Club News


Larger SDYC Fleet for the 2017 Finn Pacific Coast Championship

By Emily Willhoft | September 08, 2017
Finn PCCs Website

San Diego Yacht Club will host the 2017 Finn Pacific Coast Championship (PCC) for the fourth consecutive year on September 16 & 17. The event chair and SDYC’s Vice Commodore, Mike Dorgan, is expecting upwards of 20 competitors from Southern California to race over the weekend.

The SDYC Finn fleet has grown from 3 to 12 sailors over the past year. A major attraction of the Finn fleet that has helped fuel this growth is the need for a single-handed, easy-to-sail race boat without the stress of acquiring crew for races. Plus, the Finn boats are more closely matched and racing is quite literally man vs. man.

This year’s Pacific Coast Championships promises some friendly competition, especially within the SDYC Board of Directors, as Vice Commodore Dorgan and Commodore Reiter will be among the racers duking it out on the waters.

Other notable entries for 2017 include Finn Gold Cup Champion, Henry Sprague. Sprague, who has been sailing Finns for over 50 years, is the 2016 Finn PCC defending champion. Also on the registration list is Rob Coutts. Coutts is a professional Finn coach who has been sailing and coaching Finns for over 40 years.  One of his major achievements was coaching his younger brother and America’s Cup star, Sir Russell Coutts, to the Finn gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Gregg Morton will also race the Finn PCCs, back in the Finn after being Brian Ledbetter’s Finn training partner for years, helping Ledbetter to win the silver medal also in the 1984 Olympic Games. Morton has since bought his own Finn and has competed in several Finn regattas, commenting on how much fun he is having racing a Finn again.

The 19 Finns registered at this time will race the PCCs in Coronado Roads on both Saturday and Sunday. The Finn sailors will enjoy a wonderful dinner in the Frost Room on Saturday night prepared by Chef Darren. Additional dinner tickets will be available for guests who would like to join the Finn fleet and/or learn more about the class. There will be an awards ceremony on Sunday upon the conclusion of racing.