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!
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!
