Dampened Spirits in San Diego
Sailing World San Diego NOOD, March 15, 2003
It never rains in San Diego. If there werent a regatta today, I would have never left my house. Does anyone have any foul weather gear I can borrow?
These were just a few of the many conversation starters this morning as sailors arrived at the San Diego YC for the second day of the Sailing World National Offshore One Design Regatta. Torrential rain, high winds, and big seas were in the forecast, and few among the several hundred competitors were looking forward to it. Racers are spoiled in San Diego and theyre not afraid to admit it.
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| Dave Reed|
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| Crews in the Etchells class got a workout pumping sails, and bilges.* * *|
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The rain, drizzle, and 8 to 10-foot seas did all they could dampen the spirits of many teams, including that of hometown Americas Cup hero Peter Isler, who had started the day with a plan to move up from his third-place position behind Brian Camet and Vince Brun in the 25-boat Etchells class. In the days first race, Isler crossed the starting line early and had to return to restart. Then he fouled a competitor. With that foul came penalty turns and the best Isler and his crew onboard Slipknot could salvage was a 15. Rebounding like a veteran, Isler won the next race and finished third in the following. Im still in third, he said. But now Im in deep, deep third. Brun kept on top of his game to finish 5-2-1 and build a 2-point cushion over Camet. Isler is 14 points out of first.
J/105 class leader, Dennis Cases Wings, moved closer to repeating its win at this regatta with 1-3-4 finishes today, but from deeper in yesterdays standings came Tony Harwoods Quicksilver, which posted 4-2-1 finishes to move within 1 point of Wings. This fleet will compress at the top as the weekend goes on, said Case. Any of the top three boats could win.
In the eight-boat Melges 24 fleet, the father-son duel continued as Samuel Kahn, son of software mogul Phillippe Kahn, showed his father up after winning his third race. Both times the younger Kahn was followed across the line by his elder. The kid won the first race today, but trailing Kahn returned the favor in the next two races. Only 1 point separates them.
Four teams remain unbeaten after two challenging days of sailing. In the J/120 class, Jed Olenick’s Doctor No holds a commanding 15-point lead thanks to a string of firsts; class champion Greg Hamm is untouchable in the six-boat Holder 20 fleet, and local sailmaker Chris Snow and David Hammett have nine-point leads after five wins in the six-boat J/24 class and five-boat J/80 class, respectively.
Other class leaders are: Steve Brownsea (Soling), H.L. Enloe (Corsair 31), Alan Prussia (Corsair 24), William Wright (1D35), John Andrew (Ultimate 20), Steve Ross (Capri 22), Bill Jenkins (505), Zach Berkowitz (International 14), David Trude (Martin 16). For complete results, http://sailingworld.com/sw_article.php?articleID=1728
