Established 1972 - San Diego's premier one design and handicap regatta
Regatta News

A Foxtrot to the Finish

Day one of San Diego Yacht Club’s signature spring regatta, Yachting Cup, wrapped up Friday evening with the first race in San Diego Bay. Eighty-five boats in four classes participated in the Friday Ton Cup Race of Yachting Cup weekend. The Yachting Cup will continue on Saturday and Sunday with racing on three ocean course venues each day.

When the first race started in late afternoon, the winds were a consistent 10 knots coming out of the Northwest. By the end of the race, the early evening sky was filled with clouds with the wind dying down to about 5-7 knots at the end of the race. Fox, Anarchy, Gator and Grey Goose were the four class winners in yesterday’s race.

Victor Wild’s new Botin TP52, Fox, started near the front of the first class of boats to cross the start line. Fox was first to round the windward mark and kept the lead strong while rounding the leeward mark as well. Approaching the finish line almost an hour later, Fox was about a mile ahead of all other boats in its class.

Fox arrived from the builder, Cookson Boats in New Zealand, a few weeks ago and was commissioned in San Diego in preparation for Yachting Cup. Peter Isler, the tactician on Fox, felt pretty prepared for Friday’s race since the crew had practiced twice this past week in similar conditions. According to Isler, “We have what we consider to be the coolest boat on the west coast, so we’re proud to be out there. Yesterday was all about combining a sailboat race and a rules of the road competition. We’re excited to test out the ocean course on Saturday to see if the designers got it right.”

Staghound finished third in its class and was as surprised as Fox was to see a giant aircraft carrier in the middle of the race course. Chuck Skewes from Staghound confirmed that, “It was a challenge to deal with traffic on the bay and the conditions yesterday were certainly unique. I feel pretty good going into the rest of the weekend. We are mainly focused on sailing a really clean regatta and sailing well.”

Following racing on Saturday and Sunday, the awards ceremony will be held at San Diego Yacht Club after the completion of races on Sunday, May 1 where prizes will be awarded by class.

The San Diego Yacht Club takes pride in hosting large, well-attended regattas such as Yachting Cup and attributes success at events to keeping safety at the forefront of race organization, especially when there are interruptions on the course during racing. SDYC encourages racers and those in the sailing community to partake in the Safety at Sea Seminar hosted at Silver Gate Yacht Club on July 30 and 31. The seminar is comprised of one-day and two-day certification courses sanctioned by US Sailing and World Sailing covering a variety of boating topics.

The Yachting Cup would like to thank its sponsors: Sailing Supply/Downwind Marine, Pirates Lair, Ballast Point, SunBum, Helly Hansen, North Sails, North Sails Graphics, SD Boatworks, Tesla Motors, Anchor Gloves, Lemon & Lime, El Jimador, Mount Gay Rum and Efficient Working Bodies.