It was a rainy and wet weekend but we had 4 boats out and loads of new crews trying out the boats. Starting each day with some land drills, then launching with the extra students in the chase boats for quick swap outs, followed by a full debrief back on land. Exhausted and cold, but pumped for more. By the later half of day two, new crews took over all the boats as crew and skipper and were sailing well enough to get around the course on their own.
Big thanks to all the owners for bringing their boats to share and the coaches that were available on hand. Big grins all around. It’s always fun to watch someone’s first I-14 experience!
If you were at the clinic as a new sailor, I will be sending you a separate email with contacts in your specific area to meet up with and get you on the water again. -Paul
Another year and another Turkey Day regatta. Who doesn’t like two days of sailing along with two days of a full turkey dinner, with the opportunity to win a turkey for even more turkey dinner. You either take home the turkey or you are the turkey. There is nothing in between (other than a chicken).
This year’s Turkey Day was enjoyable as always. The turnout was 6 registered boats with 5 boats able to attend. On the water were (order of results): James Clarkson / Josh Leihe (1198 – Low and Angry), John Clark / Hoel Menard (1199 – Pros & Cons), Michael Leitch / Elizabeth Campbell (1195 – Winnie), Michael Lazzaro / DeVonn Zink (11 – Last Call) and Paul Galvez / Dan Roberts (1168 – Lokita). Brad Ruetenik had planned to come, but crew challenges inhibited him from joining in on the fun. I guess he’d won too many turkeys in the past and he hasn’t yet made it through cooking them all.
Usually this regatta is a light wind event and a nice start to the winter season. This time around it was a mix of moderately-heavy to light wind. The most challenging part was the wind direction. Usually a west to north-west breeze, this year it was a consistent east to north-east. Once on the water, the breeze was a manageable mid to high teens. But the challenge was getting on the water. The race committee seemed to recall past events where the 14s were consistently late to the start. So they opened the skippers meeting by calling out the 14s to ensure we made it to our start on time. I guess being late shamed does seem to work as there were no late arrivals for any start.
The more common launch is from the boat ramp, but that was backed up significantly, especially with the challenging wind direction. So the 14s, fully rigged, decided to alter the launch and head to the beach. The problem? How to avoid the power lines. It required all hands on deck to tip over the boats and walk them on their sides under three power lines. And once they reached the beach, navigating through a locked gate would have made it nearly impossible until the combo to the gate was found. Lazzaro / Zink were the only ones that decided to take on the doc launching, likely because they were pinned deep in the boat yard, but with a better line to the dock where they could break ranks and push through to launch. They were the first to get out on the water, where all other boats were exhausted from carrying only to have to deal with a further launch challenge – the direction of the boat (towards the deep water), the immediate fall off to depths that could not accommodate boat stability, and the need to install the foil without dragging through sand and mud.
Clark / Menard were the first to beach launch, rushing to get on the water without attaching all trapezes or the jib. But managed to make it out and eventually get the rest of the boat rigged to head to the race course. Leitch / Campbell were the 2nd and decided to make it a bit easier by moving closer to the harbor seawall in hopes of less gusty conditions, although the same challenges with getting the foil in place. Clarkson / Leihe were the 3rd to launch and seemed to make it out without a hitch (nice to have two examples of what not to do before launching). And finally, Galvez / Roberts were the last to attempt, where they had issues with the foil, capsized and eventually lost their caps due to bolts shearing off. At some point Galvez is going to have to replace the original parts put in place by Howie Hamlin back when the boat won Worlds. Unfortunately the issues caused them to not make it to the racecourse for the day.
On to the racing on Saturday. The 1st race was a single sausage course and the breeziest averaging mid teens with occasional gusts into the high teens. This was very manageable, although all were a bit rusty in remembering how to sail. Clarkson / Leihe led from start to finish and had a very nice mistake-free race. I believe they port tacked as course right seemed to be favored – either that or they tacked out quickly, which paid off with clear air and maintaining a fast pace. Their win was only by a small margin as racing was close. Leitch / Campbell followed closely behind to take a 2nd. Followed equally as close by Clark / Menard. Lazzaro / Zink took up the tail position to wrap up the 1st race.
The 2nd race was a double sausage course and was down to just three boats as Leitch / Campbell called it a day. The breeze also fell off quite a bit to high single digit averages with gusts into the low teens. Leitch had just returned the day prior from a trip to Egypt so jet lag was settling in fast and they decided to rest up and return again on Sunday. As seemed to be common for many of the races, Clarkson / Leihe got off to a fast start. Clark / Menard followed closely along with Lazzaro / Zink. Clark / Leihe rounded the top mark first with a decent lead. Clark / Menard followed in hot pursuit, gaining a lot on the downwind leg. Clarkson / Leihe held a lead in the 2nd upwind, but Clark / Menard overtook on the final downwind before the final upwind where they held off Clarkson / Leihe for the win. Lazzaro / Zink finished a bit further back as they continued to get the boat setup to sail fast.
Prior to further racing, it appeared the easterly was starting to fight the westerly and it would likely get worse before one would win out. Clarkson / Leihe and Clark / Menard decided to call it a day with the desire for more boats to be on the water to make racing more interesting. They did not consult with Lazzaro / Zink, who eventually finished and decided a turkey was on the line and stayed out for a third and final race of the day. The breeze had held and likely increased a tad making for a solid, although lonely, third race. Having only themselves as competition, they took the win. With the victory, Lazzaro / Zink led the regatta after the 1st day, followed a few points behind by Clarkson / Leihe and a further point behind by Clark / Menard. There was some catching up to do if either Clarkson / Leihe or Clark / Menard were to take home the turkey.
The racing on Sunday was very light to light, which made for some close racing and gave all boats a chance for overall victory. All 5 boats were on the water and ready for a fun day. The race committee set out for three races of which all were sailed. With Galvez / Roberts returning to the water, they opened up the day with two bullets. But racing was extremely close with Clarkson / Leihe taking 2nd, Clark / Menard taking 3rd and Leitch / Campbell taking 4th. All within a few boat lengths of each other. The success of Galvez / Roberts had a lot to do with quality starts, course decisions and maintaining a fast pace. There were plenty of opportunities to overtake, but Galvez / Roberts held off the other boats with solid sailing. Lazzaro / Zink completed the courses to take the final position.
The most exciting part of the day was the start of the 2nd race. There were three boats on starboard attempting to make the line and avoid the committee boat. The most leeward was Leitch / Campbell who were struggling to make the line with the need to eventually avoid the committee boat. The middle boat was Clark / Menard who were on track to just make the line and avoid the committee boat. Just windward was Clarkson / Leihe who were in the best position to make the line. Leitch / Campbell made a last minute decision to tack to avoid the committee boat (no, don’t tack, gybe) forcing Clark / Menard to tack to avoid a collision. Both boats went over, with Clark / Menard mast tip landing close to the leeward side of Clarkson / Leihe who (almost) avoided. Clark / Menard righted the boat quickly and continued sailing, with Leitch / Campbell eventually getting back to sailing (720 completed?). The smart ones were Galvez / Roberts and Lazzaro / Zink who stayed far away and had tacked over to port to stretch out a comfortable initial lead. In the end, sailing was very close as it was the entire regatta.
The last race was important to decide overall victory. Given the inability to compete on the first day, it was highly unlikely for Galvez / Roberts to achieve an overall win so they were sailing for race wins. Clarkson / Leihe had a 3 point lead over Clark / Menard, but anything could happen. The race was another extremely close race with multiple lead changes. Leitch / Campbell sailed a solid race. They held a close margin all the way to the final upwind, where it came down to a single tack on whether they would maintain their lead or be overtaken by Clark / Menard. They took the bullet followed closely by Clark / Menard. Clarkson / Leihe had a bit more challenging final leeward gate rounding, providing Clark / Menard an opportunity to pass with a fast douse and gybe. In the end, Clark / Menard took 2nd followed by Clarkson / Leihe in 3rd, Galvez / Roberts with a 4th and the final position by Lazzaro / Zink.
This was a unique regatta where every boat who sailed took a bullet and racing was extremely close throughout every race. Very enjoyable weekend. Final results were as follows:
Congratulations to Clarkson / Leihe for taking home the overall win and the 22 lbs turkey. Congratulations to Clark / Menard for a close 2nd and bringing home a 17 lbs chicken. I heard Menard cooked up the chicken and ate like a prince with his college roommates.
The third weekend in October saw six International 14s from Northern and Southern California converge on the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco for their annual Fall Dinghy Regatta.
Our course was a ~1mi windward-leeward course with mid-leg start and finish lines on the San Francisco Cityfront just off the Wave Organ, and was shared with fleets of 505s, ILCA 6s and C420/I420s for a total of approximately 70 boats, all seemingly racing in different directions at different times. Racing on the San Francisco Cityfront always presents a unique set of challenges, which were this weekend amplified by unpredictable (by San Francisco standards) winds and rocking ebb tide through the duration of each racing day that whipped up a steep, short chop that put a premium on boat handling, complicated layline calls, and added many other wind, water, and geographic complexities not found on a more “normal” racecourse.
The first day saw winds in the high teens and low 20s in the morning while the teams rigged up on the St Francis lawn, with a brief wind respite during launching before really turning on just in time for the first race, with gusts reaching into the 30 and even 40-knot range as measured by the weather station on the Golden Gate Bridge. Pushed by a 1.5-2.5kt ebb tide, teams ripped upwind towards the favored right side at speeds over the bottom that reached into the low teens. USA 1200 was first to tack back, with a good layline call to reach the weather mark with a clear lead, followed by USA 1198 with USA 1186 shortly behind. Unfortunately the conditions proved to be too much, with each boat capsizing in spectacular fashion (some multiple times) during the requisite bear-away, with one particularly visible orange-hulled ’14 drawing a stunned crowd as she limped over to the shallows in front of Crissy Beach to strike her sails and secure a tow home. DNFs all around for Saturday’s race, but thankfully no major breakages on day one beyond some scrapes and scuffs to go with the bruised egos.
Conditions on the second day made for far better sailing. After a 45 min AP delay on the water to wait out a 3-5kt northerly, the Golden Gate did her thing and the first race got off just before noon in 15-18kts of breeze from the west over the same ebb tide as the first day. Conditions like this strongly favor heading to the right upwind to take advantage of the east-west tidal current between the cityfront and Alcatraz, before rounding the weather mark and banging hard down the course left (sailor’s right) to Crissy Beach and the Cityfront shoreline for some relief from the current and of course to provide a spectacle of well-executed spinnaker work for our hosts watching from the StFYC race deck.
After the days’ four completed races, San Diego YC’s Ruetenik/Wilkinson sailed USA 1200 “Astragulus Too” as though they were both still SF locals, with precise layline calls despite the currents, great speed, and several bold port-tack starts to take an early lead towards that favored right side upwind, all resulting in an untouchable 1-1-2-1 scoreline and overall win. The competition for second place was fierce, with Richmond YC rivals Twardowski/Skafel in USA 1186 “Atomic Punk” trading places (and occasionally, paint) with Clark/Menard’s USA 1199 “Pros & Cons” and Clarkson/Leihe’s USA 1198 “Low and Angry”, with only one point separating the three boats after the four races. In the end it was Twardowski/Skafel’s single bullet that proved clinch in the tiebreaker to take second place, followed by Clark/Menard in third and Clarkson/Leihe in fourth overall. Puckey/Mobley’s newly-built Hollum AUS 681 “Escaped Confict” (and Mobley’s recently-healed hip fracture) showed early promise with a 3rd place finish in the first race, but a breakdown in the new standing rigging meant letters on their scoreline for the rest of the series. After completing the first two races, Lazzaro/Zink were spotted tearing across the horizon, speed-testing their new-to-them Bieker 5 USA 1178 “Last Call”, looking very fast under three sails framed by the Golden Gate Bridge.
On behalf of the International 14 fleet, our appreciation goes out to the St Francis Yacht Club for their professionalism in running an excellent regatta despite the difficult conditions, and of course for their on-water support and excellent post-race hospitality. Thank you also to Ruetenik/Wilkinson and Puckey/Mobley for making the long trip from out-of-town for the event.
The Bay to Bay is a scenic, exhilarating, mostly downwind 31 mile point to point race from Mission Bay Yacht Club to Southwestern Yacht Club in beautiful, sunny San Diego.
This weekend 4 teams from SDYC, CBYC, and MBYC came together for the event. I was lucky enough to find time to stop in on my way back to Hawaii to get on the water for some classic fourteen fun. I’d like to give a huge thanks to Brad Reutenik, Terry Gleeson and Cameron Puckey for helping sort the logistics of getting boats and trailers to and from Mission Bay. Brad was very gracious in setting up my brother and I with a great b5 for Andrew Wilkinson’s first time out on a fourteen!!
We were blessed with champagne sailing conditions of 8-15kts, building throughout the race, and sunny clear skies. We started just offshore at noon this Saturday and set our kites in light breeze and following seas for a relaxing run, beer in hand (for better or worse). The fleet stayed very tight as we made our decent to Point Loma. After focusing a little too much on our beers and not enough on keeping the boat moving we flipped to windward and lost a good bit of ground on the fleet. Quickly we righted our boat, set again and cracked another beer. Michael Leitch and Liz opted for an early gybe back toward shore while the rest of us stayed offshore on starboard. Props to tangled up Terry and Devonn for being the first (we assume) fourteeners to catch a fish on their rudder foil! Some angry fisherman didn’t find it as comical. After our simogybe to lead back Cameron and Brad we found ourselves surfing up to second place just behind Mike and Liz who had made significant gains opting for the inside line. The racing stayed nice and tight between the top 3 boats as we made our way through the very puffy, shifty “Gauntlet” section under Point Loma. Unfortunately Terry ended up back a ways figuring out how to filet his fish.
Coming into San Diego harbor proved to be a bit tricky in avoiding many large motor yachts out to see the blue angels and shifty breeze. As we turned the corner to head down toward Coronado Bridge, Mike and Liz set their kite early in hopes to make a high reach over the point. As breeze picked up to 12-15kts they ended up under their layline forced to douse. We opted to stay on a fast two sail reach until we were sure that we could make it around the point with our kite up. Here we made our gain on Mike and Liz as they had to sail a longer distance with two sails to get away from the shoreline.
Once we set again, it was a blast ripping down the 3-4 mile stretch to the Coronado bridge, weaving between rental sailboats and Instagram models on jet skis along the way. Mike and Liz close behind split from us and rounded the eastern side of the bridge while we went to the west. Their upwind speed was quite good and with great crew work, Mike and Liz once again gained the lead.
The final upwind leg from Coronado Bridge to SWYC was fast and fun with 15kts+ of breeze, but tricky maneuvering through the busy harbor. At 3:26:30 we marked our finish time and made our way to the SDYC junior dock where JP Barnes was waiting to help us out of the water.
Terry invited us up to the infamous Loma Kai Sailing Club for a delicious (and dangerously strong) post sailing rum refreshment and pizza party. Mike and Liz were awarded the loosely glued together cup and filled it with wine for us all to drink from before breaking it over Mike’s head!
This was an incredible weekend of fourteens with good laughs and plenty of rum. I hope to be back next year to do it again and submit my application to join the LKSC!
A small yet very competitive field of eight International Fourteens flocked to LA Harbor to sail the US Nationals in “Hurricane Gulch” at Cabrillo. Known to locals as the windiest spot in SOCAL during the summer, this venue usually delivers the goods. The fleet consisted of at least four former National Champions along with teams from San Francisco, Santa Barbara, LA, and San Diego. In addition, a few newer up and comers traveled from as far as Hawaii and Seattle. The three-day event consisted of a total of nine races: eight inside the Federal Breakwater and one 15 mile Long Distance Race (a Fourteen Nationals Tradition) going outside Angels Gate and return.
Day One brought the typical Gulch breeze from the West with mid to high teens and some stronger puffs for good measure. Two Races scheduled. Race 1 was a short warm up sprint with Gleeson/Barnes taking the win. Race 2 was the Long Distance to Pt. Fermin and back twice around in building breeze and a stacking ebb at Angel’s Gate. Gleeson/Barnes, Ruetenik/Kassler, and Galvez/Roberts all trading places at the top upwind and down. By lap two, it was Galvez/Roberts taking the lead and never looking back to finish first.
Day Two was forecasted to be just slightly lighter, with winds light and out of the South, the fleet waited for it to fill in and stabilize. Race 3 started a bit on the light side but enough to double trap. Gleeson/Barnes get the win, followed by Galvez/Roberts and Leitch /Campbell. By Race 4, the typical breeze is back on with 3 laps. Galvez/Roberts take this one, and Ruetenik/Kassler starting to get some pace earning a second with their single spreader REEFED setup, with Gleeson/Barnes third. Race Five and Gleeson/Barnes win again. Race 6 goes to Galvez/Roberts at the windy last race of the day. It’s turning into a nice dual here with both Teams tied by days end.
Day Three brought the lightest winds, some single wiring and 2 postponements in Race 7 from the RC due to 35 degree shifts. We start and sure enough, the shift swings big again. Those on the wrong side were heavily penalized. Ruetenik/Kassler get their first win with the REEF shook out, followed by Clarkson/Leihe, then Gleeson/Barnes. By Race 8, the breeze direction stabilizes some but remains light. Gleeson/Barnes take this one with Ruetenik/Kassler second and Galvez/Roberts third. Race 9, the final race remains on the lighter side. Ruetenik/Kassler win followed by Leitch/Campbell, then Galvez/Roberts. Great sailing all around.
A heard fought weekend mixed with some great camaraderie in the evenings on 6th and 7th Street. Thanks to all the teams who made the trip and a big Congrats to Terry and JP. Good to see the new boat going well.
Spectacular Sierra Skiff Weekend at High Sierra Regatta
Perched at 7000 feet elevation in the Sierra Nevada, Huntington Lake offers incredible scenery and fantastic sailing.
Along with the sailing there is camping, hiking, fishing , and good plain fun to be had with family and friends in a spectacular setting.
The High Sierra Regatta is widely known among one design classes up and down the state of California. Every year, sailors from all over make the trek up the mountain to sail at Huntington Lake which offers crystal clear fresh water, plenty of sunshine, epic sailing, and a top-notch race committee to handle the many classes that come to race here. The US Fourteen Fleet has been coming to this event for over 40 years! In the last 12 or so years, droughts threatened the water levels, then the forest fires, then the pandemic, the event fell off the radar. It was still going on and off sporadically but the 14’s moved on and elsewhere to other venues.
About 3 years ago, my wife Yvonne suggested we revisit this event and bring back the tradition, so we sent in a fleet request to the organizers and they were more than excited to host the 14’s again. Not an easy task considering how many boats want to sail there. We went and had a blast sailing, camping, and hiking. All in the fresh mountain air and crystal waters. It’s been back on our calendar ever since. Week 1 is for small boats while Week 2 is reserved for keelboats. This year marked the 69th Anniversary of this event with about a dozen one design fleets along with the Moths and 14’s which tore the lake up all weekend.
The lake is just over 4 miles long and about a half mile at its widest point (see link below).
It can be a challenging place to sail, with the shore contour manipulating the puffs as they come down. You can be Hero to Zero in about a minute if you are out of sync with the many puffs.
With so many boats on the water, the RC does a impressive job of managing the chaos with a restricted starting area, multiple courses and laps for different fleets as they go up and down the lake. The courses can get interesting when you round the weather mark up at the top then set the kite for a run down most of the length of the lake down as you try to hook into a nice VMG puff, then to a tight starboard rounding near a close lee shore with a crowd watching, back up to either a mini beat or tight reach, back down to a two sail jibe mark, then hoist the kite again if you dare (rock island in the lee) another jibe down to the last leeward mark back up to finish. Phew! You get your exercise and the thinner air reminds you of this.
A small but very competitive fleet of five 14’s made the trek up the hill this year and Huntington did not disappoint.
Saturday offered perfect breeze in the 12-15 knot range and beautiful flat water. Starts are conducted near shore with the RC on land. The courses varied which made it interesting and the racing was extremely close. Galvez/Roberts steal the first race, with Clark/Barnes taking the next two. Most boats were overlapped at the marks and trading places up and down the lake. Every once in a while, a boat would miss out on a shift and get flushed back yet still close enough to recover if they could. This is the beauty of a small venue like this, keeping the fleet tight!
Sunday brings on a bit more breeze up to about 18 with some bumps on the water thrown in for good measure. Galvez/Roberts take the first race again with Clark/Barnes close behind. Both teams now tied for first. In the next race Leitch/Campbell bite back at the start and force Clark/Barnes over early but they recover. Clarkson/Leihe showed great speed upwind. Galvez/Roberts lead to the top mark then promptly tip over as they fast tack to avoid a hole (perhaps too fast). Clark/Barnes pass and eek out in the last race and win the regatta. Nice job guys.
Everyone has upped their game here at the lake with the tight racing and boat handling. You don’t have a choice as you run out of water quickly. What a great weekend!
Win or lose, big grins all around. Can’t wait until next year!
Note: The event photos have not been released yet. I’ll post more pics as they become available.
The Pacific Rim Championships were recently held at Kaneohe Yacht Club on Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, HI. 17 boats participated in the event. 11 boats came over from the mainland via Pasha shipping, the title sponsor for the event. This event started in 2001 and is a typically sailed every other year, and is one of the most anticipated events on the International 14 calendar world wide. Numerous overseas sailors have come and participated in this event over the years from AUS, CAN, GBR, GER, ITA, JPN and SUI. This year was no exception with GBR and ITA teams coming and using chartered boats to sail. There were also 6 local Hawaiian boats sailing as the local HI fleet remains strong and has shown a good deal of younger sailors interested in the class. Pasha shipping has sponsored this event for several years, and as a way to thank the local shipping company the I 14 fleet runs a Jr. clinic each year introducing the young local sailors to skiff sailing and trying to teach some ‘tricks of the trade’. These kids are great sailors already as they are sailing in the consistent 15-20 kt. Tradewinds most of the year. They are sailing in numerous different boats from a young age and are not ‘pigeon holed’ into a certain type of boat which we see in so many other areas. They are sailing El Toros, and Toppers, a few 420s, but usually quickly expand into 29ers, Kite foiling and Waspz. Very multidimensional sailors come out of this training and they are not afraid to try something new.
The two containers from LA & SF were unloaded and boats put together on Thur. afternoon with a few boats getting out for an evening shakedown. The Thur. evening beer can races were well attended by the local club members and several of the 14ers jumped on local boats to get their lead poisoning fix! Fri saw more boat prep. and tuning sails in 14-18 kts. Unfortunately, there are some channels with surrounding reefs on both sides on the entrance/exit to the club as well as a few spots out in the bay. These caught a few of the first time Kaneohe sailors, and there was some carbon and board repairs occurring Fri evening,
The event started on Sat AM with a skippers meeting informing the fleet that we would be sailing every race under a U-flag, apparently the RC did not want to deal with any OCSs. This event was also scheduled for 3 days of racing, planning to get 9 races in. Oh, and no throw outs! The 4th day is sch. for the ‘Hawaii State Championships’, which is a reverse handicap distance race starting LeMans style off the bulkhead, a tour around Kaneohe Bay then outside in the large ocean swell across to Coconut Island (remember seeing Gilligan’s Island – that’s it!) and back into the bay via the ship channel – the highlight of the week.
Racing Sat. started with the predicted 18-20 kts. of Tradewinds. At the end of the day the RC reported some 25 kt gusts had come through. The fleet was somewhat tentative at the starts due to the U-flag. The legs were approx. 1 mile windward / leeward with an offset mark at the top and single leeward mark. First race was single lap windward / leeward with Paul Galvez and Daniel Roberts drawing first blood in Paul’s B5. Brad Ruetenik and Garrett Brown were 2nd in Brad’s B6 with borrowed single spreader rig from Channing Hamlet who couldn’t make it to HI (Thanks and sorry Channing and Pete). Third was Charles Duchesne and Adam Ovington our GBR visitors in Terry Gleason’s borrowed Hollom (2 x World champ boat 2015-2016). After a long delay between races trying to get boats finished, we sailed another 1 lap race which was later reportedly completed in 12 min. The race was won by Brad and Garrett in there reefed, small jib set-up, Charlie and Adam were 2nd, and John Clark and Michael Lazzaro sailed very well and were 3rd in John’s beautiful modified B6. Race three was run as a two lap W/L and was again won by Paul and Danial, with Brad and Garrett 2nd and James Clarkson and Josh Leihe finishing in 3rd in Jame’s Hollom. There was also lots of great sailing and racing in the mid fleet where the boats still match up well. Most of the Hawaiian fleet has purposefully stayed in the slightly older boats where there is another award for the boats older than B5s, which came into being in 2005. These are mostly B2s and 3s with a couple modified Ice hulls. A fourth race was not in the cards on Sat., so the fleet returned to KYC and the Mai Tais and the BS started.
Sun., day two, started with the predicted breeze being slightly less than Sat. but still 14-18, beautiful skiff sailing breeze. We did get four races in with race four being won by Charlie and Adam, 2nd to Terry Gleason and JP Barnes in Terry’s newer Hollom, and 3rd to Paul and Daniel. Race five saw Brad and Garrett win, Charlie & Adam 2nd, and Terry and JP 3rd. Race six was again won by Charlie and Adam, 2nd to Brad and Garrett, and 3rd to Terry and JP. Race seven saw Charlie and Adam win again, thus winning the day. Brad & Garrett were 2nd, and 3rd was taken by James and Josh. The breeze was close to predicted with a few more powerful 20 kt gusts coming through during the day, but there were also some light spots which could easily catch you out.
Day three stated with slightly lighter predicted conditions of 14-16. Again, the U-flag continued to fly holding the fleet back for the most part, apparently there was one anxious sailor called OCS. Race eight was won by Brad and Garrett which was later thrown out on a Port / Starboard protest, leaving Charlie and Adam to win the race. Michael Leitch and Elizabeth Campbell were 2nd in their newish to them B6. James and Josh were 3rd. Race nine was again won by Brad and Garrett, Charlie and Adam in 2nd, and Terry and JP in 3rd. This allowed Charlie and Adam to win the 2022 I-14 Pac Rim Championship. Brad and Garrett 2nd, Paul and Daniel 3rd, James and Josh 4th, and Kirk Twardowski and Matt Skafel in 5th in Kirk’s B6. Elizabeth Campbell was the first woman’s finisher. In the Silver class (older boats pre B5) JP Lattanzi and Gavin Ball were 1st in their B3, Kerri Harris and Bryce Huntoon in a B3 were 2nd, Tom Pochereva and Yovo Stefanov were 3rd in a B2, and Maddy Kennedy and Patrick Wilson were 4th in a B3.
There were also some newer 14 sailors who came over to HI to continue their learning curves. Dan Keseler and Mats Elf in Dan’s B5 and Ted Conrads and Dave Kenny in Ted’s B6 were both victims of the reef at times, but both agreed they learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the sailing and support from the fleet. They both will continue to work at sailing these boats. Dan is a prior M24 National Champ and Ted has been top 5 in 505 Worlds. Looking forward to these guys continuing to learn these boats, and watch out everyone as they are coming on quickly!
On Sun morning we set up the top two boats on dry land and had a few of the top crews and drivers go through the boats with the KYC Jr. sailors. We then showed several dry land movements through the boats for both tacks and gybes as crew and skippers. After this, the Jr. sailors took turns going through the boats doing tacks and gybes wire to wire with support and instruction by some of the top 14 sailors in the country. This was very well received by the Jr. Sailors and Pasha executives.
The last day of sailing was Tue. for the much anticipated Long Distance race, which by my tracker was approximately 20 mi. and took us a bit under 2 hrs. to complete. As previously stated this is a reverse handicap race so the last place boat starts first and each boat is given a handicap, usually approx. 2 min./boat. Thus the first place boat starts 30 + min. after the initial boat. This is a very fun event and allows the slower boats to see what some of the top boats are doing if they can get past. There is always a bit of dock banter as to where some people finished in the event and their starting position off the dock. Not that there would ever be any ‘Sand bagging” in an attempt to set up a good spot for the “Hawaii State Championship”. The race involves setting a kite almost immediately off the dock, navigating the aforementioned corral reefs exiting and entering the club. There is essentially and windward leeward on the waters we have been sailing all weekend, then a reach down the bay until you drop kite and continue reaching to the San Pan Channel, exiting beside the Marine Corps Air Station, which is a 150-200 m wide channel out into open ocean with breaking waves on both sides and 6-8’ swell running. After exiting this channel there is an approx. 2-3 mi beam reach in even bigger swell across to the entrance to the Ship cannel. This is upwind of the famous Kaneohe Bay “Sand Bar” reef with breaking waves across the front. Big gear shifts are required while down between swells and then back up on top where the wind dies and builds on each wave. We head across to the entrance of the ship channel, then turn downwind towards Chinamen’s Hat (Gilligan’s Island) which we sail by on the downwind big swell entrance back into the bay. From there it is a 2 sail reach back across under the Kaneohe Bay “Sand Bar”, again navigating the reefs on both sides. Then on back to the club entrance and a shifty puffy upwind finish through the entrance channel. Terry and JP won this race as they were first to finish. Some of the local Jrs., JP Lattanzi and Gavin Ball sailed great for 2nd in a B3 (these guys are going to be great – watch out skiffies). Local Hawaiians Michael Pacholski and Patrick Tara in a B5 finished in 3rd.
After all back in safe, the container loading party commenced with 5 boats returning to LA and 6 boats back to SF. 2 boats made the one way trip out to HI, one B3 which was sold and will stay in HI and Andy Bates B5 which will stay in HI for the time being until the next big event.
Thanks to Kaneohe Yacht Club, one of the nicest and most enjoyable clubs I’ve ever sailed out of. Thanks also to Andy Bates and Maureen who work tirelessly to allow us to sail these amazing boats in an amazing setting. If you ever have the chance to sail 14s in Kaneohe, don’t hesitate!
Cabrillo’s “Hurricane Gulch” serves up another loving spoonful of Skiff Bliss.
Mike Pacholski and James Clarkson give us this colorful write up on how it all went down. If you didn’t make it this year, you missed a ton of fun. We are looking at hosting Nationals at this same venue later this year (TBD). In the meantime, here is Mike and Jame’s write-up. Thanks Guys!
Very little planning went into the lead up to Midwinters. A last second work trip allowed me to be in Seattle on Friday and a bit of shopping around and I found some flights to get me down to LA for the regatta and then back to Hawaii. James committed to driving the boat down and that was that.
Day 0: a few beers that night between friends at the hotel bar. The bartender left before we did.
Day 1: Skippers Meeting and Black Ribbons handed out. Note that we lost avid 14er and friend Ted Rogers about a week earlier. In honor of Ted, every boat in the fleet would fly his ribbon with his sail number on the clew of our mainsails for the length of this regatta. We got the boat rigged up and did a general systems check. A 12:30 start gave us plenty of time to get things in order. We had about 10-12 knots of breeze at go time. Things seemed to be running pretty smoothly and we weren’t expecting much. Our plan was to sail low-risk laps. Two tacks upwind and two gybes downwind. We really liked banging the sea wall corner on the way up and down the course. The breeze seemed more consistent and probably slightly more pressure as well.
Race 1: We found ourselves with a good start, being the boat furthest to the left of the course and significantly fast. We had to duck Brad and Terry at the windward lay line and then botched our tack. Oh well. I was too excited and fumbled the sheet or something. We figured there would be a few moments like this since we hadn’t practiced at all. We sailed the rest of the race consistently and finished 4th. Michael and Elizabeth got us near the finish I believe.
Race 2: We had a great start and sailed low and fast. We didn’t look back but video evidence shows we had a 37 second delta at the top mark. The left was definitely working. Unfortunately we weren’t sure what the course was but knew we should sail downwind through the finish after lap 2, 3, and 4 if we didn’t get a horn. We sailed a consistent race but Paul and Daniel were unstoppable. They slowly chipped away at our lead and eventually made the pass on lap 3. James and I flipped on lap 4 headed to the finish but managed to pop the boat back up and finish before Brad could pass us.
That Saturday evening, the fleet meeting went well and we are all working on adding to our fleet exposure to get current members out of the woodwork and interested sailors out for a ride. Many empty beer cans were produced.
Sunday forecast was supposed to be a little lighter than Saturday. Conditions looked like they were forming much like on Saturday. We prepped for big breeze and headed out just in time for the start.
Race 3: (2x around) we got a good start, probably a little too close above Brad and he gave us a good pinch off. We held our lane for a while then put the bow down and continued out to the break wall. Can’t recall positions at the top but I think we were in 3rd with Brad in the 1 and Galvez in the 2. Positions didn’t change over the course of the race but had a hairy mishap with Terry at the leeward mark where he rounded to starboard (missing a gate mark). The rest of the race was uneventful although I believe we were dodging Cal 20s to get to the finish. Michael and Elizabeth passed us right at the downwind finish.
Race 4: 3 laps. The breeze was picking up about a knot every minute between races. James and I shifted gears back to the settings we had on day 1. We were feeling fast and ready to go. We had a good start, Galvez rolled everyone off the line and was smashing upwind in the building breeze. James and I had better point and comparable speed. We rounded with Galvez and Brad at the top mark and sailed closely with them to the leeward mark. Galvez rounded ahead of us and Brad came in hot on starboard and forced us to put the breaks on. We had an early douse and Brad flipped. (Coming in too hot and not heeding our warning hand signals.) James and I continued trucking upwind following Paul and Daniel. They had great speed but they flipped in a tack and we ended up passing them on the right side of the course. After that we sailed a couple of consistent laps and took the win. Galvez was close behind.
Looking at the score sheet Paul Galvez and Daniel Roberts were unchallenged with 2 bullets and 2 seconds. James/Pacholski and Brad/JP had matching scores and James/Pacholski won the tie breaker on the count back. Michael/Elizabeth finished 4th with Terry/Aidan in 5th, and John/Lazzaro in 6th.
Unfortunately Terry and Aidan had an incident that ended their regatta and sent Aidan into the mast and subsequently to the hospital with a broken hip. I hear that he is recovering and is able to walk. All of the 14 fleet is hoping for a quick recovery for Aidan and we look forward to the day you can get back out on the wire.
The next fleet event is the Sailing World Regatta in San Diego March 25-27th. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
On Mar 24-27 the Sailing World Helly Hanson Regatta Series came to San Diego. This series replaces the long standing Sailing World NOOD regattas and is probably more appropriate as the majority of boats are no longer Offshore and many are not One Design. The International 14s continue to sail this event, again using it as our West Coast Championship event. We sailed in San Deigo South Bay out of Coronado Yacht Club. Always fun to get over to Coronado which feels like a vacation spot even to the local San Diego boats. We had ten boats participating this year which was really only the third significant event sailed in the post Covid era. A few new boats and and few boats we haven’t seen in a while were present. A couple Seattle boats came down with Kris Bundy and Jamie Hansler sailing together on the B6. Dan Kaesler and Evan Walker, sailing only their second 14 event, in a B5 representing ‘Raptor Deck’. The San Francisco fleet sent James Clarkson and Josh Leihe on James’ Hollum, and John Clark and Michael Lazzaro on John’s B6. We also saw Ron Boehm’s ‘Sweet Jane’ B5 reappear sailed by JV Gilmore and ‘Maartin’ Fabiansson, who flew in from Sweden to join the fun. L.A. was represented by Michael Leitch and Elizabeth Campbell sailing their new to them B6 which has replaced the Woody (great trade up guys). And Paul Galvez and Danial Roberts sailing Paul’s B5. The local San Diego fleet was represented by Terry Gleason and JP Barnes sailing Terry’s new Hollum “Dunder Pit” – be sure to ask Terry to explain the name to you next time you see him! Channing Hamlet and Pete Stanton sailing Channing’s Red B6. And finally Brad Ruetenik and Hawaiian import crew Michael Pacholski sailing Brad’s older B5 Astragalus (after breaking a rig the prior weekend on the B6)
The 14s set out to sail 2-3 races on Fri. Pre-race there was an abnormally strong right breeze coming down the bay from the Coronado Bay Bridge as opposed to the normal onshore breeze coming across the narrow sand spit dividing South Bay from the open ocean and the ‘Coronado Roads’. Just as the RC was ready to get the first race going for the F18s, I14s and FDs on the north course some of the more normal left breeze started to come in. Thus, an AP went up and we waited for another 45 min. or so hoping the breeze will normalize. Eventually, the RC split the difference and sent the fleets up under the Navy base off Glorietta Bay in some puffy, shifty breeze. The first race was the start of a fairly consistent race series. Terry and JP won the first of many races in the “Dunder Pit”. Brad and Michael were second in Astragalus, and Michael and Elizabeth were third in their new B6. Do to the delay, we requested the “Distance Race” as our second race so we wouldn’t be out there all evening. We sailed our usual windward / leeward course, then sailed up under the Coronado Bay Bridge past downtown to Fleet Mooring Bouy 19, back to to channel marker 23, back to FM19 doing a couple laps on the city front, then and back under the bridge to South Bay and the finish line. Again, Terry and JP showed their speed and won the race followed by Brad & Michael in second followed by Channing and Pete in third.
We had a short meeting that evening discussing logistics of shipping the fleet to Hawaii for the upcoming Pacific Rim Championships in Kaneohe Bay on Oahu, Hawaii later in April. A container will go from both SF and LA. We also discussed the logistics of shipping boats to the Germany Worlds in Flensburg Germany at the end of July.
Sat. sailing commenced with somewhat more normal South Bay breeze. We sailed four two lap Windward / Leeward races for the day. Initially, the results remains similar to Fri with Terry and JP winning the first race, Kris and Jamie got going with a second followed by Brad and Michael in third. Race two finally changed up and bit with Kris and Jamie in first, Terry & JP settle for second, with Brad and Michael third again. The rest for the fleet continued to mix it up and have some very close racing with finishes all very close, some of the closest 14 racing I’ve seen in a long time. Race three was again a small change with Brad and Michael winning, Terry & JP in second again and then a great showing bye James and Josh finishing in third and showing some great speed. Race four had Terry & JP wining again, followed by Kris & Jamie in second and then Channing and Pete getting in the action with a third.
Sun was sch. for 2 additional races with a possible additional if the wind cooperated. The breeze was more left with some prefrontal breeze coming in. Normally, left breeze in South Bay means go left and get out to the top of the course in more breeze. We tried that a few times and it just wasn’t working like normal. The boats who got to the top right were often coming across the top of the course in a nice right lift which again is not normal South Bay strategy at least not in left breeze. Didn’t much matter for Terry and JP as their speed kept them in front no matter what. “They won another 3 races on Sun. Michael and Elizabeth were up to second in race one with Kris and Jamie in third. On race two The ‘Dunder Pit’ won again, followed by James and Josh getting their second place finish and Brad & Michael getting third. The last race had Terry and JP win again with Paul & Danial getting in on the action with a second place followed by Kris and Jamie in third.
Fortunately most of us got some cold refreshments handed to us by Cameron Puckey and Renee in the chase boat for the sail in. Boats were pack and headed either back to Seattle, SF, LA and for us lucky ones who get to stay in SD. As always, love sailing these boat and the group of people in the fleet who are all very friendly and extremely helpful with ideas and trying to get everyone faster. The fleet continues to be very supportive of the newbies as we all know too well these boats are extremely challenging , but very rewarding to sail. Can’t wait to sail in Kaneohe next month!
