(San Diego, CA)- The International Masters Regatta was established in
1975 by St. Francis Yacht Club Member, Don Trask. For years, the worldʼs
greatest master sailors such as Elvstrom, Buchan, Burnham, Tillman,
Trask, Irish, Harken, North, Holland, Hinman and Dickson have competed
in this prestigious international sailing event on the San Francisco
Bay. The San Diego Yacht Club is proud to host the event for the third
time in 2014. The competition always attracts some of the world’s best
master sailors on an “invitation-only” basis. The regatta is sailed in J/105 one-design and will include buoy-racing inside the beautiful bay alongside San Diegoʼs gorgeous waterfront. In the gentile sea breezes of 8-15 kts, the starts are often right up against the enormous USS MIDWAY, a US Navy aircraft carrier that saw duty in World War II. To make matters more interesting, the fleet often sails long starboard tacks alongside the newest US Navy nuclear carriers, like the USS NIMITZ, with the fleet playing the shift and compression puff along their 1,200 foot length and 20-story tall topsides. Calling for “room to tack” is often a hot topic amongst the cagey’ole master skippers and tacticians!
This year’s class of masters includes last year’s winner, Chuck Nichols, plus the regatta’s founder Don Trask (with Russ Silvestri and Chris Snow in his crew). In addition, there are a number of World Champions and world-class sailors participating, like Augie Diaz from Miami, FL, Bruce Munro (with Annie Gardner, Paul Heineken & Chris Perkins in his crew), Dick Enersen (photographer extraordinaire from San Francisco), Tom Ehman (America’s Cup veteran with Larry Ellison’s ORACLE and Vice Commodore of Golden Gate YC, also a long-time J/24 sailor in Newport, RI), Dennis Durgan (with Bill Menninger aboard), Bob Fisher (famous yachting journalist from Great Britain and author of many famous yachting books), Jon Andron (with Benny Mitchell in his crew), Don Martin, Gary Jobson (with Jud Smith and Bill Campbell aboard) and, finally, Jon Wright (with an America’s Cup quality crew of Scotty Vogel, Billy Trenkle, Vince Brun, John Maccausland, and Peter Isler!). It should be fun racing and many a tall tale will be shared amongst this cast of characters! For more J/105 Masters sailing information