Over the weekend of January 10-11th, sailors from all over California arrived to San Diego for the first stop in the California Dreaming Match Race Tour. The tour is a set of 3 regattas, the first being at SDYC, the second at Long Beach Yacht Club on February 28th-March 1st, and the final at St. Francis Yacht Club on March 21st-22nd.
On the Thursday and Friday prior to the first stop here at SDYC, renowned Match Racer and “rules-guru” Dave Perry ran a clinic for most of the sailors who would sail the regatta. The Clinic featured two days of morning lectures and video covering Match Race strategy and tactics. Following this, we would rig up and get towed out in an attempt to do some drills, but unfortunately there was very little breeze. We ended up spending most of the two day clinic floating while waiting for wind. After we came back to the dock we reviewed what little video of the drills Dave had filmed from the day, and watched some videos from The World Match Race Tour.
Even though the forecast for the regatta did not look good, all the teams arrived Saturday morning to SDYC and hoped for the best. Sailing the regatta we had Shane Young and Dustin Durant, each skippering a team from Long Beach Yacht Club, Shala Youngerman and myself from SDYC, Liz Baylis from SFYC, and Nicole Breault, Russ Silvestri and Antoine Screve who each had a team from St. Francis YC. After a morning briefing, we all rigged up the J22’s and were towed down the bay arriving alongside The Star of India, where Race Committee anchored and waited for breeze. After a while, Race Committee decided to move the race area to the channel adjacent to the Coronado Bridge and we were able get two flights of races off. Unfortunately the breeze shut down, and Race Committee decided to tow us to Coronado YC and we would keep the J22’s at their docks overnight.
Horrible weather of fog, light rain, and heavy clouds greeted the sailors Sunday morning. Meeting at SDYC, we all rode on the umpire boats and Race Committee boats down to Coronado YC and it was there that we waited for the breeze to fill. While we waited in the warm and cozy bar area of Coronado Yacht Club, we shared stories amongst ourselves of recent holiday festivities and travels, and watched the Green Bay Packers vs. Dallas Cowboys Football Game. Around noon, Race Committee decided to cast off the dock and try to get some races off. So the umpire boats, mark sets boats, and Race Committee towed us out to the vicinity of The Star on India. When we arrived, it did not look promising. So us sailors agreed to cancel racing for the day and we all got towed back to SDYC. It was there we cleaned up, enjoyed some beers, and watched more football.
Overall, the light rain on Sunday and and light wind on Saturday made for a memorable first stop in the California Dreaming Match Race Tour. A big Thank You goes out to Dave Perry for running the Clinic, The J22 Committee at SDYC, PRO Summer Greene, Karen Butler, Ian Trotter, and Kris Zillman. Also, a big Thank You to Coronado Yacht Club who graciously hosted all us wet sailors and umpires at their club Sunday morning while we waited for the sky to clear and the breeze to fill.