Wednesday, November 13, 2013

San Diego YC Crowned Lipton Cup Champions!

J/105 sailors- San Diego, Ca (San Diego, CA)– The 99th edition of the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup hosted eight yacht club teams representing California and Louisiana, competing in equally matched J/105s for three days (Nov. 1-3) of fleet racing inside San Diego Harbor and hosted by the San Diego YC.  As promised by the SD Chamber of Commerce, the fleet was treated to classic SoCal weather conditions; a bit of fog (marine layer) in the morning, clearing by lunch-time so the amazing armada of SDYC volunteers could layout a 0.7nm race course off the impressive San Diego city waterfront and permit the visiting teams to sail multiple windward/leeward legs four times around each day.

Over the course of the three day event, it was clear the “local talent” led by SDYC’s Brad Rodi would have their hands full fighting for fleet honors against defending champions Bob Little from California YC, Scott Harris from Coronado YC and Dustin Durant from Long Beach YC.  After the first day of sailing, Harris’ CYC team led the pack with 9 pts, followed by SDYC and LBYC.  In fact, the top five were all within three points of each other!

By the final day of the regatta, it was clear the defending champion Cal YC was unable to overcome their first day black flag penalty, falling short of winning this year’s Lipton Cup by only one point!  In fact, the entire top five was essentially determined by their finish positions in the eighth and final race— what a cliff-hanger, with just 7 pts separating five boats!  Cal YC’s principal competitors, the local SDYC gang, nearly blew the regatta in the last race with a 6th place!  Nevertheless, the winning SDYC team that included Brad Rodi (skipper), Chris Busch, Andrew Campbell, Steve Hunt, Al Pleskus, Molly Pleskus, and Chuck Sinks could finally breath a sigh of relief afterwards!  Taking third was Harris’ Coronado YC team just one point back with a final race 5th for 30 pts.  Fourth was Payson Infelise’s Newport Harbor YC team with 4th in the last race to finish with 34 pts, just one point in front of fifth place finisher Durant representing Long Beach YC that won the last race to complete their results with 35 pts!  Some tactician’s “heads had to be exploding” and skipper’s had to be “sweating bullets” on the final leg of the last race!    Sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ Joysailing.com   For more J/105 Lipton Cup Challenge sailing results