It wasn’t exactly a day of smooth sailing on day two, the final day of San Diego Yacht Club's 2021 Yachting Cup. With misty weather and large, choppy ocean swells, teams used to sailing in champagne San Diego were in for a bit of a challenge, especially compared to yesterday's conditions. It seemed while most boats were up to it, a handful were not able to look past the waves and towards success on the horizon by the final race.
Overall 2021 Yachting Cup winner, J-OK, was one of the boats that embraced the ocean and saw the regatta the whole way through. The crew attributes their success this weekend to working together as a team.
“We put together a good team and we have a good boat,” said J-OK Crew Jim Dorsey. “It’s one hundred percent team work. It was very tough steering conditions today, and Stewart (Cannon) did an excellent job. Between Jim and Stewart, they really worked it,” added Julie Mitchell, the J-OK Tactician.
Three notable teams in this year’s Yachting Cup were J/120 caper, Hobie33 HolyToledo West and Andrew’s 68 Pyewacket, who were able to surpass their competition on the final day and make their way into first place. John Laun’s caper did not give up against Ed Sanford’s Creative in any of today’s races, earning three bullets and putting them ahead by one point.
“It was a fun day with challenging conditions. The boat was set up well for it and we had more breeze, so it was a little quicker. Our boat really likes 15 knots or more,” started Laun. “The first race stood out the most and set the tone for the day. It showed us that our set up was right. In between the first and second race, we switched jibs to match the wind,” he finished.
Roy Disney’s Pyewacket followed suit with caper finishing first in all of today’s races as well, placing them five points above second place Blue Blazes in the PHRF-A class. “We ended up winning all three races today, due to the better breeze. The boat does better in the heavier wind. Staghound was our biggest competition but they had a break down in the second race,” explained Pyewacket Crew Brian Janney.
Disney's other boat, Volvo 70 Pyewacket70, with the same crew, recently set a record time finishing the Cabo Race. The core group has been sailing together since the mid-90s and attributes a lot of their success to that. The Pyewacket team will be back offshore for the Transpac Race this summer.
Finally, Tim Forderer’s HolyToledo West also climbed the ladder on the score sheet finishing day one with a 5, 3, 3 and finishing day two with all bullets.
“We were able to figure out how to keep the boat moving in the big, sloppy waves. We were sailing against some really strong upwind boats with really good sailors, so we had to figure out how to keep our boat moving. We had some new crew on board including one of the Yacht Club junior sailors and the Southwestern Yacht Club head coach. Everybody really wanted to win, including Audrey Fulk who raced today with a sprained ankle,” said Forderer.
Several boats on both the near and far ocean courses, including about half of the Beneteau 36.7s, PHRF-C class, and J/105s, made their way back to shore after race five due to the rough sea state and/or gear failure.
PRO Summer Greene explains, “We were averaging about 15 knots the whole day, but the sea state was really bad and made it hard on all the teams. There were a lot of kite catastrophes and messy mark roundings. We were still able to get in three races. About a third of the boats dropped out before the last race, but the lead boats were still there, their boat handling was a bit better, and we thought it was important to get that last race in for them.”
Final First in Class Results:
• B40.7 Mark Stratton’s Lugano
• B36.7 Chick Pyle’s Kea
• J/105 Stewart Cannon’s J-OK
• PHRF-A Roy Disney’s Pyewacket
• PHRF-B Mick Schlens’ Blade 2
• PHRF-C John Laun’s caper
• PHRF-D Tim Forderer’s HolyToledo West
• ORC Ed Sanford’s Creative
Due to State and County protocols, there was no formal award ceremony. After the racing, awards were announced and competitors were invited to pick them up at their convenience.
"Congratulations to all of our first place finishers. San Diego Yacht Club is proud this year to be able to host our premier regatta of the season: Yachting Cup. A special thanks goes out to the Race Committee for all of their hard work, especially on rough days like today. It feels good, during these crazy times, to be back on the water sailing and being able to participate in something that feels fairly normal. We hope everyone will be return for the 2022 Yachting Cup so we can continue to grow this event into something bigger and better,” concluded Chair Patrick Murray.