Wind conditions for Sunday’s races (10/13) were less than favorable on an otherwise beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Sailors relied on their light-air tactics for much of the day while contending with periods of no wind, very light wind, 180-degree wind shifts, and the occasional, and all-too-brief, periods of 7 kt winds, which moved the fleets along nicely. The Lasers and C-14s eked out three races, and the Juniors and Portsmouth fleets each ran two races. At times, entire fleets drifted slowly backwards, and at other times, the wind was up enough that boats closed to the marks at speed.
No shortage of Safety Boat crew, ready for any contingency! (l-r):Tarah Garcia, Gary Oberbeck, John Edmonds, Jeff Bryant (coxswain), Bob and Robin Naylor. Photo by Rajesh Jha
The new Sunfish Fleet took its first ever turn on race committee, supporting a decent turnout of 20 boats across four fleets. Eleven Lasers were on the line, with Rob Gibbs, Joel Hurley, and George Sheller each taking first place wins in three heats, and otherwise finishing somewhere in the top three in most races. David Newland and Paul Miachika also each notched 3rd place finishes.
Five Capri 14.2s faced-off in three races, with Team Ferring scoring a pair of first place finishes, and Team Henning taking the honors in the last race. And it’s always fun to watch the Juniors race. Colin Gibbs, Ethan Wei, and Ryan Zornik campaigned their Bics for two races, with Colin and Ryan each taking a first place win.
The Portsmouth Fleet was thin with just one boat on the lake. Craig Taylor raced his Butterfly against himself for two races, handily winning both heats against tough competition!
All in all, a decent Sunday afternoon on Tempe Town Lake despite the weak winds.
Move along folks. Nothing to see here. NO air. Photo by Rajesh Jha
Brooke Miller won the 2019 Ruth Beals Cup. Jeff Coulter crew. Photo: Scott Richards
On a breathtakingly beautiful fall day at Lake Pleasant, a group of eight highly competitive women would have made our AYC founder proud. The Ruth Beals Cup is a regatta that mandates a woman at the helm of every boat and is considered by most as the Woman’s Club Championship. The skies were clear, and the wind gods were smiling, giving the ladies a perfect sailing breeze out of the north at 7 to 10 knots before the start. We had boats of all types and sizes registered ranging from the “sporty” J/70 and Melges 24 to the more “sophisticated” Impulse 26, Santana 20, Olson 25, Catalina 25, Merit 25, and a B-25.
The warning gun went off precisely at 9:30am as the women started into their pre-start routines and strategizing. As the time ran down, we could see a very competitive start emerging. During the last 10 seconds before the start we heard several “very direct conversations” (we don’t yell on a sailboat) between various boats to try to gain an advantage. Although, if I wasn’t mistaken, those were all male voices I heard, while I noticed that the women remained very calm at the helm of their boats. Anyway, the J/70, with Maryellen Ferring at the helm, and the Melges 24, with Stacy Loula steering took the early lead at the start.
Stacey Loula pilots the Melges 24 (foreground) and Maryellen Ferring the J/70 in very light wind. Photo: Greg Woodcock
The speed difference between all the boats became very apparent about halfway up the first leg as the ladies had their sights on Horse Island. The wind had diminished slightly to 5-6 knots as the Melges 24 and J/70 sprinted away from the fleet. But wait, this race has only begun, and everyone knew the real racing would begin while rounding the two northern islands.
As expected, the wind lightened considerably on the north side of the islands and the Impulse 26, with Elaine Charteris on the tiller, surged into the lead after navigating a most efficient path around Horse Island. This left the sporty boats wondering what happen as they had a good view of Elaine’s transom. While the J/70 and Melges 24 were struggling a bit navigating the treacherous island winds, the Santana 20, with Brooke Miller driving, slowly started to sneak up behind the leaders. As exciting as it was, the Melges 24 team regained their composure and with the help of a nice shaft of wind made the turn south in the lead.
“Luminosity that encircled the boat,” writes Scott Richards. Photo: Skip Kempff
As you can imagine, the rescue boat was primed and positioned to catch the anticipated great pictures of all the boats popping their chutes while making the turn south to No Name (Bobcat) Island. You could feel the anticipation in the air, and we could tell that the J/70 team was itching to get their asymmetric flying after having some challenges on the east-west leg. And pop it did – I think I heard several oohs and ahhs as the J/70 introduced a bright turquoise front sail that seemed to generate a luminosity that encircled the boat as it climbed the mast and filled with air. Cameras were flashing from all angles as Maryellen proudly made her way through the left-hand turn.
Moments after that, the Melges 24 rounded the island and was in clear water as she jibed and her asymmetric went immediately into a prolonged hourglass. The turquoise sail was flying strong as the J/70 pushed her bow into the lead for the first time. Unfortunately, the J/70 got a little too close to the island and fell into a huge hole, giving the Melges, Impulse, and Santana some time to regroup. A couple more boats rounded the islands, not too far behind, which included the Olson 25, skippered by Lulu Baydoun, and the Catalina 25, with Pam Neff on the helm.
The downwind leg consisted of the “haves” and “have nots.” The boats that took the eastern-center course were the haves and the western shore boats were the have-nots. The J/70 and the Santana 20 took the eastern option while the Impulse 26 and the Melges 24 decided to go west. East was right and west was wrong. The J/70 made a brilliant move eastwardly and rolled the Melges 24 that was literally appearing to be standing still along the western shoreline. Commentary after the race, with the eventual winner, suggested that the Santana 20 chose the eastern route after Brooke recalled a previous conversation with Maryellen that said, “when the wind diminishes go east my lady.” That turned out to be most valuable information.
The boats finally made it to the yellow mark in front of Bobcat Island with the J/70 with a big lead, followed by the Melges 24, Santana 20 and the Impulse 26. At this point the south breeze was starting to fill in, but it was still fighting with the morning northerly. The J/70 did well coming up to the finish until she was about 300 yards away and the wind died. This allowed the three boats coming up from the south mark to make some time gains as the prevailing south breeze started to take hold.
All and all it was a fantastic day on the lake and we were all impressed and proud of the all the fine women skippers. All the boats finished, and it seemed like everyone had a great day. I would like to give a special shout out to the Merit 25, with Ellie Carrol on the tiller with her the kids as crew and to the B-25, with Elizabeth Allard at the helm. They really made the race committee’s day when they cheered loudly as they crossed the finish line to close out the regatta.
Unfortunately, the 2018 Ruth Beals Cup winner, Cindy Pillote, could not attend this year due to an injury so we were guaranteed a new champion. A big congratulations to the 2019 Ruth Beals Cup winner, Brooke Miller with crew Jeff Coulter (driving my boat… Woohoo!). Maryellen Ferring came in second for the second year in a row and sailed a great race. Rounding out the top three was Elaine Charteris in third place.
Editor’s Note: Big thanks to the race committee of Scott Richards, Skip Kempff and Greg Woodcock.
Maryellen Ferring rounds the Bobcat mark in no wind in the 2019 Ruth Beals Cup. Photo: Greg Woodcock
Elaine Charteris aboard Shazam with Marshall Williamson. Photo: Scott Richards
Elizabeth Allard at the helm of the B-25, sparkling on Lake Pleasant. Photo: Skip Kempff
Stacey Loula and the Melges 24 team at the start. Photo: Skip Kempff
On Saturday we gave some serious thought to giving up when the wind failed to show until well into the afternoon, but when it arrived we enjoyed some good racing, bouncing west-east on windward-leeward courses.
Sunday arrived with with strong north wind and let us get enough races in before going slack… and heading home.
Mike Hester on his Viper picked up where he left off in the spring, by leading the Sport Boats despite some stiff competition from Court Roberts and the Melges 24 team. Mike tested his new fiberglass repair Saturday by slamming into Laurent Dion’s Viper, but apparently avoided a return to the shop.
Yes, Joel Hurley was a clear first in Santana 20 and Rollin’ in the Deep kept rolling in Spin while Marshall Williamson in Shazam has shown huge improvement from past seasons (maybe it’s that new sail). You’ll find all the results here.
Photo above of spins headed to the start line was taken by Joel Hurley.
Week three of the 2019 Tempe Town Lake race series turned out to be a dandy. The racing dinghy fleets were greeted with fairly steady westerlies ranging up to the mid teens. A bit up and down but generally, we had great wind for TTL.
The good winds attracted lots of sailors and with nearly 30 boats on the water representing five different fleets, the sailing was just great.
In action were Lasers, Sunfish, C14s, and the Juniors. Plus a gaggle of ASU students showed up with their FJs and asked if they could sail.
“Of course! All are welcome… you just have to show up.”
Those ASU boats did show up to sail. They had three boats and more then six sailors so they traded teams each race. We never knew who any of them were but they got in five good starts and five good races. Great to see you guys!
Starting and racing with them were the C14s. Whether old guy experience or a faster boat, the C-14s came around the course faster then those college kids’ FJs.
The first four races the C14s had match racing with the Ferrings and Scott Richards duking it out. The Ferrings took three of the races, a few by a wide margin, though the Richards team did squeak out one good win. Dave Henning showed up to make the fourth and fifth heats.
The Sunfish also got in five heats. Gary Oberbeck was the fastest boat all afternoon with a string of bullets. Jeff Bryant took most of the seconds, with Bob Naylor once sneaking into the back-up position. Tim Mitchell battled into the tough winds all day and had a line full of well earned thirds.
We also saw three Open Bics and one Radial Laser in the Junior class. The Bics looked awesome with their sporty lines and the kids hiking out with all their weight. Colin Gibbs and Myles Danner fought neck and neck, each earning two bullets and two seconds. Likewise Michael Haggart on the Laser and Ethan Wei traded positions with two threes and two fours apiece.
All great racing, though the big class this weekend at TTL was the Lasers with 13 boats on the line. I must say it was almost a clinic as club and class champion Joel Hurley ran away with four straight wins. Paul Miachika had a good consistent day with two seconds and two thirds. Scott Sharples had a single second and a third. Chuck Norris had a nice consistent day getting a second and Mike Bernard took the other third.
We did see very impressive sailing by the leading Laser and the committee did hear words of advice from our sailing champion which I will pass on to the other sailors.
After winning one race Joel, speaking half to the committee half to no one, said, “Those other guys don’t know how to change gears. I get away from them in the light stuff. They don’t loosen everything up… they just keep it all tight.”
A few words of honest advice for all dinghy racers out there: you need to learn to change gears.
Joe and Bonnie Motil handled the breakfast. Photo: Deb Heisler
Okay, Opening Day 2019’s opening cannon shot was actually just after Joe and Bonnie Motil’s beautiful breakfast spread, just after Fleet Captain Scott Richards’ welcoming and just before everyone headed out for a magnificent day on the water.
When the racing concluded, the show began. Rear Commodore Deb Heisler was the event organizer and a crowd of volunteers stepped in to help her present dinner, awards, and music to about 60+ sailors.
Mike Ferring’s Saturday and Sunday racing photos and some dinner photos below, but first, let’s offer some credit to the volunteers from Deb’s playbook.
It was Steve Dolter and his B Sides pal Greg playing the Beatle’s tunes. Bob Naylor handled the club trailer, including inventory and cleaning. Joe and Bonnie did breakfast. Maryellen Ferring handled dinner. Martin Lorch was on grill. Ralph Vatalaro mixed the Dark & Stormies. And there were lots of others who pitched in, including Lori Reger, Rob and Colin Gibbs, Emory Heisler, Bob Nesbit, Mark Trainor (who constructed the water filtration system), Scott Richards, Cindy Pillote, Brian Hackman, and more.
Martin Lorch and Joel Hurley picked up where they left off last season: match racing for the lead. Here Joel luffs Martin from leeward. Photo: Mike Ferring
Race Committee both days included David Newland and James Dishong on Whaler, Tony and Neil Chapman, Jim Colceri, Elizabeth Allard, Mike and Maryellen Ferring, Court Roberts, and Mark Trainor on the RC boat.
Deb is trying to turn us all green and drove an effort for recycling and composting. The filtration system system does an amazing job of taking tap water from the hose and turning it into good-tasting stuff that avoids mounds of plastic bottle waste.
The all-woman Ruth Beals Cup Regatta will return to Lake Pleasant on Saturday, October 12, with the starting gun at 9:30 am. It’s for women at the helm in run-what-you-brung boats rated by PHRF handicap.
The race is named for the founder of AYC, Ruth Beals, and offers a chance for the women of the club to compete against other women. Men are allowed to crew, but not to get too close to the tiller.
There will be a single long-distance race, following the familiar course from a start/finish in the south portion of the lake, around Horse and Balance Rock and a mark north of No-Name island (also called Bobcat), back to a finish line in mid-lake. It’s more or less the same course we’ve used for the Governor’s Cup and the Tall Cactus Regatta.
Cindy Pillote is the defending champion, teaming up with Bob Worrall in his C22 to win in light air one year ago. Maryellen Ferring finished second in her J/70.
Jeff Bryant rounding a mark in his Sunfish. Photo: Mike Ferring
That’s the gentle way to describe the generally breeze-less race day (9/15). It didn’t prevent a dozen Lasers, a few Sunfish, Clay Poulson (his own fleet of one Portsmouth) and the Juniors from testing whether they could still move. They did it enough to lay down a few races.
When Dave Christensen retired from race scoring in the spring, Mark Howell bravely volunteered to score both lakes until the club could come up with another answer. Fleet Captain Scott Richards recruited Joel Hurley to score, evaluated various computer scoring programs, and has settled on Sailwave to replace our existing software (which is quite complicated).
The goal is to post results quickly after race days, ideally the same day as the races. Here is the results page.
See, it’s important to stay low in light air to avoid any aerodynamic drag. Photo: Mike Ferring
Joel Hurley winds up for a roll tack at the mark. Photo: Mike Ferring
Stacey and Dave Haggart coaching the juniors. Photo: Mike Ferring
Lori Aoki’s Sunfish in the sparkles of a Sunday afternoon. Photo: Mike Ferring
Fireball sailor Clay Poulson travels the world for his import business and manages to race Fireballs all over the world as well. This warm August he’s racing at the North American and World Championships at Pointe Claire Yacht Club of Montreal.
Clay finished 29th out of 40 entries in the North American Championship and 33rd (and first from the U.S.) out of 42 entries in the World Championship.
Action at the Viper Worlds off Long Beach. Photo: Sharon Green
AYC sailors were two of the 41 entries in the Viper 640 World and North American Championships this last week (8/20-24) at Los Alamitos Yacht Club in Long Beach. Mike Hester finished 32nd and Tony Chapman 34th and Mike is looking for a recommendation for a good fiberglass repair place, saying his boat was broadsided during the start to the last race.
Tony’s boat was crewed by Edward “Buttons” Padin and former AYCer Lucinn Sahali, who’s now living in the Monterey area. Mike’s boat was crewed by John Mayall and Ruta Bandziulis.
The Viper website reported, “Marcus Eagan, Andrew Eagan, and Jackson Benvenutti (Mandeville, LA) [won] both the Goslings 2019 Viper 640 World Championship and the 2019 Viper 640 North Americans. Hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (Long Beach, CA), the four-day Championship consisted of 13 races in atypical Long Beach conditions – light, 8-10 knots except for the final race on Day 2 and the last two on the final day when winds were mid to high teens. It was a regatta where sailors were faced with a wide range of conditions and those atop the podium had to be capable of dealing with them all.”
Ace sailing photographer Sharon Green (ultimatesailing.com) shot some of the action and collected random shots of some of the sailors, including Mr. Chapman.
Tony Chapman, photographed at the Viper Worlds in Long Beach. Photo: Sharon Green
Part of the executive team overseeing the fall boat preparation at Tempe Town Lake. (l to r) Grant Younger, Russ Hasty, Marc Danner and Mike Bernard. Photo: Mike Ferring
A large group of volunteers turned out at Tempe Town Lake Saturday, August 24, to prepare the Arizona Sailing Foundation (ASF) boats for fall classes and the AYC Adopt-a-Boat program.
By the time the morning work party finished, the boats were washed and prepped for action. New covers went on several of the Catalina 14.2s. New sails are ready for the O’Pen Bics. New parts are in place for the Lasers. The safety boats have new Bimini covers.
Adopt-a-Boats help boost the entry list for both 14.2 and Laser, making them two of the largest fleets in club racing. It’s a great entry point for people new to the game to try racing without having to own a boat.
When: Saturday, September 7, from 4 to 7 pm.
Where: Royal Gardens Condominium Pool & Clubhouse, 1917 E. Medlock Drive, Phoenix (plenty of parking available along the street). See map
The location.
Fall racing starts Sunday, September 8, so if you’re a skipper in need of crew or are interested in becoming crew, this event is for you. As always, everyone is welcome to come just shoot the breeze, take a dip in the pool, grab a bite, have a drink, and talk sailing.
AYC will serve hot dogs, brats and burgers
Bring a dish to share, side dish, dessert, etc.
BYOB – We’ll have cups or you can bring your own reusable container. No glass outside the clubhouse.
BYOC – There are a dozen + chairs outside around the pool, but if you want bring your favorite lawn or camping chair, please do.
Opportunities for involvement:
Show up early/help with set up
Participate: bring a dish or dessert
Help clean up
Please connect with Deb Heisler to coordinate what to bring and give her a loose RSVP (for food planning) at 602.214.2053 (call or text) or by email at Rear.commodore@arizonayachtclub.org
Interested in learning to race? Sign up for the Introduction to Sailboat Racing Class. This class is offered only once a year so get your spot secured! The next FREE class will be Thursday evening, September 19, 2019 from 6:30-9pm.
Racing begins at Tempe Town Lake on Sunday, September 8, and at Lake Pleasant on Saturday, September 21. Plug your ears for the opening gun at Lake Pleasant: we’re firing the club cannon this year to kick off the new season and will follow it up with an Opening Day celebration later in the day.
Looking for crew or wanting to crew? Commodore Rob Gibbs is revising the crew list system this year, so watch for his update. In the meantime, ask around and mark your calendar for a crew party on Saturday afternoon and evening, September 7.
If you’d like to know more about this game we play, consider signing up for the Introduction to Sailboat Racing class. It will be Thursday evening, September 19, from 6:30-9 at the Eisendrath House. Here’s much more about it. By the way, it’s free.
Lori Reger reflecting on sailing a Sunfish on Tempe Town Lake. Photo: Mike Ferring
Bob Naylor has recruited enough Sunfish folks to create at TTL fleet for the fall. If you have a Sunfish under cover, knock the cobwebs off and bring it out to tangle with the other fish. Here’s background on the fleet.
The Ruth Beals Cup race for women at the helm has been moved to Saturday, October 12. Here’s more on that event.
All of the Arizona Sailing Foundation sailing classes are open for registration now, but the adult class is full. Click on the “education” link.
Mike Grijalva’s Newport 41 Shockwave in the PHRF Random Leg Fleet
Paul Liszewski’s Hobie 33 Rolling in the Deep in the PHRF Random Leg Fleet
Rob Gibbs’s Catalina 37 Team Cactus League
Conditions were light on Friday but by the Summer Solstice picked up dramatically. Afternoon winds Saturday and Sunday topped 20kts and even the big heavy C37s looked fast! The Vipers spent the whole weekend on the Ocean courses while the C37s whizzed around the marks behind the breakwater.
It takes 8-10 to crew the Catalina 37, and nine of Team Cactus League were from AYC. The team this year was Helmsman Joel Hurley, Main Trimmer Dave Rawstrom, Lead Trimmer Josh McClain, Trimmer David Newland, Grinder Matt Baker, Grinder Toby Ambrose, Pit Master Grant Younger, Mast Princess Heather McClain, and Bowman Rob Gibbs. Our local knowledge expert and coach from the Long Beach area was Matt Rustigan. There were shore crew as well…Kim OlsonGibbs, Andi Baker, and Kaitlin Bowen managed “on shore operations” for the team.
Paul Liszewski and crew.
Vipers crew with at least three and Mike Hester sailed with his daughter Sarah and John Mayall. Tony sailed with Amerson Woods and Glenn Van Hell from the Long Beach area. Unfortunately Tony had damage to his mast track and was not able to race on Sunday.
In the Random Leg Fleet, Rolling in the Deep had Owner Paul Liszewski at the helm and Arizona crew Sean Brown and Bre (owners of the Olson 25 Stargazer) along with Keena, Tyler, and Ann from the Long Beach area. Shockwave‘s crew consisted of Mike Grijalva and his wife Jo, Frank Grijalva, Ricky Gilchrist, Jim Brock and Kevin Edwards.
Everyone left tired and looking forward to next year – June 26–28, 2020. Make your plans now! Let’s add to the number of AZ boats that show up to this WORLD CLASS event!
Grinder and Squirrel Matt Baker
Grinder Toby Ambrose
Team Cactus League
Local Knowledge and Coach Matt Rustigan
Helmsman Joel Hurley and Main Trimmer Dave Rawstrom
The Team after three days
Transportation to and from the house...
...was a little tight.
Dave Rawstrom
David Newland and Grant Younger
Josh and Heather McClain
Always a great party!
Team Capt and Bowman Rob Gibbs driving out on the last day.
What are you doing Wednesday night? How about coming out for some highly casual racing at Tempe Town Lake?
We start racing at 5:30 and go until sundown. We do a one minute start sequence. One turn penalty. Short w/l courses.
This started as a Laser thing, but others started coming out, which was great. We all start together.
This is not an official AYC event, so you’re on your own in terms of a boat, liability and fun. We start promptly at 5:30 pm and if you miss one or two races it’s no big deal since we don’t keep scores. This is good practice, with bragging rights and then (for those who want to) off to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks.
2019 AYC Club Champion Joel Hurley. Photo: Mike Ferring
Consistency did it. In six races, Joel Hurley scored no lower than third, turning 3-2-2-2-1-2 into the 2019 Club Championship.
Mike Hester kept it close right to the end, with three firsts and a second, but was dragged down by a first-race sixth place and fourth-race fourth. All the scores are shown below.
The game was played Saturday, May 4, in Lasers at Lake Pleasant. Five fleet champions and reigning Club Champ Scott Richards turned out for the event. In fact, the field included four former Club Champions (Hester, Haggart, Richards and Kempff). Three other fleet champions declined the invitation, saying they weren’t ready to race in a Laser.
Conditions were generally good for the regatta, with light to moderate wind and mild temperatures. This annual race-off to determine a Club Champion is contested in one-design boats and this time the Laser fleet provided the boats and most of the race committee (Bernard, Hasty, Newland, Sheller, Younger, Zornik). Mike Parker was PRO and Fleet Captain George Sheller was the organizer. LP Lake Captain David Newland provided his personal powerboat as the mark/safety boat. Maryellen Ferring brought the post-race eats.
The day started with a brunch and some pre-race socializing at Pleasant Harbor. Everyone was excited or nervous about what was shaping up to be a downwind start. There was reasonably good wind all day.
The youngest skipper was Myles Danner on his Laser 4.7 rig! A regular in the Open Bic at Tempe Town Lake, he and his dad, Vice Commodore Marc Danner, were both out on Lasers. Myles does what he always does…smiled all the way around the race course!
We had a photo boat out and our guest photographer, Kristin Lisson, has over 3000 photos she is curating, so check back to see that slideshow when it is ready!
We had LPSC and TSC members come out and it was good fun all day long for everyone. Line honors was claimed by Dave Newland on Mike & Maryellen Ferring’s J70 (they were out racing some classic cars this weekend and were generous enough to lend their boat to their regular crew Dave!)
As this is written, there’s one more Sunday of racing at Tempe Town Lake, but you can be pretty sure who some of the fleet champs will be at both lakes. Scores have now been posted for the last weekend at Lake Pleasant, so we know who won there.
Congratulations to Spring winners: Skip Kempff, Thistle; Paul Liszewski, PHRF Spin; Mike Ferring, PHRF Sport Boat; Joel Hurley, Santana 20; Steve Grothe, Catalina 22; Fred Rahn, Multi.
At TTL, Dave Haggart will likely take C14 and Joel Hurley Laser. Portsmouth is still undecided, but going into the final weekend, Clay Poulson has it pretty much locked up. Colin Gibbs is leading the Junior Fleet at TTL, but isn’t eligible for the Club Championship.
Some of those same names are expected to race in the Club Championship in Lasers at Lake Pleasant on Saturday, May 4. Here’s the expected line-up: Joel Hurley, Santana 20 and Laser; Dave Haggart, C14; Clay Poulson, Portsmouth; Bob Worrall, C22; Mike Hester, Sport Boat; Skip Kempff, Thistle; Scott Richards, reigning champ. Paul Liszewski (Spin) and Fred Rahn (Multi) have indicated they don’t wish to race in Lasers and will not compete.
We’re really excited about the 2019-2020 racing calendar! We have maintained the traditional Fall and Spring racing series, but have added 4 Saturdays across December and January at Lake Pleasant. We’re calling it “The Winter Series.” By default, it does not count towards the Championship, but your fleet can choose it by submitting Fleet Rules that define how you are choosing your Champion.
Why did we do this? MORE SAILING! Use this as an opportunity to try out a different fleet or boat; try out new crew; bring some kids along; work on your boat handling skills with your crew; See if you can try that one tactic that you thought was to risky to try in a race that counted for the Championship. GO HAVE FUN SAILING!
If you have questions please see your Fleet Captain, or you can always email or call me: Commodore@ArizonaYachtClub.org.
So calm that on Saturday (3/30), “racing” became a drifting test. For example, the one time the C22 fleet started, it smashed through the fleet’s two-hour maximum time limit and the race needed to be abandoned (the breeze that tricked the RC from not shortening disappeared as quickly as it came).
On Sunday, the morning breeze looked good. Until it didn’t. But a few races went off.
This elusive trophy is needed for the Tall Cactus Regatta! This is the only known photograph of this legendary trophy.
As the story goes, it was given between our club and the Tuscon Sailing Club originally as part of the great “Tall Cactus Regatta.” If you have seen it, please contact Commodore@ArizonaYachtClub.org right away!
