St. Francis Invitational Race

Saturday, May 12, 2012 -
Sunday, May 13, 2012
St. Francis Yacht Club

Team SDYC

Boat 1 Boat 2 Boat 3
Tyler Sinks Adam Roberts Brian Haines
Director John Reiter Phil Dias Rear Comm Chuck Sinks
Parker Mitchell Frank Tybor Austin Dias
  Eric Heim Rex Cameron

Results:

  1. St. Francis Yacht Club Red
  2. San Diego Yacht Club
  3. Seattle Yacht Club
  4. St. Francis Yacht Club Blue
  5. Newport Harbor Yacht Club

Team Rosters

On the weekend of May 12th - 13th Team SDYC made the trip up the coast to compete in a two-day team race invitational hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club. The regatta was invite-only and SDYC was fortunate enough to join the likes of St. Francis, Newport Harbor, and the Seattle Yacht Club. This was the first time that most of our team had ever team-raced so it was a great opportunity for some of the guys to learn from the college team racing gurus.

On the team we had 11 of San Diego’s best and brightest sailors including Rear Commodore Chuck Sinks, Director John Reiter and a seasoned keel boating veteran, Phil Dias. Joining them was Brian Haines, Adam Roberts, Rex Cameron, Eric Heim, Parker Mitchell, Frank Tybor and Austin Dias. We had a star studded crew and the mix of young talent and experienced big boat sailors made for a lot of great learning opportunities. Aside from some boat handling blunders in the early going, Team SDYC finished the first day of racing in fourth place overall with a lot of room for improvement. On Sunday the team showed up ready to rock; after racking up some early wins in the third round robin we positioned ourselves to qualify for the final four knock out round. In the final four we came in as the fourth seed facing Seattle Yacht Club who dominated the round robins and held onto the first overall seed. After three hard fought races we were able to eliminate Seattle in a best of three series allowing us to advance to the finals to face St. Francis Yacht Club.

In the finals we dropped the first race to St. Francis after having a tough time getting off the starting line. In the elimination race we were able to bounce back and pulled off a win to tie the series at one win apiece. In the final race we got off the line with speed and executed our teams strategy getting out ahead and staying ahead. On the final beat to the finish the wind lightened up and the current began to flood at around 3 knots. With conditions quickly changing we had a tough time balancing the fleet and we soon found ourselves in a 2,3,6 (a losing combination in team racing). Going into the finish we were neck and neck with St. Francis and with a photo finish to capture the win, we came up just short, losing to St. Francis and finishing the regatta second place overall.

Looking back on the weekend, everyone on the team was very excited about our team potential. Having little to no keelboat team racing experience we were very happy with our second place finish. Looking ahead to the Morgan Cup in Newport Rhode Island in August, Team SDYC is positioned to have another strong finish. Thank you Competition Fund for your support and resources, this regatta would not have been possible without you!