SCYA MidWinter Regatta hosted by Seal Beach YC.
February 21-22, 2009
We had 5 Cal25’s show up for the Midwinter’s Regatta: Jane’s Addiction, Nemesis, One Time, Rhyme N Reason and Tiburon. It was an interesting two days of racing with light winds, comfortable temperatures and very competitive racing! In all the time I’ve been with the fleet, this is the first regatta that I can recall ending in a three way tie for first! It just doesn’t get any better than that! We had two races on Saturday; the first race in particular was very competitive with five boats spread out on the first windward leg only to find themselves three abreast going into the leeward mark. It was a Tiburon sandwich with Nemesis leeward and One Time above (that sucked) and Jane just ahead. Coming out of the mark it was Jane followed by Nemesis, Tiburon, One Time and R&R. Jane went middle, Tiburon went left, and the rest went right going back to weather. One Time banged the corner on the far right and got to the top first. It was a drag race home with One Time finishing first, followed by Jane, Tiburon, Nemesis and R&R. The next race was equally exciting with the fleet bunched up all over the course. One Time, Jane and Nemesis were doing battle down the middle of the course and this time Tiburon banged the far right corner and came back from fourth to nearly nudge One Time around the weather mark. One Time went rocks above the bait barge and Tiburon followed by Jane, Nemesis, and R&R went below the barge. One Time and Tiburon head for the jetty and the rest turned down the middle. One Time and Tiburon converged and a pretty good battle ensued with One Time dogging Tiburon for about half a mile. However, Tiburon had Jeremy on board, the secret weapon (he had a monster breakfast burrito and washed it down with one of Dave’s famous bloody Marys). One Time could only take so much punishment (gas from Jeremy) and broke down to the middle looking for a “fresher” breeze, Tiburon stayed out and that proved to be the right play. Tiburon rounded the leeward mark first followed by One Time, Jane, Nemesis and R&R. Tiburon held off a final charge from One Time and the order remained the same. Near the finish the wind had died and it was a struggle just to cross the finish line.
Sunday brought really funky conditions with the wind coming offshore. However, it was really cool, the sky was marbled and the temperature again was perfect. The committee boat sent us on a two lap adventure down to 34 next to the Belmont pier and to a mark in the middle of the ocean between the Seal Beach jetty and the oil platforms (first time I’ve ever seen that mark?). It was a very competitive start with Nemesis breaking out in front followed by Jane, One Time, Tiburon and R&R. Tiburon followed One Time for about a mile and then broke for the beach. Most of the fleet stayed on the same heading towards downtown. At the leeward mark it was Tiburon followed by Jane, and the rest of the fleet (sorry I can’t remember the order). All I can remember is a very bad spinnaker set and Jane completely rolling us and leaving us gasping for air. By the time we got to weather Jane had a huge lead on Tiburon, followed by One Time, Nemesis and R&R. Tiburon had a spectacular upwind leg was able to make up the ground and get to weather in first. We rounded weather had a sloppy set and oh no, I’ve seen this movie before! Jane spanked us again! This time they went below us. By the time we recovered they were a dot in the horizon. The third and final race ended Jane, Tiburon, One Time, Nemesis, and R&R. It was a three way tie for first! By virtue of the tie breaker it was Jane, Tiburon, and One Time followed by R&R and Nemesis. Congratulations to Jane’s Addiction! They sailed great. It really was a fun regatta and the racing was fantastic given the wind conditions. That’s all for now and see you guys out on the water!!!
Felix Basadre
Pictures from Nemesis
