(Santa Barbara, CA)- During the third weekend of July, Santa Barbara
gears up for a colorful celebration of its Mexican, Spanish and American
pioneers, called the Old Spanish Days Fiesta, that lasts for a week and
brings in people from all corners of California, if not America, Mexico
and Europe. Coincidentally, many boats from around Southern California
arrive in town to join the party and also prepare and gear up for the
popular Santa Barbara to King's Harbor Race- a mad reaching/running dash
out around the Channel Islands to King's Harbor near Los Angeles.
As
a result, it's a popular week to be in Santa Barbara for Californians,
nothing else is on the racing schedule, kids are out of school (or at
camp) and "the Fiesta" becomes a popular destination for friends and
family for some fun and frolic on the gorgeous American "Riviera" known
as Santa Barbara (one of five cities in America that claim that same
title). The main drag in town, State Street, seemingly turns into
another version of New Orleans's infamous Bourbon Street in the French
Quarter with thousands celebrating into the wee hours of the night
(learn more about it here- http://www.oldspanishdays-fiesta.org). 
Sailors
were greeted by the customary amazing hospitality from the host, Santa
Barbara YC and were entertained for hours at the traditional beach party
underneath the club's porch with free-flowing beer and margaritas as
well as delicious tacos, enchiladas and other yummy Spanish-Mexican
foods off the grills. From the sailing perspective, the weather
cooperated, too, with yet more of the region's renowned spectacular
sailing conditions- sunny days, gentle warm breezes, cool water and
great race management by SBYC's RC. Liking the atmosphere and
entertainment a lot are the SoCal J/105 sailors. The J/105 fleet
continues to grow for this event and is getting increasingly
competitive. This year, the eleven boat J/105 fleet had two great days of racing with westerlies blowing down the shoreline from 5 to 15 knots. As usual, it was critical to get off the starting line, stay right upwind, avoid the big kelp lines (or force competitors into them!), and play the shifts as they come flying down off the bluffs on the right side of the course.
The four teams that made the migration north from San Diego YC were more competitive this year but were still no match for the local Santa Barbarian teams that swept the top three.
The racing was remarkably close for the top of the leader-board with the winners ultimately determined in the last race. Four boats had a shot at winning, including three SBYC teams- Alex Rasmussen's FREE ENTERPRISE, John Demourkas' ROCKIN & GROOVIN, John Ziskind's PERFECT TIMING 2 and one SDYC team- Rick Goebel's SANITY.
After the first three races on the first day of sailing, the top three were ROCKIN & GROOVIN with a 2-1-2, FREE ENTERPRISE with a 1-3-4 and third PERFECT TIMING 2 with a 4-6-1.
Sunday
saw a fast turnover in the standings. After the first two races,
Johnny D's boys sailed to a 6-2 and Johnny Z's gang sailed to a 2-3. As
a result, it looked like it was going to be a stand-off duel at the OK
Corral for these two teams to determine the winner of the regatta.
However, both teams either forgot, or ignored, the fact that Alex's FREE
ENTERPRISE team also had a mathematical chance of winning, too. As a
result, in the 6th and final race of the regatta, the two Johnny's
arm-wrestled themselves down into the dirt and way down the standings,
with Demourkas getting the better of the two finishing 7th and Ziskind
getting the short end of the stick and snagging a heart-stopping 9th!
Winning not only the last race and the regatta was Alex Rasmussen and
Ted White's team on FREE ENTERPRISE! Surprise! Losing the tie-breaker
to Alex was Demourkas' ROCKIN & GROOVIN team. Third was Ziskind's
PERFECT TIMING 2 with 25 pts. Rick Goebel's SANITY team nearly pulled
off the ultimate coup by stealing third place, just missing despite
being the only two race winner in the regatta with a 1-1-4 on the last
day to finish 4th with 27 pts! Watch out for the San Diego crowd next
year, looks like they're figuring out the kelp patches and wind patterns
in the Channel!Thanks to all who donated their weekend to make it a successful regatta, Race Committee and volunteers and, especially, the sponsors including J/Boats Santa Barbara dealer Chandlery Yacht Sales managed by Bob and Ken Kieding, Harken, Ventura Boat Yard and sailing photos from Sharon Green/ Ultimate Sailing. For more Fiesta Cup J/105 sailing results
