Last December we attended the 2020 Orange Bowl and Open Orange Bowl regattas in Miami, Florida. Our family drove across the country towing a 29er and two lasers. The drive east was pretty uneventful, but we would get our share of excitement on the way back to San Diego! We arrived in Key Biscayne Thursday afternoon and unloaded our boats. The next day was spent at our hotel doing online school, our last day of school before winter break. 

For the regatta, Calvin raced his laser, Alice and Sammie Gardner sailed a 29er, and Anton raced in an Opti.

US Sailing and host yacht clubs at spectacular sailing venues in Florida and California are thrilled to launch a new domestic racing and training series of Olympic-class regattas in 2021.

Your local Junior Directors are eager to get everyone safely racing as soon as possible, so we've created the 2021 SDAYC Winter Circuit to offer the most reliable local racing schedule possible for Sabots, Open Skiffs, Lasers, and C420s. Better yet, this enabled us to tune Team SDYC's Early Winter/Afterschool training opportunities to complement this regatta schedule, for minimum hassles and maximum sailing and progress! With events like the 2021 Junior Sabot Nationals and othe summer championships on deck, let's get busy on the water! Current SDAYC Jr Winter Circuit Results

Hello Sailors, Parents, and Coaches,

On behalf of our Junior Board of Directors, I’d like to thank each of you for participating in the 2020 Junior Invitational Regatta; and congratulate all of Team SDYC on executing and performing very well at what was certainly a challenging event on the water!

Over 80 single-handed boats sailed in the San Diego Olympic Classes Regatta (SDOCR) this weekend at the San Diego Yacht Club, a regatta that for most was the first opportunity to compete in months. Lasers, Laser Radials, and Finns made way to two separate ocean courses where they “socially distance” sailed in boat lengths for seven races. In an effort to provide sailors with a venue for them to compete in international, high-level classes, the SDOCR was home for sailors of all ages and experience levels.

In the Laser fleet, Ford McCann took first with 7 points, Marshall McCann took second with 10 points, and Paul Didham took third with 19 points. 

In the Finn fleet, legend Finn-sailor Henry Sprague took first with 7 points, Michael Dorgan finished second with 11 points, and Scott Griffiths followed in third with 22 points. 

In the Laser Radial fleet, Nathan Sih won first with 10 points, followed by Morgan Pinckney in second with 14 points and Santiago Quiroga in third with 22 points. 

2019’s Christmas Orange Bowl Youth Regatta, at the Coral Reef Yacht Club in Florida, was a 3-and-a-half-day event.  We both competed in Blue Fleet, after two days of practicing with the local clinic.  It was a different experience than what we are generally used to in sailing sabots, yet the water was certainly much warmer!  One day at the clinic, under the guise of our wonderful instructor Spencer was a sight to see. A flash flood had hit, and the entire Yacht Club was flooded in a foot of water--up to the bottom of the car doors, but in typical Florida fashion the CRYC had dried everything out by the afternoon. During the regatta, we had a very rough time due to the larger waves and stronger wind you don’t usually encounter as much in sabots in California. The wind would also shift regularly on the course - adding to our troubles. The course was a mile or more offshore, which we were not expecting. Overall, however, we both progressed as time moved on. We were a bit disappointed that we missed a couple of races - we were challenged by different racing conditions - but we did not let that ruin our regatta. It was both of our first times racing optimists - while we didn’t perform to our expectations in the event, we feel it was an incredible experience that completely transformed our view on sailing as a sport and also on competitive racing. 

The 2019 Orange Bowl Regatta hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club was a great event and a fun learning experience. I competed in this event with my crew and fellow SDYC junior sailor, Sara Parker. We flew out to this event on Christmas day connecting through Dallas on our way to Miami, Florida. We got to the event and met up with our coach and worked on our charter boat and got to sorting out our settings. We headed out to practice and were greeted by 12-15 Kts of breeze. This was my first time sailing on Biscayne Bay and it is very different to sailing in Southern California, it is a very open venue with Key Biscayne on the top edge of the course and is windier than here. We sailed in a typical easterly breeze the whole event.

Without a long wind delay this morning, all three classes were able to get some racing in 9 knots that built to about 15-16 knots by mid-afternoon. After four races in the 49erFX and Nacra classes, Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) and Anna Tobias are leading the 49erFX fleet, and Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) are in third in the Nacra 17 fleet.