News - San Diego Yacht Club

Announcement

Team SDYC at the LEMWOD Regatta

Thursday, November 28, 2024

The SDYC Vixens thank you for your support of our participation in the 2024 Linda Elias Memorial Women’s One Design (LEMWOD) regatta hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and held in the Catalina 37s. This regatta is one that has often posed challenges for SDYC, for one reason or another. As you know, last year, we put a team together at the absolute last minute, had two people drop out for medical and personal reasons, were not able to get together and practice, and did not have a tactician or receive any coaching. Needless to say, and as you know, our results proved the adage that preparation prevents poor performance, and we did not do well at the regatta. Although our on the water performance wasn’t great, we had a few outcomes that were more important than winning: Our team came off the water as a cohesive unit and determined to do better in 2024. Multiple women on our team became regular racers, competing in all different types of boats throughout the year. SDYC gained a new member in Heather Furey.
When the time came to see who wanted to sail again in 2024, most of the team was eager to return (all but two were able to race) and avenge our previous year’s result. The team consisted of (in alphabetical order): Erika Barth (trim), Alli Bell (helm), Lauren Bell (tactics), Mary Grace Card (bow assist and squirrel), Heather Furey (main), Marnie Jenkins (mast), Lindsey Kloc (trim), Traci Miller (trim), Joanne O’Dea (pit), Donica Ryder (bow), Kim Stanford (trim), and Grace Yakutis (pit assist).
We agreed that we would need multiple days of practice and arranged for two days on the Catalina 37s in Long Beach. Happily, we were also able to secure two days of coaching. Our first practice day in September Jackson Benvenutti helped us with our crew work and boat handling. We were able to line up with another boat and were happy that some of our challenges from the year before seemed to have been minimized. Our second practice day was the following week and, since a few of our teammates couldn’t make it, we brought along a couple of extras. One, Grace Yakutis, proved such a good fit for the team that we asked her to join us for the race weekend as we only had 11 and were allowed 12 (and we have continued the trend of finding new members in our LEMWOD crews).
In the weeks following our two practice days, most of the team was in Catalina for SDYC’s Vixen Cruise and some bonding time. Two of the boats, Blond Fury and Restless, moved from Catalina to the long dock at LBYC to serve as the dormitory for the team.
Friday, October 11 was the official practice day for the regatta. Brian Janney joined us to help iron out any last details in our boat handling. We docked out in the fog and headed to the racecourse. We moved through some tacks, hoists, jibes, and douses. PRO Becky Ashburn ran several practice starts, and we worked out our timing, close-quarters boat handling, and pre-start communication and routine. By the end of the practice day, we were feeling ready for the next two days. That night, we were hosted by Alli’s uncle and aunt, Sam and Dana Bell, for hot dogs, a boat ride in the canal, and a pie custom-made for us.
Saturday morning, we met at the boat ahead of the Competitors Meeting ready to go. There were four races scheduled for the first day. Our first race, we didn’t get a great start and wound up on the starboard layline early, so had several boats tack on us. Fortunately, we were able to catch a few boats on our first run. We wound up seventh in the first race. In the second race, we were very late to the start. Thanks to great crew work and pretty amazing downwind speed, we were able to climb back to fifth. Between races, the chatter on deck was that with the pattern going the way it was, we were due a third, which quickly became: “Never mind third. Let’s win.” And we did with a commanding lead. Following that race, our spirits were high. The downside to winning a race is that a target appears on your back and, after some fairly aggressive pre-start maneuvering, we were pushed OCS and called as such along with one other boat. It’s not fun pointing the opposite way from the rest of the fleet at the start, particularly in these boats and light air. We were not going to be kept down, though, and even though we were far behind the fleet after clearing ourselves, ended up in eighth. The competition was tight, and fortunately even with our two deeper finishes, were in tied for fifth after the first day of racing just 10 points out of first.
LBYC hosted an incredible dinner that evening. SDYC showed up in style, wearing matching dresses and definitely won the party, helping teach our competitors some new dance moves along the way.
The next morning, the fleet headed out into the fog to wait for the inevitable postponement while the course cleared and wind showed up. Although a competitive fleet, the LEMWOD ladies are a community first and this was one of the most fun postponements we have ever been a part of. Several teams shared snacks, jokes abounded, and there was a dance off between boats.
Eventually, the wind filled in and the SDYC Vixens meant business. We learned from our starts from the day before and nailed our first start. As they say, if you win the start, the race is yours and we won the first race with no problem. The second race we sailed well and got a second. We turned the radio off for the announcement of the standings, but knew we were well in the hunt (in fact, we were just three points out of first). The target that had started to form the day before was bigger and brighter now and the fleet did everything they could to keep us from getting to the line according to our own plan. We got a mediocre start and spent the first beat trying to keep in clear air. On our final approach to the first layline, it was clear that three or four boats we crossed behind had under-stood the mark, so we kept going a few more boat lengths with a plan to go around those that would end up parked up at the mark. The situation played out as we predicted except that one of the boats, instead of taking advantage of any other option, tacked right into us and made contact. Fortunately, nobody on either boat was hurt although our boat had sustained damage. We were penalized and had to spin a circle. Despite our best efforts, we were also hit with a scoring penalty for failure to keep clear. Suffice it to say, we did not (and still do not) agree with the call made on the water nor the call that it was our boat that failed to keep clear. Our indignation was fueled by the many other observers who were confused as to why we got penalized on the water AND hit with a scoring penalty. However, sometimes, especially in umpired fleet racing, you get a favorable call and sometimes you do not. In this case, we did not.
Overall, the regatta was a great experience, and the team is already plotting the path toward 2025. We sailed well, overcame some adversity, and are looking forward to getting back out there.

HTML Generator

Sub Navigation

Announcement

Team SDYC at the LEMWOD Regatta

We use Cookies

HTML Generator

Sub Navigation

Announcement

Team SDYC at the LEMWOD Regatta