With 6 of the 11 teams being driven by past regatta winners, this years’ event was a difficult regatta to control. Winds on the practice day ended up being twice what we actually sailed in so, as usual, Long Beach delivered a crap-shoot of conditions where consistency and scoring no more than 21 points ended up winning the regatta. Team SDYC was represented by Kris Zillmann, Julie Mitchell, Stacey Szabo, Sandy Vissmann, Lisa-Marie Terhaar, Tiffany Billings, Alexa Cavalieri, Kim Standford, Kym Kapalla, Lois Harrington, and Gigi Mitchell and finished fifth in the event.
Host Alli Bell welcomes SDYC Members and World Sailors John and Debbie Rogers. The Rogers have spent the last seven years cruising their Deerfoot 62’ Moonshadow around the world including Mexico, the Caribbean, South Pacific and Pacific. In 2016, Moonshadow and the Rogers were the finish boat at the 2016 Puerto Vallarta.
John started sailing when he was ten. His father was in the Airforce, they lived in Hawaii and he got hooked quickly before moving back to San Diego. He tells us about his first opportunities to adventure on a boat, meeting Debbie and going through some of life’s steps before getting to sail around the world. John talks about the quick process of buying Moonshadow and taking their first ride a week later. He continues talking about why Moonshadow is a great world sailing boat.