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Cole Price writes:
Attention all Santa Cruz 27 Sailors!
Long Beach Race Week scheduled for 6/18 - 6/19/99, and North Sails/Golison Race Week scheduled for 6/25 - 6/27/99 are coming up fast.
Both regattas typically field 30+ boats on the line for the PHRF class in which the SC27s race.
We had 3 to 4 So Cal SC27s in each of the two regattas last year. The competition is fierce, the quality of sailing is always high and the fun off the water is unparalleled.
I encourage all SC27 owners to participate. John and his Mach 5 crew raced both regattas last year and learned a thing or two that helped them at the Nationals.
Let me know if you need any info, entry forms, etc.
Cole Price
Southern Comfort
Editors Note: If you want a non-owner to drive your boat in the Nationals, this is a good opportunity to get them their three days of participation as required under the class rules.
Those Dwarves have done it again!
Patrick Cauley writes:
Dave,
Just wanted to let you know that the 1999 Swiftsure International
Yacht Race was sailed this past weekend. Three SC-27s participated:
Red Dwarf
Giant Slayer
Windsled
Conditions were difficult, with heavy tides and the wind crapping
out entirely for over 12 hours. Many boats dropped out, having
had the "tidal gate" slammed shut on them at Race Passage.
As Giant Slayer headed out to the start line, she passed
our dock and we were pleased to note that some healthy rivalries
have begun in the NW fleet. Giant Slayer had been temporarily
re-named "Dwarf Slayer", with the help of a little
electrical tape. In the end, Red Dwarf was the first boat
across the finish line on the short course (Juan de Fuca Race),
for the 3rd year in a row, champagne and cigars were on deck within
seconds! Giant Slayer and Windsled both withdrew
from the race. Red Dwarf corrected to 1st place in her
division, and 3rd place overall for the race. It appears that
the "Slayer" was slain.
The victorious Dwarf crew was the same this year as last:
Warren Campbell (Papa Dwarf)
Richard Hargreaves (Bash Dwarf)
Brian Campbell (Skinny Dwarf)
Patrick (Paco) Cauley (Dopey Dwarf)
Ewan Deane (Dark Dwarf)
John Ritchie (Standby Dwarf)
See http://www.rvyc.bc.ca/swiftsure/front.html
if you are interested in more info about the race. The website
does not show corrected times yet, we did our own math to figure
that part out. If you are interested, we should have pictures
before too long.
Cheers,
Paco (a.k.a. Dopey Dwarf)
The winds were howling at 25+ knots for the Spring One Design #2 in Santa Cruz, held on May 15th. Since Marley had three crew no-shows (pretty lame, guys) your roving reporter secured a crew berth as bowman aboard Sumo, driven this day by Henry Cassady. Before the racing began, Ric Diola gave us details of the so-called "Magic Trick"--a technique for jibing a spinnaker developed by the Kiwis on Black Magic. The "trick" turns out to be the addition of an extra set of sheets which are led to blocks approximately four feet aft of the bow. During the jibe, the clews are sheeted to the bow to control the chute and an end-for-end jibe is executed--which on an IACC boat must be quite a sight. As Jim Livingston rigged the extra sheets and the snatch blocks forward, I officially expressed my skepticism as bowman ("You guys are completely out of your minds!!!") about the probability of pulling off this maneuver in 25-30 knots of breeze. We did a practice set before the start and, as predicted, ended up with a virtual Gordian knot of spinnaker gear on deck. I do have to hand it to Jim, though. He is not afraid to try any and all rigging innovations and his boat has been a floating laboratory for the SC27 fleet for years. In any case, he made the call that we would forget about the chute for the day--which reduced my job to attaching the pole to the jib and placing my butt in the proper place. Although I had almost nothing to do with it, Sumo improved from two DFLs in Spring OD #1 to an A fleet contender in OD #2. Sumo was smoking in all three races. The first race started with the wind blowing about 20 knots, building to maybe 25 during the weather leg. Hanalei Express, with her usual flawless crew work and tactics, was first around the weather mark, followed by Dynaflow, Ciao and Sumo. The three leaders set their spinnakers as the wind continued to build, while we on Sumo poled out our blade as planned. Ciao, with Olympic 49er contender Morgan Larson (who is also Craig French's nephew) aboard in place of Andy Carson, executed the most spectacular broach I have ever seen in nine years in this fleet. Ciao's keel was actually pointing upwards--beyond parallel to the water--and one crewman was standing on the keel in an attempt to right the boat, Laser-style. It is a testimony to Bill Lee's placement of the companionway that Ciao is not currently at the bottom of Monterey Bay. (Hint to Ciao: Next time you have a world-ranked match racing helmsman and Olympic contender on your boat, don't put him on the foredeck.) With Ciao down for the count, Sumo moved into third. On the second downwind leg of the modified Olympic course, Dynaflow passed Hanalei by splitting jibes and going inside. So for the first race, it was Dynaflow first, Hanalei second and Sumo third.
The wind was really howling now, and the start of the second race saw Sumo get off the line first. Hanalei and Dynaflow were first and second around the weather mark, followed by Sumo (we had overstood a bit). Hanalei looked good until she rounded down hard on the downwind leg. The spinnaker pole twisted around and took out Hanalei's rig. No one was hurt, but as we passed Hanalei a forlorn Rob Schuyler gave us a pathetic wave as he watched his crew cut away the destroyed rig. Dynaflow went on to win the race. Sumo crossed the line second, but alas we were OCS (much to Jim's disbelief) and did not get a horn.
The third race was Sumo's best. We were off the line first and made a perfect layline call. We rounded the weather mark in first place and led halfway down the downwind leg, but by this time the wind had gone down a bit and our no-spinnaker strategy failed us. I don't remember what happened to Dynaflow, but with Hanalei out the game had changed. Barry Hopkins' Cruzin' passed us midway to the leeward mark and went on to score their first bullet ever. Congratulations, Barry! We on Sumo unfortunately went left and were nicked at the finish line when we had to duck Semiramis on a port-starboard encounter at the finish. Result: Cruzin' first, Semiramis second and Sumo third.
Back at the dock I had the opportunity to ask Morgan how it felt to sail real sailboats again. "Great!," he said, "It's good to be back in Santa Cruz!" Morgan was off to France to sail in the 49er Grand Prix and then to New Zealand, where he is Paul Cayard's sparring partner aboard AmericaOne's trial horse. It was certainly great to see him back in a 27 in Santa Cruz. Morgan, we have missed you!
One other piece of good news: It seems that Mark Dini had an extra spar that he has sold to Rob and De, so Hanalei should be back in running order soon. And Craig French asked us not to tell Andy what happened to his new spinnaker...
We have finally resolved the problems with our sail rule. The rules on this website have been updated to reflect the changes enacted by the membership. The vote was 14-0 with one abstention. To summarize, the amendment reads:
In the section entitled "Sails and Spars," replace
"The sails and spars on a Santa Cruz 27 shall not exceed the non-penalty sail plan as measured by the IMS rule."
with
"Sails and spars shall be measured according to the procedures set forth in the IMS rule."
and add
MGUL = 3.7' Mainsail Maximum Girth at 75% Above Foot
MGML = 6.3' Mainsail Maximum Girth at 50% Above Foot
John Simpson is a great sail trimmer and I guess my narrative of the DH Farallones race did not get that point across.
Here are John's comments on the article I wrote after that race:
Despite Dave's making it sound like I suggested reefing as soon as the wind speed made it into double digits, I tucked the reef in when the boat began to experience detrimental heel angles. This decision was based on my sense that sailing flat and in control can be faster upwind than trying too hard to carry more sail area. It was also based in large part on the weather forecast.
Regardless of my sail trim decisions, I have to say that Dave did a really good job driving the windward leg. While I had not intended to have him drive the entire leg, I did ask him to drive the start since I wanted to fool around with my new main and since I've never seen Dave do anything but drive how could I be sure he knew the difference between the main sheet and the traveller? In any case it seemed to me like having Dave at the helm would give us a better chance at a good start because all of our previous sailing together has seen Dave at the helm and me pulling whatever strings needed pulling (and occasionally some that did not). And once we worked our way out of the calms and had things working pretty well after the weather established itself it seemed foolish to swap positions and invest another 30 minutes while we went through the learning process again.
I have to disagree a little with Dave's assessment of our return trip. Frankly, I don't think our downwind navigation was that bad. It seemed like a pretty standard return leg to me: aim for Mt. Tamalpias (which you can usually see if it's not cloudy/foggy). I don't think we could have nailed the shipping channel (exactly where you want to be in those conditions) any better if there had been a line painted on the water: we went right past the SF superbouy and slid down the north side channel markers. In retrospect I think we probably could have taken the reef out of the main once we were on course for home. However, when the boat is hitting 15+ frequently and you're as cold as we were sometimes you overlook stuff.
I think the most important change I'd make to help our performance would be to dress warmer. I've done Farallones races before on a variety of boats (everything from an Express 27 to a Swan 46) and in worse and better conditions, but I have never been as wet or as cold as I was during this trip. Dave and I were both dressed for chilly weather but it became clear to me even before we rounded that we were beyond uncomfortably cold. I could see that we were both shivering noticeably and I could hear the degradation in our speech. Classic early signs of hypothermia. All I can say is more layers and more fleece! You're better off overdressed and too warm than cold.
So bring your woolies next year, Dave, and I promise we'll shake the reef out earlier and I won't forget to rig the spinnaker lines before the start.
--jds
John, here's the picture you took of Zephyr as seen from Rhythm's cockpit on the weather leg. Don't quit your day job for a career in photography. I suppose under the circumstances we are lucky the camera survived!
Frankly, this race ranked as one of those "life experiences" that I'm glad we did but I'm not sure I want to repeat. Ask me again next February. --D.
Bob
Named "Outstanding Yacht" of 1999 GORC - 4/26/99Rob Hart's Bob (Hull #1) was awarded the "Outstanding Yacht" flag at the 1999 Gulf Ocean Racing Circuit held in Biloxi, Mississippi! Rob writes:
Hello Everyone. Just wanted to drop a note and let everyone know about another SC27 victory. The Gulf Ocean Racing Circuit is one of the two major regattas held on the Gulf Coast. It draws boats from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana and was won this year by Hull #1. Check out www.schurrsails.com/project/gorc_99.htm for a quick synopsis from my sailmaker. Not mentioned in the article was that "BOB" was the oldest boat in the fleet!
Rob apparently won the regatta with four bullets and a DSQ.
Rob, what happened? Inquiring minds want to know! Rob is quoted
in the above article as saying the SC27 is "a light air boat."
Say what??!? Rob, get that boat to the Nationals and see what
an SC27 can do in 25-30 knots of breeze!
Crazy Rhythm (ex-Sacre Bleu!), sailed by John Simpson and Dave Emberson beat California Zephyr, sailed by Kenneth Bowen and Peter Dalton by a mere 25 seconds after 58 miles and over nine hours of 35 knot winds and 12-15 foot seas. The other Santa Cruz 27 in the race, Chief, sailed by Dwight Odom and John Baker, did not finish. The race was marred by four dismastings, a turtled trimaran (whose skipper and crew were rescued) and the drowning death of the skipper of a J-29. For complete results, click here. Although Rhythm and Zephyr were first and second to finish in Division II, an Olson 25 corrected out on the two 27s, so Rhythm and Zephyr had to settle for second and third places. The J-29 skipper, Harvey Shlasky of the Berkeley Yacht Club, drowned after he and his crew were ejected from their boat when it was rolled by a wave on the downwind leg, only four miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. Shlasky was wearing an auto-inflating PFD and was tethered to the jacklines, in accordance with the rules. For the San Francisco Chronicle article click here. Contrary to what is stated in the Chronicle article, the victim's PFD apparently did inflate but details are still somewhat sketchy.
Dave's account:
The start was at 8:25am and Zephyr was off the line several boatlengths ahead of us. Our strategy aboard Rhythm was to get a clear air start on the right side because we had been told by Syd Moore that the right side was where the wind filled in first. We had about 15 knots of wind up the cityfront but once we got under the bridge things went weird in the slight flood tide. The wind died and the entire fleet bobbed around in confusion. As predicted, there was a puff on the right. Unfortunately it only got us about 100 yards before it expired. Zephyr doubled back from her position left of us and ended up behind us and alongside Chief. We eventually made our way to the wind line and John wisely suggested that we reef our main. So, with a reefed main and a #3 we began our battle with the big waves.
It took awhile for me to get the hang of driving in those conditions, but eventually we started picking off Express 27s and Moores and stretching out on Zephyr and Chief. Then I blew one of the wave crossings and the boat got slammed on her leeward side. I lost my footing and ended up on my butt on the cockpit floor. The boat did a crash tack. John did a great job of recovering while I got back up and we then stayed on port tack for awhile only to converge with Zephyr and Chief again! We tacked back to starboard and worked our way to weather of them. Zephyr's sails looked better trimmed than ours, but in those conditions we were better off keeping the boat upright and flogging John's new Pineapple main. We really began to pull away from them and completely lost sight of Zephyr and Chief about halfway to the Farallones. We never did see Chief again, but Zephyr would prove to be another story.
John insisted that we clear the Farallones with about a quarter mile to spare and I started grumbling about losing all the boats that I had worked so hard to pass. "Dave, you can't win if you're dead," John said. "You have a point," I replied. I shut up. We had to do four tacks to get around the island and we were aghast as we watched two Moore 24s pass the island with only a couple of boatlengths between them and the surf break. One unlucky wave and they would have been toast. When we finally eased the boat onto the reach for home we had a brief celebration. By this time we were wet and tired and all we wanted to do was get off the boat. "Why are we doing this again?" John said, echoing my own thoughts exactly. Our elation at rounding the island was brought to an abrupt end when we sailed past a turtled trimaran--an F27 I think. We started looking for survivors but we did not see anyone in the water. "Should I call the Race Committee?" John asked. "Call the Coast Guard!," I shouted. John went below and radioed them. They already knew about it and said the crew had been rescued. But the trip below was John's undoing. He got an attack of seasickness and tossed his lunch--a Nutri-Grain bar--over the side. John was down for the count for about twenty minutes. We heard the Coast Guard and the Race Committee trying to reach one of the Moores whose EPIRB had gone off. It turned out they were fine but they were not monitoring the radio. John seemed to feel a bit better and took the helm for a bit. I think this helped as at least he could anticipate the motions. John caught one huge wave and we blasted along in the curl at about 16-17 knots. I know it was at least that fast because later we clocked another one with the GPS at 15.9 knots that was not as quick. Then we got hit by one wave that dumped what seemed like ten gallons of ice cold water down our necks, soaking us to the skin and completely filling the cockpit. John gave me the tiller back and I spent the next few hours surfing the big seas and seeing how high I could get our boatspeed in the surf. I was somewhat oblivious to the danger until a wave behind us cast a long shadow which completely darkened the boat. I did not have the nerve to look back and just rode the surf as best I could. Our navigation downwind was not that great and I think we lost some of the Moores we had picked off earlier. We never had any thought of setting a chute in those conditions. I was steering in the general direction of Mount Tamalpais--which was the only landmark I recognized. I can see why Sir Francis Drake missed the Golden Gate. It's easy to do. The 700 foot towers of the Golden Gate Bridge were not visible. Eventually we saw an orange speck which was the North tower and that became our focus. We watched it loom larger. Getting there became our only goal.
As we got to Pt. Bonita we heard the call to the Coast Guard reporting a man overboard. That turned out to be Harvey Shlasky. We did not find out that he died until I read it in the paper the next day. We saw Coast Guard helicopters overhead, but we were too far North to see the commotion. The big seas turned into six foot chop and we followed the North side of the channel under the Golden Gate Bridge. We eased the boat onto a dead run for the finish line. Both of us were completely exhausted, soaked to the skin and shivering. Now I know what "exposure" means. I happened to look over my shoulder to see if there was any ship traffic that I needed to avoid. What did I see but California Zephyr with a spinnaker up! "John," I said, "We've got to set!" "We can't," he replied, "We don't have any of the spinnaker gear set up and there isn' time. "We've got a pole!" "You read my mind!" John said as he leaped to the foredeck and poled out the #3 jib. Zephyr continued to gain but not as fast as before. Would we get to the line in time? Yes! If the race had been 100 yards longer they would have had us. As it happened, we got the gun for our division 25 seconds ahead of Zephyr. John and I gave each other high fives, gave Peter and Kenneth a cheer and then headed directly back to Alameda without even stopping at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. We took hot showers at the Alameda Marina, but I don't think I stopped shivering until the following day.
Dave Garman has been leading the charge in the Pacific Northwest and reports the following race dates have been scheduled:
Golfers have Augusta, baseball players have Wrigley Field, and sailors have the San Francisco cityfront. This world-renowned venue will be the site of the 1999 Santa Cruz 27 National Championship, to be sailed in conjunction with the San Francisco NOOD regatta on September 4th and 5th. The current plan is to have three races on Saturday and three races, including the Dave Diola race, on Sunday. We have an ambitious goal this year: 25 boats on the line! Don't miss this regatta! We need all 19 boats that we had last year plus the San Francisco Bay boats plus some boats from the newly active Pacific Northwest fleet. Friday, September 3 is registration day at the St. Francis Yacht Club. The regatta is open to all boats who are members in good standing of the class association. We want to make this the biggest Nationals ever!
For those of you who have never sailed on the Cityfront, you are in for the time of your life! This is one of the greatest venues in the world--perhaps the greatest. The winds are fantastic--typically 15-20 knots but sometimes 25-30 or more. The racing is extremely tactical, especially with the famous Golden Gate currents and the "South Tower Devil"--a vortex that comes off the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. Downwind, surfing opportunities abound with the flood tides and the SC27 is in its element! Of course, the scenery is absolutely spectacular: the San Francisco skyline, Alcatraz, Angel Island, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin headlands. It doesn't get better than this, guys, so don't miss out! Plan now and get your boat and crew to San Francisco. No excuses!
The NOOD regattas, sponsored by Sailing World magazine, have become one of the most prestigious series in the U.S. Santa Cruz 27 fleet participation in this event has garnered a great deal of very positive press in publications like Sailing World and Latitude 38 that no amount of advertising could buy. If Warren Campbell can get his crew from Vancouver to San Pedro, you can get yours to San Francisco. Any problems, housing, trailers, sails, etc. can be solved if you let us know and plan in advance. Don't miss it!
The annual Santa Cruz 27 Match Racing event has been rescheduled to August 14, 1999. This event is an eight boat round-robin open to the first eight boats that contact Bob DeWitt at RLDEWITT@aol.com. This event is a blast, but read those match racing rules first and understand the start sequence. (I know--we DSQ'ed two races due to failure to enter the starting area properly last year!)
Our attempt to modify the Constitution via email was a) unconstitutional and b) did not get a majority of the members' votes (although everyone who voted did vote aye). I am sending out a mailing that will include the form to pay your dues for 1999 and an amendment to the sail rule which reads as follows:
Motion to Amend the Class Constitution
In the section entitled "Sails and Spars," replace
"The sails and spars on a Santa Cruz 27 shall not exceed the non-penalty sail plan as measured by the IMS rule."
with
"Sails and spars shall be measured according to the procedures set forth in the IMS rule."
and add
MGUL = 3.7' Mainsail Maximum Girth at 75% Above Foot
MGML = 6.3' Mainsail Maximum Girth at 50% Above Foot
The rationale for these changes is spelled out in the letter. In a nutshell, these changes fix a bug that was introduced last August when we adopted IMS and dropped IOR. It sets mainsail dimensions at the IOR limits except that it increases MGML to 6.3' from the IOR limit of 6.2'. This allows mainsails built to the Southern California PHRF rule to measure in. Mainsail area for the Pacific Northwest PHRF rule is negligibly affected, and those of us with IOR mains will be "re-legalized."
We must enact this change or ALL of us will have illegal mains because IMS mainsail dimensions are less than IOR! If you have not sent me your address and would like to make sure you receive the mailing, send your name and address to me at sc27@ember.eng.sun.com.
Greg Miller and his Jersey Girl crew performed flawlessly in the SC27 Match Race series held on Saturday, October 3, 1998 in Santa Cruz, winning all five of his matches. Six yachts turned out for the twice-postponed series and the races were sailed in winds of 20+ knots with dramatic wind shifts. Sheppard Kett's Medusa sailed into second place, losing only to Jersey Girl in a match that was a close race until Medusa broached right next to the race committee boat--actually brushing its stern--and had to execute a 360 degree penalty turn. (Note: Shep won the 1998 SCYC "Bent Spreader Award" for this achievement.--ed.) Larry Weaver's Mistress Quickly sailed into a strong third place, followed by Bob DeWitt's Duet and Dave Emberson's Marley. Barry Hopkins, the skipper of Cruzin', discovered a broken gooseneck fitting prior to the first match and had to retire before the first match was sailed.
Race committee duties were well handled by Ric and Marilyn Diola, who filled in at the last moment due to a scheduling conflict with the SCYC race committee boat, which was involved in the SBRA regatta on the same day. (Hello, who has the race calendar?) Ric does everything well, from serving as the 1998 SCYC Commodore to running a race committee. We suspect that Marilyn's support has a lot to do with this!
For those fleets out there who are looking for something to do with your yachts that is just a flat out kick, consider setting up a match race series. This is the 7th year that the SC27s have run the Match Race series, and all participants have spoken enthusiastically about how much fun and challenging sailing experience is crammed into an afternoon.
This is the second straight year that the series has been won by Jersey Girl, and our congratulations go to Greg and his crew!
With tactician Roger Sturgeon back on the boat, Hanalei Express won a one-point victory over Jersey Girl to take the 1998 San Francisco NOOD regatta. A nine boat fleet showed up for two days of perfect conditions on the San Francisco cityfront on September 5th and 6th. 3+ knot currents, unusually sunny weather and winds of 12-25 knots made for some absolutely thrilling racing. In the last race, your intrepid reporter and his even more intrepid crew (or were they just in shock?) aboard Marley did two 720 degree turns, two round-ups (one immortalized by Latitude 38 as shown below) and one round-down--all without breaking anything or wounding anyone--and still finished 7th. Cruzin', with Mark Dini driving and Gary Evans aboard, scored a pair of second place finishes for their best finish ever.
For complete results click here.
David Garman is leading the charge to form a Pacific Northwest Santa Cruz 27 fleet. This would cover the area from Vancouver (home of the Dwarves!) to Portland, Oregon. Good luck on getting some one-design action going, guys! If you are interested in joining the Pacific Northwest fleet, call David at (253) 657-1939 or send him email at david.m.garman@boeing.com.
John Reiter and the crew of the appropriately named Mach 5 dominated a nineteen boat fleet to win the 1998 Santa Cruz 27 Nationals held at beautiful Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club in San Pedro, California on August 21-23. Intensely competitive racing and the wonderful hospitality of the host yacht club made this year's Nationals nearly perfect in every respect. Our sincere thanks to Commodore Jonathan Mitsumori and especially to Rear Commodore Tom Hoegh and the CBYC race committee for a fantastic regatta!
The nineteen boat turnout included six SC27s from the newly formed Southern California Santa Cruz 27 fleet and the beautifully restored California Zephyr--all making their first Nationals appearances. What a site to see nineteen boats on the line! We don't have pictures here yet, but they are on the way. Meanwhile, for a complete set of results click here.
The Mach 5 crew was truly remarkable, both for their near-perfect crew work and for their physical size. Seven big guys on the boat meant that they never had to fly their blade even when the breeze picked up to 18+ knots.
John Reiter writes:
Where do I start?
The Mach 5 Crew: 1. John Reiter - Skipper 2. John Harrop - Tactician 3. Dave Vieregg - Navigator 4. Dan Sullivan - Pit 5. Dave Clark - Middle 5. Beau Gayner - Middle (Sunday) 6. Tim Jones - Mast 7. Matt Smith - Bow
Good crew and good brew were the ingredients! I've sailed many miles with these guys - and all except Dave Clark (UCLA) are SDSU Aztec Sailing Team Alumni. However, this was the first time we've all sailed on the Mach 5 together. "Shut up and drive" was the phrase of the weekend - I sometimes lost track of what leg (even what race) we were on. These guys truly deserve the credit for our success.
7 guys on the rail in medium air with a good #2 meant never having to go to the #3 and available horsepower whenever we needed it.
Great Elliott/Pattison (714-645-6697 - PLUG!) #1 and Kite.
To be honest, the bottom is in fair shape at best - 1200 wet sanded from the bow to the keel, the keel itself, and the rudder. Everywhere else is 600. The keel (all those who saw it can attest!) is in very MARGINAL shape as far as being fair - ditto for the rudder. I'm just not a fair and sand kind of guy - not too good at it.
A special thanks to Silver Bullet and Ciao for keeping us focused.
That's too much. I am very aware of what the accomplishment means and in awe of the history of the design and what this fleet means to West Coast sailing history. I also would like to say that it was a great honor to win the Dave Diola race on Sunday - not just for the 0.75 points, but to beat out Rob and De and to find out that Dave used to be one of their crewmen - now I know where the extra downwind speed came from, Rob!
We've got a great thing going - let's get more boats for local regattas and especially more for the 1999 Nationals in SFO - I'm not getting the Perpetuals engraved so I can just "mail" em' back - I'll be there in person to defend.
Great regatta!
John was last seen in the CBYC bar drinking Margaritas out of the Owner/Driver perpetual trophy. John, we'll be happy to have those trophies engraved for you, as well as the Santa Cruz 27 National Championship perpetual trophy, which is currently undergoing restoration since Rob Schuyler attempted to paint the half model white after the Dinis painted it blue in 1995! Congratulations on a great regatta and we will look forward to racing against you in 1999 on San Francisco Bay!
Andy Carson and the crew of Ciao were sailing fast all weekend and clinched second place by a mere one quarter of a point over Russ Boudreau's Silver Bullet after Russ was over early in Race 7. After scoring a bullet in the first race, Ciao sailed well for the rest of the regatta. It was good to see Craig French back in the boat, too.
Third place Silver Bullet was a class act: fast, well-sailed and probably the most consistent boat in the regatta. She was in the hunt right up until the fateful Race 7. Look for Silver Bullet to be a contender in the SC27 fleet for years to come!
Fourth place went to 1997 National Champion Hanalei Express, sailed by Rob Schuyler. They missed master tactician Roger ("The Nose") Sturgeon's uncanny ability to consistently place Hanalei in the right spot on the race course. Neverless, Hanalei was fast as usual and their crew work excellent. But for two bad races they also were always at the top of the fleet. Roger, you missed a great regatta and we missed you!
Fifth place went to CBYC's own Jay Newsom and Plum Crazy. The boat was driven by five-months-pregnant Carrie Dair. Also a part of the crew were Carrie's husband, sailmaker Steve Dair, and some of his guys from the Dair loft. With two bullets and a second, they sailed impressively but took a PMS in Race 5. PMS with nineteen boats in the fleet is painful!
Another highlight of the event was the long race, which took us out the gate, around Point Fermin, down to Long Beach and upwind to the finish. Marley had her one moment of glory on the last leg of the regatta by cracking off on a jib reach to sneak in ahead of arch-rivals Variety Show and California Zephyr. Payback to Zephyr who nicked us by one second in Race 6. Ouch! Oh well, it was better than going up and down the mast--which I did four times over the weekend. My performance was not as spectacular as that of Les Yamamoto, bowman on Cruzin', who went up while the boat was underway to retrieve a halyard. Les, you are a maniac!
Speaking of maniacs, those Canadian Dwarves returned in force this year. Warren Campbell drove to Santa Cruz from Vancouver, chartered Jamie's Pony, trailered it to L.A. and then flew in his crew! After nearly getting us thrown out of the CBYC bar on Friday night, Richard ("Bash Dwarf") Hargreaves was seen on Saturday morning moaning prayers to the porcelain icon. He missed his boat and then hired a power boat for $50 to drive him out to the race course! Warren looked glum when his black Technora sails got shredded, but Steve Dair sewed them up again. I don't think he even gave Warren a bill.
Larry Weaver set a fleet record for the number of boats contacted in a single regatta. Even so, for his many years of service to the Santa Cruz 27 fleet, his support of young sailors and service to SCYC, the fleet gave Larry a special Good of Yachting trophy. Later in the bar, one of the Canadians pointed out that if he blacked out one of the Os he would be the God of Yachting! Larry, sly old dog that he is, managed to pick up two or three boat lengths on me in the seventh race by parking a stunningly beautiful young lady named Jenna on the rail dressed in shorts and a bikini top. He never wavered, but Marley sure did!
The hospitality at CBYC was wonderful, getting better with each passing day as people got to know us. The "cook your own" barbecue at CBYC is fantastic! New York steaks, prime rib, halibut, salmon, fried shrimp--yumm! The members treated us very well and we do hope to return someday soon! We made some new friends and got folks fired up about SC27s in Southern California. CBYC even wants to host a Midwinter SC27 one-design series. Note to SoCal boats: Go for it!
One other great discovery was Kelly Marine on the corner of 22nd street and Cabrillo Via Marina. They saved my regatta by coming up with a hard-to-find Headfoil 2 fitting on Saturday morning--for which they only charged me $20! When I offered to buy all the Headfoil parts they had, I was refused because "Some other guy might come in here with the same emergency." I came back on Monday morning to see if they had the lower half of a Navtek turnbuckle and a turnbuckle bolt, because my partner Joe had dropped one overboard when we took our spar down. Sure enough, they had it. $15. I highly recommend this place!
Going back up the coast, I stopped off for a bucket of fried shrimp at Ventura Harbor. That looks like another great place to have a regatta. Anyone ever sailed there?
Back at Santa Cruz Yacht Club, the talk was all about the great regatta and how well the SoCal boats sailed. And John, there was some mention about enacting a crew weight limit, but De refuses to be weighed...
At the annual fleet meeting, my motion to amend the sail rules to put the class rules in alignment with IMS and PHRF passed (unanimously!). I fully expected a raging debate, but I guess all the emails and my apparently persuasive arguments in favor of the changes carried the day! So, we have legalized 155s, .5 oz chutes, IMS roaches, fully battened mainsails and dumped the 3 oz. sailcloth weight rule for headsails! I have updated the Constitution on this sight with the changes.
Ed Alspach of Alar Yachts is offering the original SC27 tooling for sale. The asking price is $8,000. This includes the keel mold, hull and deck molds, interior tooling and an instruction book describing the layup schedules, etc. The tooling is currently stored in an old missile silo in Duluth, MN. Anyone interested in getting the SC27 back into production may call Ed at (218) 722-3710!
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