2017 Yachting Cup at San Diego Yacht Club - Day 1
by Emily Willhoft 6 May 2017 08:25 BST
5-7 May 2017
2017 Yachting Cup at San Diego day 1 © Bronny Daniels / North Sails
Day one of the 2017 Yachting Cup wrapped up early this evening after an exciting day on the water. With gray skies and temperatures in the mid-60s, racing occurred in the ocean and in San Diego Bay. The Yachting Cup will continue on Saturday and Sunday with racing on three ocean course venues each day.
While the rest of the city was out celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the Pac52s were celebrating their inaugural race as a Class out on the ocean course. Four boats (Fox, Invisible Hand, Rio, and Bad Pak) competed in three races on an especially long course, each leg measuring 1.7nm. After a slight postponement while the wind picked up, racing began at noon in about 10 knots of wind.
The first race almost mimicked a match race with Bad Pak slightly ahead of Rio and further down the course Invisible Hand just ahead of Fox. Bad Pak came out on top and won the first race, lighting a fire in Rio's belly that helped them win the second two races, ultimately finishing the day as the Class leader. Bad Pak and Rio are brand new boats, both arriving in San Diego weeks before Yachting Cup meaning the crews had very minimal time to practice together.
In fact, Rio had only been in the water for three days before racing today. Owner Manouch Moshayedi was pleased with how the first day went and determined that the day was successful, especially in the last race.
“The last race was a particularly good race for us. We were behind everyone at the start, but then we kept going and the other boats unfortunately tacked into the wrong shift and fell behind. We were able to catch up and win the race. But as a whole, today was a good test of the four boats in terms of performance both upwind and downwind."
Meanwhile, the Ton Cup got underway at 3pm in the bay also in about 10 knots of wind. Throughout the late afternoon, 35 boats raced in 3 classes. Leading the pack for the majority of the race was Abracadabra, an ACC skippered by Lorne Leibel from Oakville Yacht Club in Ontario, Canada. You can't miss this boat if you're out on the water spectating- it's covered in images of dolphins!
Viva La Vida ended up winning Class 1 with Abracadabra coming in fourth after the times were corrected. This Farr 40 is another newer boat, having only participated in two races prior to today's Ton Cup since it was purchased in January. Merry Cheers, crew on Viva La Vida, participated in the Yachting Cup for the first time today and was pleased with the results.
“The race was a lot of fun. Our tactician Dave is amazing- he has sailed around here for years and years, has many miles under his keel, and he put us in all the right spots. We had the current to contend with when we went towards the bridge and there were spots that were dead up by Coronado Island. But he was able to put us in all right spots by staying out away from the island and watching where the wind was coming from.”
Menace, a Farr 30 OD skippered by William Daffron from SBYC and Gray Goose, an Olson 30 skippered by Jeremy Quinton from DPYC were also Ton Cup class winners.
Following racing on Saturday and Sunday, the awards ceremony will be held at San Diego Yacht Club after the completion of races on Sunday, May 7 where prizes will be awarded by class.
Complete results from day one are posted here and more photos from the day are located here.
The Yachting Cup would like to thank its sponsors; Helly Hansen, Pantaenius, Lars Remodeling, Bay City Brewing Company, North Sails, Rigworks, Mount Gay Rum, Lemon & Line, Bare Republic, and Pirates Lair.