The only international team at the 2019 International Masters Regatta (IMR) is heading back north with the win after three days of tough, competitive racing. Andy Roy and his Canadian team grabbed the lead after the first day of the regatta and wouldn’t budge for the remainder of the weekend. The win, Roy attests, is due to clean starts and even better crew work.
“It was all Andy!” the team cheered on their way back up the Bay after the win.
“We didn’t start off the day great, but we got our act together just in time and had a great third race. We knew it was time for a good start. We just had to pull it off and get off the line. We had an opportunity to get underneath out biggest competitor [Chuck Sinks] at the start line and forced them to go up high,” Roy explained.
The IMR saw three beautiful, windy days of sailing in breezes up to 13 knots each day. By the last race, the South Bay course had white caps and extra chop. Andy Roy finished in first place overall with 41 points, followed by Scott Harris in second with 47 points and Chuck Sinks in third with 49 points.
In race nine, the first race of the day, the win went to Gary Jobson, who battled his way back up the score sheet through the day, ending in fifth place. In race 10, Harris proved his master status with the bullet and a solid lead on the rest of the fleet. “We started a little slow at the beginning of the weekend, and then we just got better,” Harris said laughing. “We brought Jon Pinckney on board who sailed in the regatta last year, and learned a lot from him over the course of the weekend. One of which was to play the backstay more."
Harris will be back at the San Diego Yacht Club next weekend for the 105th Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup where he will be sailing with his son. “We’ll go for first this time,” joked Harris.
In the final race, race 11, Roy and his crew got back into the game. After a fifth and an eighth in the first two races, Roy was only one point ahead of Sinks going into the final race. It all came down the start. The team got under Sinks and was able to control their fate for the rest of the race, sealing their regatta win.
Roy and his fellow Canadian sailors are headed back up to Canada tomorrow [Monday] morning, where they’ll be retiring the boat for the winter and breaking out the skis for the season.
After the races, the skippers and their crews gathered on the Front Deck of the San Diego Yacht Club where they were presented with their awards. The teams enjoyed dock-side cocktails and ended the weekend with good camaraderie. The 2019 International Masters Regatta was an unpredictable, highly competitive regatta between experienced sailors over the age of 60. Many of the men and women sailing this weekend have national, world, and Olympic titles paired with their names. During the IMR, these sailors get to rejoin old friends, teammates and competitors for three days of sailing in the beauty that is South San Diego Bay.