Newland Clinches Tall Cactus Regatta!

by Bob Naylor, posted in Events, Photos, Racing Updates

Twenty-three (23) boats enjoyed a great day of sailing last Saturday (Apr-2) in the Tall Cactus Regatta at Lake Pleasant. It was a beautiful day with loads of sunshine, pleasant warm temperatures, and nice winds blowing steady out of the south at 7 to 10-knots for most of the afternoon.

Starting near the dam, and on-time at 12:35PM, boats had a long course ahead of them. It was a downwind run to the north end of the lake, where boats rounded Horse and Balance Rock Islands before turning south all the way to Bobcat Island. Then after reaching east across the lake and rounding the final mark, boats finished with a short downwind sprint to Jackass Cove.

Line honors went to Dave Newland aboard his J/92 “Dreamline”, which finished – impressively – in just an hour-and-forty-five minutes! Congratulations to the winning skippers and crews (click here for the full race results: Tall Cactus):

  • PHRF Fleet (12-boats): Will Nowak (Santana 20 “Ripple”)
  • Multi-hull Fleet (7-boats): Chris Picknally (G-Cat “Flying Fish”)
  • Sportboat Fleet (4-boats): David Newland (J/92 “Dreamline”)

THANK YOU to everyone – AYC members and guests – who registered and raced! And THANK YOU to our Race Committee for making it happen:

  • Marshall Williamson and Jeff Coulter: organizers and Committee boat
  • Peter Schweizer and Bob Naylor: mark-set boat
  • Rob Gibbs: scorer

And of course, after a day like that, we also thank the wind gods for another great day of club racing and sailing at Lake Pleasant!

Awards will be presented at our monthly membership meeting this coming Tuesday, Apr-12 (… and read about our really interesting guest presentation here: monthly meeting).

All photos by Peter Schweizer and Marshall Williamson.

  • Dave Newland’s J/29 “Dreamline”
  • Grant Harless and the “Bay Loon” crew
  • 2022 Tall Cactus Darren McDonnel
    Chris Picknally on “Flying Fish”
  • Bill Hutchinson and Steve Groce and their 2-sons
  • Steven Brown on his Nacra 5.2
  • The Ferrings downwind on “Melissa Kay”
  • Rob Fisher and Steven Dawson
  • John Pearson’s racing debut with his Capri 22
  • Dave and Amy Henning and Donna Benson on “Just Enough”
  • Andrew Newingham and Robin Stewart sailing “Quackerz”
  • Jeff Bryant’s maiden voyage on his wooden gaff-rigged CLC Skerry