Santa Barbara YC Qualifies for US J/70 Youths!(San Diego, CA)- The masses attending this year’s Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD Regatta were not disappointed! As they have managed to accomplish in the past, the San Diego YC hosted another great event for the 500+ sailors that were participating in their annual spring bash on the San Diego Harbor and offshore of Point Loma.
The weekend marked the second major event in the Helly Hansen Sailing World NOOD events for the summer of 2017. Three large one-design fleets of J’s were sailing- J/70, J/105 & J/120.
The
nineteen J/70s enjoyed great sailing, with ten races completed over the
three-day weekend. Taking class honors was Jeff Janov’s MINOR THREAT;
but it was not without some drama. Jeff couldn’t sail the first day due
to business commitments, so he had his 14 year old son steer the first
day- to lead the regatta with a 2-1-3 record! Then, as the weekend
progressed, they maintained a consistently high score until they posted
two uncharacteristically high scores- a 15th and 12th in the 8th and 9th
races. However, by closing with a 1st in the last race, they sealed
the deal to win class overall.Second in J/70s and also Top Corinthians crew was none other than Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS of J/24 North American Championship fame from the talented Santa Barbara YC group of sailors. The Big Doggers sailed their best series to date in J/70s and are sure to be a contender in future major events. Just four points off the pace behind them was Jim Murrell’s HUCKLEBERRY. Rounding out the top five were Bruce Cooper’s USA 32 in 4th place and Dave Hochart’s USA 540 (also 2nd Corinthians). Of note, third Corinthians was Craig Tallman’s JAVA.
This
event also marked the third regatta for US J/70 Youth Championship
teams to qualify. In this event, there were three teams from across the
spectrum of youth programs in Southern California. They included the
HELLY HANSEN JUNIOR CREW skippered by Jack Reiter representing the host
SDYC; Luke Pierce sailing CAKE, representing Santa Barbara YC; and
Robert Garret skippering SLOOP JOHN B, representing Newport Harbor YC.
For these three crews, it was a nip and tuck battle all weekend long.
In the end, it was the Santa Barbara YC/ SB Youth Foundation crew of
high-school kids on CAKE (Lucas Pierce (skipper), Ryan Eastwood
(Tactician), Chris Kayda, Kris Ozolins, and Payne Donaldson) that
qualified as the top youth team from the regatta for the US J/70 Youth
Championship in Newport, RI this coming August. The SBYC/SBYF team has
been supported by CAKE’s owner, Scott Deardorff- also the Rear Commodore
of Santa Barbara YC. Here is Lucas’ commentary:“A couple of months ago, I was approached by Mr. Deardorff, to see if I had any interest in putting together a team to try to qualify for the J/70 Youth Championship. He offered to let us use his J/70. None of us have very much keelboat experience, but we were really excited to give it a shot!
We
set up a practice schedule and worked mostly on our boat-handling. We
were able to do one local regatta in really light air. But, other than
that, we didn’t have any regatta experience in the J/70. Our plan was to try to qualify for the J/70 Youth Nationals this summer at the San Diego NOOD regatta, March 17-19.
We really enjoyed sailing against the high level of competition at this regatta and the two other junior teams. We know almost all of the kids on the other teams and we’re all good friends. We learned a lot over the weekend. Our starts improved a lot as we got a feel for when to unfurl the jib and how to set up. We felt really fast downwind the whole time, but learned a lot about how to sail faster upwind, like how to flatten the sails, the boat, and how to use the backstay.
We’re looking forward to practicing some more and seeing a lot of our old Opti, Laser and 29er friends in Newport this summer!”
The
eleven J/105s had their dose of sanity fed to them from one of the West
Coast’s top J/105 crews. There was no question the regatta was going
to come down to the top three teams that have been leading the class the
past few years- Rick Goebel’s SANITY, Dennis Case’s WINGS and Tom
Hurlburt/ Chuck Driscoll’s JUICED. In the end, it was the SANITY crew
skippered by Rick Goebel that walked off with class honors with an
undeniably powerful, ego-crushing scoreline of all top three finishes- a
2-2-1-3-1-3 tally for just 12 pts total. Their compatriots in crime at
the top of the leaderboard, nevertheless, made it a struggle for both
Goebel but as well as themselves. WINGS won that battle by a whisker in
the last race, hanging onto a 7th to secure second by one point over
the jazzed-up JUICED crew! Rounding out the top five were Scott
McDaniel’s OFF THE PORCH (happy to win the last race) to secure 4th
place, and Stew Cannon’s J-OK in fifth (happy to win the first race!).
The
J/120 class was probably grateful they were not white-washed by the
insanely smart or fast (or both) crew on board John Laun’s CAPER. While
they started off with a “less than zero” tally in their first race, a
negative 6 pts, the caped crusaders on CAPER just put it all together
and sailed away with a 1-3-1-1 tally for the gold! What was cooler than
that performance? A new face in the crowd- the proverbial “new kids on
the block”! A bunch of MAD MEN, no less. It was Ernie Pennell’s crew
on MAD MEN that sailed an amazing regatta to get the silver by one
point! Shockingly, it was Mike Hatch’s J-ALMIGHTY team that was on the
short-end of that stick, settling for the bronze behind “the new kids”.
Rounding out the top five was another surprise, Tim Hogan’s almighty
lucky SHAMROCK was just one point back in 4th place and past multiple
regatta champion, Chuck Nichols’ CC RIDER, had to settle for 5th place.
Amazing how times are a-changin’ in the SD 120 world. Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outside Images For more Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD sailing information
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