2017 International Masters Regatta at San Diego Yacht Club - Overall

The final day of the 2017 International Masters Regatta could not have been a more picturesque day out on the water. Under the bright sun in South San Diego Bay, the twelve accomplished master sailors (slightly tired from the Saturday night banquet, but thirsty for the last day of competition) completed the last three races of the three-day regatta hosted by San Diego Yacht Club.

The one weather complaint today was lack of wind at the scheduled start time. Race Committee postponed racing for an hour until the breeze came up to 5 knots and they were able to start the first race. There was a huge wind shift to the right at the end of the first race, so Race Committee re-set everything for the second and third races. Due to timing, Race Committee made the call to only run 11 races total, and they sent competitors on a long three legged race for race 11 in order to get back to SDYC for the awards ceremony.

By day three of racing, Bill Campbell (SDYC) and Jon Andron (St. Francis Yacht Club) were pretty much locked in for first and second places. However, it was incredibly tight between third through fifth places going into the last race. Tad Lacey (San Francisco Yacht Club) placed fourth in race 11 which solidified his third place podium finish, just one point over defending champion Bill Menninger (Newport Harbor Yacht Club).

This is Lacey's first time racing the International Masters Regatta as a skipper, though he has crewed it several times before. "We had great races today. We went from 7th place last night to 3rd place overall by the end of today and I owe it all to my crew. They did a fabulous job on the course, calling the wind, trim, tactics, everything. It was a great day."

2017 International Masters Regatta day 1 - photo © Cynthia Sinclair

Andron placed second overall and was the winner of race 10 today. "We had a fun weekend, but we were all racing for second place. Bill Campbell is a well deserved champion and he sailed beautifully. My favourite race was the race we won. It was puffy and streaky and we were able to be in the right place at the right time."

With five bullets over three days, Bill Campbell was a powerhouse this weekend, earning his first place finish by 23 points. In addition to Lacey, this was also Bill's first time skippering the Masters Regatta, though he crewed for Richard du Moulin last year and for Malin Burnham a few years back.

Campbell has been sailing J/105s for a while now, but attributes his success in this regatta to his crew. "We were fortunate and lucky in many respects. I had a great crew: Al Pleskus on the bow, Chuck Sinks and Andy La Dow trimming, Dwight Allgood in the pit, and Vince Brun as tactician and helping in the back of the boat steering. It's easy when you have a bunch of great guys working for you. We had a wonderful time and we were fortunate to have a couple of great starts and races. We were able not to lose boats but always to gain boats if we had to."

Interestingly enough, Bill was not the only talented Campbell out on the San Diego Bay this weekend. Bill's son Andrew, the 2008 Olympian and Team Oracle USA America's Cup sailor, was racing the Extreme Sailing Series for Team Extreme San Diego. Luckily the Extreme Sailing Series was just up the bay off of Harbor Island and Bill's wife Sherri was able to split time on a spectator boat between events to be able to watch her husband and son!

Event organizers would like to thank everyone involved in this year's International Masters Regatta for all of their hard work on and off the water.

Overall Results:

The International Masters Regatta would like to thank its event sponsors: Helly Hansen, SD Boatworks, and Cutwater Spirits.

www.sdyc.org/masters