THE RACING The witching month brought all sorts of diabolical cleverness on the water, be it from winning skippers or Mother Nature. Some of the events contested as the season wound down were YRA's Yankee Cup and Champion of Champions races, an incomparable 30th-anniversary Moore 24 Nationals, the Women Skippers Regatta, and the Ultimate Sail Fest/Sport Boat Invitational, just to name a few. We've also compiled all the Beer Can final results that we could find, along with a nice seasonal potpourri of Race Notes. Yankee Cup and Champion of Champions The winners of the various HDA (Handicap Divisions Association) and ODCA (One Design Classes Association) were decided in September. You can read about the former in Part 1 of our Season Champions coverage elsewhere in this issue. But YRA takes it all one step further with a sort of ‘world series’ for each of those groups in October: the top HDA boats go head to head in the Yankee Cup, while ODCA winners race off (under PHRF) in the Champion of Champions. Both first and second place boats in each fleet are invited to attend, or if they can’t make it, a ‘designated hitter’ can substitute. Traditionally held together as one big regatta with two starts, the Yankee Cup and C of C fleets raced three races on Saturday, October 14, off the Golden Gate YC in mostly sunny skies and light to medium breeze as the day wore on. In the 8-boat Yankee Cup, Henry King’s beautiful dark blue Frers 40 Jeannette tied on points with John Clauser
year ago. The ever gracious King attributes the fine performance to his crew and the many people who helped him get the boat up to speed, with a particular nod to John and Bobbi, “who gave us lots of help, inspiration, and competition.” In the Champion of Champions, Jeff Blowers and his Naked Lady crew bulleted every race to triumph over five other well-sailed ODCA boats to become the kings of the one design hill. Jeff was ‘on a job in Iowa or somewhere’ and not available for comment in the week following the event, but we can tell you he and the 'Lady’s men' had a spirited season racing against Andy Macfie on Hoot — so spirited that we’re still not sure which boat won: the local Olson 30 website says Hoot, while YRA’s scoring gives the nod to Naked Lady. We’ll sort it all out by next month when we feature the ODCA winners in the second part of our Season Champions series. We’ll also answer the question on everyone’s mind after Jeff ‘unveiled’ the spectacular naked lady tattooed on his back at the
Clauser/Bobbi Tosse, 7; 3) Mintaka 4, Farr 38, Gerry Brown, 13. (8 boats) CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS — 1) Naked Lady, Olson 30, Jeff Blowers, 3 points; 2) Stewball, Express 37, Caleb Everett, 6; 3) Vivace, Olson 25, Larry Nelson, 9. (6 boats)
and Bobbi Tosse’s Bodacious, another one tonner (this one a Farr version), but won by virtue of their first place finish in the final race. It capped off a nice year for King and his crew, who went through some growing pains learning to sail the labor-intensive 20-year-old IOR machine in 2005 — including losing the mast a Page 164 •
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• November, 2006
Lady's men — 'Naked Lady's Jeff Blowers (center) shows his 'colors' at the Champion of Champions awards presentation.
awards ceremony. Was the boat named for her, or did she appear after the boat was named? YANKEE CUP — 1) Jeannette, Frers 40, Henry King, 7 points; 2) Bodacious, Farr 40, John
Moore 24 Nationals As incentive, Paramour owner Rowan Fennell and his tactician Will Baylis agreed to trade off driving duties at the 30th annual Moore 24 Nationals, held October 5-8 in Santa Cruz. As extra incentive, they agreed on the 'Yahtzee rule': if you roll a winner, you get to go again. We don’t know if this agreement made the crucial difference with this talented crew, who had won the class PCCs back in