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Day Three Report – Sunday, March 29
With a Black Flag disqualification in Race Three, Junior Chris Barnard from Newport Harbor YC was able to stay ‘under the radar’ until the discard kicked in. At that point he was tied with regatta leader, Derick Vranizan from Seattle YC. The two went into the final race of the regatta just a point apart. Suddenly the other 53 boats in the Full Rig Class were no longer important as the two boats match raced for the crown. Both competitors logged their only double digit finishes of the regatta, and although Barnard finished 13th, he was two boat lengths ahead of Vranizan to win his class. 51 year old Chris Raab, a Laser master, took the final spot on the Full Rig podium with only one double-digit finish on his nine race scorecard.
Nevin Snow from San Diego YC won both of the races in the Radial Class on the final day - which moved him solidly into third place. Santa Barbara’s Oliver Toole led the class from wire to wire and won the event - aided by five bullets in the nine races. Acapulco’s Erik Brockman took second place with all single digit finishes. Amazingly, his discard was only a seventh place.
It’s been a while since a more aggressive fleet has raced at CYC – a fact that is underscored by the 44 Black Flag Disqualifications on the event score sheet.
Day Two Report – Saturday, March 28
The high pressure area that’s anchored over Southern California is bringing great beach weather for Los Angeles residents, but it’s doing no favors for the 124 boats competing in the Laser Midwinters West Regatta. Day Two looked a lot like Day One, although happily, much of the kelp that was such a problem on Friday has mysteriously disappeared. However, the wind on the Santa Monica Bay remains in the five (maybe four) to seven knot range, with some subtle and some not so subtle wind shifts. And if you believe the weatherman, the high pressure - and the light air that goes with it - is going to hang around until Monday. That will be too late for those who came to this regatta looking for surfing conditions.
Today was a long day on the water. Four races scheduled, four races completed, and no one got back to the dock much before six p.m. Everyone was exhausted.
The black flag was flown for all starts today, but even the enormous jeopardy it mandates was not enough to keep all of the competitors out of harm’s way. 34 sailors logged a BFD - Black Flag Disqualification - on their scorecard today for being too aggressive on the starting line.
Even Full Rig Class leader Derick Vranizan had a BFD in race five, but his 7-1-2 finishes in the other three races kept him on top with 14 points - after the BFD was discarded. He’s tied with Junior Chris Barnard from Newport Harbor YC – who had his BFD yesterday. Master Sailor Chris Raab slid into third place – eight points behind the Full Rig leaders - despite three single digit finishes today, plus a discarded BFD.
Certainly the best effort of the day was turned in by Santa Barbara Yacht Club Junior Oliver Toole in the Radial Class. His 3-1-1-1 series propelled him to the top of that class with a six-point lead over Acapulco’s Erik Brokman. Neither of these front runners is keeping a double digit score, but Brokman’s present discard is only a sixth while Toole is throwing out a 17th.
Two races are scheduled for the Sunday windup.
Day One Report – Friday, March 27
Day one was light – real light. The anemometer probably bounced up to eight knots a couple of times during the afternoon, but for most of the day it was closer to six knots … and sometimes five … and occasionally four knots. And there was also a bunch of kelp on the Santa Monica Bay. Big island of kelp. It was interesting to see all of the top boats in the fleet check their rudders for weed as they rounded the weather mark in each race. That didn’t happen as often on the boats further back, which may have explained why those boats were further back.
But in spite of the light air – or maybe because of it - the fleet was extremely aggressive on the starting line. On the first full rig start, probably more than half of the fleet was OCS with 10 seconds still being counted down. General Recall. The “I Flag” on the next attempt reduced the number of premature starters, but it still resulted in a General Recall. The race committee had the “Z Flag” up for the next attempt with identical results and the “Black Flag” on attempt number four still produced yet another general recall.
The aggressive behavior got turned down a click when those “black flag offenders” were ushered off the course for the fifth attempt, and the full rig fleet was allowed to sail to the weather mark without being called back - finally. The black flag was flown for all subsequent starts with only one additional General Recall signaled on Friday.
Don’t try to convince Derick Vranizan of the Seattle Yacht Club that this was a tough day. He had a 1-2-1 in the three light air races to take a six point lead over Southern Californian Chris Raab – a Master sailor who is closing in on the Grand Master classification. Raab is the only other Full Rig sailor with all single digit finishes – 5-1-4.
Erik Brokmann had three second place finishes in the Radial Class to take a five point lead over Nevin Snow – a junior sailor from San Diego. Another junior, Oliver Toole, won the first two races, but a disastrous 16th in race three moved him down to fourth place, five points behind junior sailor Diego Reyes, who posted a 3-9-1 scorecard.
Fifty seven of the 124 regatta entries raced in the Full Rig class, while even more sailed in the 67-boat Radial class.
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California Yacht Club is pleased to host the Laser Midwinters West for the class which Sailing World calls “the purest high-performance one design ever created.” Over 100 sailors are expected to compete in the Full Rig, Radial and 4.7 classes, in an event which also serves as the third race in the Ullman/Frost Series.
Trophies will be awarded following the races to the top competitors in each of the three classes with additional prizes given to the top juniors in the Full Rig class and the top sailor in each of the masters’ classes. Thirty Grand Prix points will be awarded.
Snacks and fresh water during each racing day, refreshments after racing on Friday and Sunday, a Saturday evening barbeque and a regatta tee shirt are included with the entry fee.
Please contact CYC Dockmaster Ty Olsen at ty.olsen@calyachtclub.net or 310.823.4567 for information and arrangements for boat storage immediately preceding and following the regatta.
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