credit- Bob Betancourt. For more San Diego Yachting Cup sailing information and results.
