(San Diego, CA)- This year marks the 41st year of San Diego Yacht
Club's (SDYC) signature regatta, the Yachting Cup. This premiere regatta
brings together competitive fleet and one-design racing at multiple
venues in San Diego. Responding en-masse with nearly 56% of the overall
fleet of 84 boats, the Yachting Cup saw an armada of J sailing teams
participating in the event, including 47 J's spread across PHRF &
one-design fleets of J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, J/109s and J/120s.The typically sleepy sailing conditions of San Diego got hit by a "tequila storm", with 20+ knots on Saturday with a Low spinning off Mexico kicking up huge waves and southerly breezes preceding the Cinco de Mayo party that night. Amid stories of torn sails and broken boats, there were 83 boats competing in 10 PHRF and One Design classes.
For their debut in the Yachting Cup, the half-dozen J/70s certainly served up some excellent racing in the windy Saturday conditions with huge waves and massive, almost epic planes/ surfs down the big Pacific rollers. It was close racing with the top four boats all finishing within 7 pts of each other. The Kownacki/ Jenkins team on DFZ sailed the most consistently, with four 2nds counting towards their total of 12 pts to take the J/70 crown. Karl Pomeroy's ZERO TO SIXTY (does that mean "zero to hero" in sixty seconds?) sailed some great races (including three 1sts) but couldn't maintain that "fast & furious" pace, settling for second place overall with 14 pts. Third was Scott Grealish's SPLASH with 18 pts. Craig Tallmans' new JAYA was 4th, only one pt back! And, taking the fifth spot was Kenyon Martin's CHEETAH CUB. Amazingly, four boats won races in the pack of half-dozen boats, a great start for the San Diego J/70 fleet!
Sailing Photo Credits- Bob Betancourt & Bronny Daniels For more Yachting Cup sailing information
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