THE RACING Anna Brun, 20, and Parker Shinn, 19, from San Diego; and Piet van Os, 22, La Jolla. Speaking of TransPac, last month the Transpacific Yacht Club Board of Directors set new size limits: hull length not greater than 30 meters (96.65 feet), and a maximum rating equal to the speed of a canting keel maxZ86 on the Transpac course — specifically, Pyewacket's configuration when it sailed in the 2004 Newport to Bermuda Race when it was first to finish. If all this seems as clear as mud, apparently that's at least partly the point. "If it were made public, a competitor might find a loophole for an advantage," notes an article in Scuttlebutt. Find the rest of it here: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/transpac. The Optimists were out in force in late June — both the little prams by that name, and the dedicated coaches and parents helping instill a love of sailboat racing in the next generation. The event was the Harken Optimist Challenge Series, sailed on June 25 in front of the hosting St. Francis YC. Most of the 30some young sailors were locals, but a few came from as far away as Vancouver.
Opti sailors come in several age and experience groups, denoted in the HOC by colors: Green Fleet for beginners of any age; White Fleet — 10 and younger; Blue Fleet — 11-12; Red Fleet — 13-15. StFYC Race Director John Craig caught onto the program right away, sending the Green and White Fleets out for 9:30 starts on both Saturday and Sunday. Their races concluded about lunchtime, so they'd head back to the docks while the Blue and Red Fleets sailed out for the 'Heavy Weather Classic' part of the program. (Face it, anything past about 10 knots is heavy weather in an Opti, but most of these kids are pretty hard core and did fine in the sloppy stuff.) The addition of a wing mark right in front of the club provided ringside seats and commentary for both the younger kids and a few older ones at the Men's Grill. Notable performances in the sevenrace, one-throwout series included a spirited battle between San Francisco YC's Will Cefali and Jack Barton in the 8-boat White Fleet, who took it down to the wire with Cefali finally prevailing; and young Cameron Ho (of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club), who absolutely
SCHOONMAKER POINT MARINA
pulverized the nine-boat Green Fleet with six straight bullets and a throwout second in the last race. The other winners were Greg Dair (Opti Red — 7 boats) and James Moody (Opti Blue — 8 boats). Act 12, the last qualification regatta for the 32nd America's Cup, ended in late June. Continuing their amazing 'comeback streak', Emirates Team New Zealand hung on to their top position, winning both the final Act of 2006 and a series-high points total of 125, just two more than BMW Oracle Racing, with whom the Kiwis have been trading wins back and forth since the 'counting' Acts started a year ago. (Acts 1-3 were not counters.) By virtue of these fine performances, these syndicates will carry bonus points (4 for Emirates, 3 for BOR) into Act 13 — heretofore known as the 'official' Louis Vuitton Challenger Trials, which begin next April off Valencia. Even the poorest performing of the 11 teams — United Internet Team Germany and China Team in this case (both sailing older boats) — carry a point forward. Plus all teams have 10 months to build new boats and maximize their performance. All in all, we'd have to say the 'Acts'
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• August, 2006