THE RACING The America's schooner Cup leads off, then we ask Who's Your (Big) Daddy. The sss Rounds a Box-o-Rocks, BYC's Wheeler Regatta kicks off the YRA summer series, an Oregon Man Wins the Camellia Cup, and the OYRA Lights it up. Box scores includes some final Midwinters results and more.
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• May, 2021
win in a course-record elapsed time. Although the shoreside fundraising efforts during the Schooner Cup were largely curtailed by COVID protocols, Silver Gate YC was able to make a generous donation to the Navy/Marine Corps Relief Society. — jerry newton AMERICA'S SCHOONER CUP, 3/27 CLASS A — 1) America, 139-ft LOA replica, 1995, Troy Sears; 2) Skookum III, 72-ft LOA Crocker, 1935, Perc Jones. (2 boats) CLASS B — 1) Witchcraft, 42-ft LOA Roue, 1994, Brian Eichenlaub; 2) Pegasus, 50-ft LOA Hand, 1946, John Fay; 3) Lively, 36-ft LOA Field, 1976, Brian Mayhugh. (3 boats) CLASS C — 1) Maid of Kent, 36-ft Atkins, 1962, Jerry Newton; 2) Bill of Rights, 136-ft McCurdy & Rhodes, 1971, Don Johnson. (3 boats) INTERGALACTIC SCHOONERS — 1) Poco Loco, Paul Mitchell. (3 boats) More info at www.americasschoonercup.com
Who's Your (Big) Daddy? Each year, Richmond YC hosts one of the most popular regattas of the spring racing season, the Big Daddy Regatta. Typically, it consists of three buoy races on three different courses on Saturday, followed by a pursuit race around Alcatraz and Angel Island on Sunday.
The 1979-vintage trio of 10-ft Intergalactic Schooners: (l-r) 'Pacifier', 'Lime an de Coconut' and 'Poco Loco'.
DALE FROST
America's Schooner Cup The 32nd America's Schooner Cup Charity Regatta was sailed on March 27 in San Diego, with winds to about 18 knots outside Point Loma. Eleven mostly local schooners participated in four classes as Silver Gate Yacht Club began to open up to outside group activities. To add excitement to the America's Schooner Cup, the course shared the same water as the start line of the PHRF Cabrillo Race IV. The sight of the 140ft schooner Bill of Rights scattering the confused PHRF racers was memorable. This year's Schooner Cup also featured the first fleet race in more than 30 years of the Intergalactic Schooner Class. The 13 identical 10-ft schooners were designed and built by Paul Mitchell and Sail Services on Shelter Island in 1979. The fleet was seen racing from San Diego Bay to Ventura in the 1980s. They are now dispersed, spread all over the world as tenders to cruising yachts. Two IG10s were recently found on Lake Arrowhead and brought to San Diego to challenge Pacifier. The winds were a bit gusty for the little schooners, and two of three boats had to retire from the race. Poco Loco, sailed by Paul Mitchell and Chris Frost, was the only IG10 to finish, by dousing the gollywobbler and sailing under main and jib only. Class C featured Bill of Rights, celebrating the 50th anniversary of her launching from the Gamage Shipyard in Maine. The normal contingent of about 50 students has been missing from her decks since the start of the pandemic, but they are expected to return this summer. She carried some of the original shipwrights and early crew from Maine as honored guests. Two new San Diego schooners, Age of Grace and Pegasus, joined the race for the first time this year. We were also fortunate to see Lively from Newport Beach making the trip south for the event. The two dominant schooners from Classes A and B in these breezy conditions were America and Witchcraft. The America was carrying passengers during the race and offered the best public viewing of the event. America's 94-ft waterline was key to her decisive Schooner Cup
This year, regatta chair Fred Paxton was able to pull off a fine feat to have a regatta at all. Saturday, March 20, featured the pursuit part of the regatta: Start off Southampton Shoal, and sail either clockwise or counterclockwise around the two islands branded with the Scarlet Letter. The wind velocity was not quite as strong as the ebb current in the starting area, and skippers scrambled with anchors, outboards and towlines from other vessels. Several competitors were swept over the line early and figured their chances of being able to clear back over the line were slim and none, and Slim had just left town. Rather than get disgruntled, they simply set sail and the race was on. To be clear, in this pursuit-style race the handicaps are applied before the race begins, so if everyone sailed just right the entire fleet would finish at the same time. (That theory also assumes the handicapping system is flawless.) For a number of reasons, that didn't happen. Interestingly, the first- and second-place boats transited the course in opposite directions. Even more interestingly, several top finishers were coming from both directions at once at the finish. Before all that some boats started for Raccoon Strait soon after the start, then got cold paws and headed instead for Alcatraz. The boats that did enter the Strait did well until it came time to exit at the
