Each January, the turn of the new year marks the month when you can finally break out your planners, call your racing buddies, and mark your vacation days for Southern California’s much-anticipated, offshore racing season. Kicking off the season in 2023 once again is the Islands Race, co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and Newport Harbor Yacht Club. On February 24, over 30 boats are expected to race, departing from Long Beach Harbor and making their way around Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands before finishing in Point Loma. The total course measures approximately 142nm. What better way to spend a weekend in February than with a view of the Pacific for miles, a chilled ocean breeze, and well-earned bragging rights at the finish line?
Members Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer and Julie Mitchell represented the US and SDYC at the Women's Match Racing World Championship in New Zealand in November. The event was hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the current home of the America’s Cup. The team consisted of Nicole Breault – skipper, Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer – tactician, Dana Riley – spinnaker trim, Karen Loutzenheiser – jib trim, and Julie Mitchell – bow.
The winner of the coveted perpetual “Shovel” award this year went to Team Annie (SDYC)! For those in the dark (I was), this is presented at the banquet on Saturday eve as a precursor to who will own it on Sunday after all races are finished. The was I see it now, win it all, or lose it all if you want to be remembered. Anyone in-between first and last will be lost in the shuffle.
The Resolute Cup is widely considered the most competitive amateur regatta in the country. The regatta features 24 of the country's best yacht clubs, sailing short course races in regatta provided and equalized Sonars and RS21’s. The Resolute Cup is held every other year by the New York Yacht Club with racing taking place on Narragansett Bay, RI.
It was great to get back out east for the 2022 Morgan Cup Hosted by New York Yacht Club. Newport Rhode Island in mid-August is second to none for great sailing, weather, and hospitality. This years Morgan Cup Team was the youngest team SDYC has assembled in recent memory. As a 6-year Morgan Cup Veteran, a large focus of mine was getting the new team up to speed and comfortable with keel boat team racing ahead of the event.
The Youth World Championship is an incredible and unique event that only 4 US 29er sailors get to participate in each year. Through a series of qualifier events, the top mens and womens sailors in different classes age 18 or younger get to travel to represent their country. After years of training together, Sammie Gardner and I qualified with fellow SDYC sailors Ian and Noah Nyenhuis to attend the 2022 Youth World Championship in The Hague, the Netherlands. Here, all sailors stayed together in small 2 bedroom houses spread out across a large campground where each sailor was given a bicycle. From there we would make the daily 4+ mile commute to the venue. Although the sand dunes made the ride anything but flat, the beautiful view of the ocean surrounded by wildflowers made it more enjoyable. During the opening ceremony, 250 sailors from 50 countries took to their bikes for a 15 minute long “parade” of the city.
Recently, Noah and I competed in the 29er Open World Championships in El Balis, Spain. It was the biggest World Championships that the class had ever had with almost 250 teams competing from 26 countries. The racing was held on three different course areas about 30 minutes up the coast from Barcelona.
Thank you so much for supporting me to compete in the ILCA 6 US National Championships in Brant Beach, New Jersey and ILCA 6 Youth World Championship in Houston, Texas. I really liked competing in these regattas. Competing against such amazing sailors really helped me improve. I enjoyed starting on extremely crowded starting lines because it helped me improve my boat handling. Speed testing with so many fantastic sailors helped make me faster. I was also happy because I was able to spend time with my friends. Although my performance at both of these regattas was not what I had hoped, I am happy that I was able to compete. Thank you for your support. I look forward to competing in more regattas representing SDYC.
In July, we got the chance to travel to The Hague in the Netherlands to represent the US for a second time at the Youth World Sailing Champoionships. We had hoped that this event would have a predominantly strong breeze that is typical in the area but, in typical regatta fashion, once we arrived on site, the conditions changed to something out of the norm. Throughout the regatta, only one day was raced in wind in the teens. This was also our first time racing in strong current, up to 2 knots at some points. This added a lot of new elements to the racing that we have never had to deal with to such a large extent.