Orca Bowl dates back to the mid 80s when Bill Munster, one of the original San Diego Etchells Fleet members and some would say, “Killer Whale” created the Orca Bowl as one of the most competitive events on the West Coast for the Etchells schedule. This year was not unlike other years with a nice turn out of boats and plenty of tight racing. The culmination in the 2022 West Coast Spring Series, the Orca bowl had it all on the line with essentially a 3 way tie for the WCSS with US 1481-Team Louise, skippered by Tom Carruthers leading by one point over US 1411-Team Elizabeth skippered by Chris Busch and 1404-Team Lifted, skippered by Jim Cunningham another point back but not competing in the final event. 1411’s only chance of winning the WCSS was to win the ORCA Bowl so it was all on for a final weekend battle.
Sailed in 7-10 knots of sea breeze on Saturday under the watchful eye of PRO, Bruce Golison, the race course for the first 2 races featured a pin favored start but the need to go right with better current and pressure there. 1411 was down at the pin for both of those races and was able to extend enough to cross the fleet and lock in a first in those races. 1481 had 2,4 and newcomer Scott Harris, sailing 1092, was having a good start to his Etchells career with a 3,5. The third race on Saturday featured lighter breeze and very little pressure on the left. 1481’s pin end start allowed them to tack and cross the fleet to get to the right for a win. US 1452 - Argyle Campbell, fresh from the US Nationals in Miami was 2nd. Unfortunately for 1411, they were OCS but were able to get back to 7th so ended up 2 points behind 1481 going into Sunday with 1452 in 3rd.
3 races were schedule for Sunday but a light eddy was in the forecast so most likely we would only see 2 races in tricky conditions. In talking to Carruthers, their strategy for the final 2 races was if they got in front of 1411, they would try to push them back and add a few more point to their score. Race 4 on Sunday, gave 1481 the jump and there was a tight cover applied to 1411 but in the end, they finished 1,2 with 1092 in 3rd and Marc McMorris in US 1492 taking 4th.
Pressure built for race 5 but a big shift to the right delayed the start and the breeze receded so by the time Golison got the course set, it was looking like this would be the final race. A drop would factor in after 5 races and with a 1481 holding a 3 point lead over 1411 and a big gap to third, it was all about giving 1411 a drop on the last race. Race 5 was another WLWL course but in 5-7 knots of breeze. 1481 got a nice mid – line start with 1411 about 4 boats to leeward but in bad air with a boat over the line in front of them, not ideal for their final race of the series. Tactician, Bill Hardesty used his well-honed match racing skills to push 1411 off the race course and into last place with 1481 in second to last. Both boats passed boats the on the first run and a split at the leeward mark allowed 1411 to get to the right and ahead of 1481. 2 more lead changes occurred on the final run with a tight finish but with both boats sailing their drop and no more races to be run, the regatta and the series went to 1481. Congrats to McMorris, Hartwell Jordan and Ryan Treais on 1492 for winning the final race in tricky conditions and locking up third place in the Orca Bowl .
Tom Carruthers with Bill Hardesty and Jeff Reynolds sailed an impressive series winning 3 of the 4 regattas while Chris Busch, sailing with Ben Mitchell and Patrick Powell has all 2nd’s to lock up 2nd in the Orca Bowl and 2nd in the WCSS. Congratulations to Team Lifted – Jim Cunningham, Steve Hunt, Serena Village and Erik Shampain on their 3rd place in the WCSS overall.
Top Corinthian team in the Orca Bowl went to Will LaDow on US 985 with help from Andy LaDow, Scott Sinks and SDYC JR rockstar, Kousei Hatter.
Finishing out the Corinthian results for Orca Bowl was Summer Greene and Kris Zillmann co-helming US 909 with George Baird as crew and 3rd Place, Ian Trotter on US 1313 with Nicholas Ratinaud and Bill Wade, crewing. The final WCSS Corinthian results had US 985 in first, US 909 in 2nd, and Xavier Sheid with John Rudderham, Brian Collick, Jamie Hardenbergh and Chris Smith on US 1234 in third.