Here’s a report on the recently concluded C-15 North Americans in Santa Barbara. It was a great event; a massive Thank You (!) to the Santa Barbara Yacht Club, who were amazing hosts, and especially to Brad Schaupeter, Sailing Director (and regatta PRO), Kayla Householder, Club Event Coordinator, Jeff Berkus, Vice Commodore, and the many members who volunteered for race committee and to help run the events.
Thirteen boats participated, from Southern (Marina Del Rey, Santa Barbara, Seal Beach, Westlake Village) and Northern California (Half Moon Bay, Sacramento), and St Petersburg, Florida. We also had a competitor from Sidney, Australia. The Corp Series was held on Fri 8/9 (five races), and the Championship Series took place on Sat 8/10 – Sun 8/11 (nine races with one throwout).
I can’t do all the racing justice in this report, but I will say we were treated to a beautiful variety of conditions, with strong winds in the high teens on Friday, light winds 5-8 knots on Saturday, and medium winds 10-12 knots on Sunday. The Race Committee did a perfect job with square lines and weather marks, enabling many passing lanes both upwind and down and lots of great competition. With the sun on the ocean and with the city of Santa Barbara climbing the hills behind the harbor, it was a beautiful scene.
The stronger winds on Friday for the Corp Series created some interesting challenges for seeding competitors into A and B, as several boats turtled and others broke down. After some discussion it was decided to sail everyone together in the Championship Series, award the A trophies to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, and award the B trophies to 7th, 8th, and 9th places. It wasn’t a perfect solution but it seemed agreeable and resulted in great racing with everyone together on the line and out on the course.
The Results of the Corp Series may be found here:
2024 C-15 North Americans - Corp Series results
Congratulations to longtime C-15 sailor and champion Allison Jolly (1988 Olympic Gold Medalist!) who voyaged all the way out from Florida (St Petersburg YC) to sail with us, and who won the qualification series with her crew Andrew Sumpton.
On Saturday the winds were lighter, the sun was out, and we were able to get in five excellent races as planned. Saturday night we had an excellent dinner at the YC followed by the C-15 Association’s Annual Class Meeting. The Minutes from this meeting are attached. The most important business was choosing the next venue for the North Americans and Half Moon Bay are going to be our 2025 Hosts, with Lucy Gillies volunteering to serve as Class President. (Choosing someone who runs a distillery is always a good idea.)
On Sunday the winds were Goldilocks, not too heavy, not too light, and we had four more excellent races to conclude the Championship. The Overall Results may be found here:
2024 C-15 North Americans - Championship Series results
Congratulations to Dave Rumbaugh and his crew Steve Fishman from Lake Washington Sailing Club in Sacramento for five-peating as Class Champion. The Fleet gave them a good fight but they prevailed in the end. Silver went to Allison and Andrew, and Bronze to class newcomers Ryan Janov and Willie McBride of California YC in Marina Del Rey (who showed amazing speed in the heavy air Friday afternoon winning three races in a row).
My crew Carly Morgan and I finished fourth, from Westlake Village but sailing for Santa Barbara YC, and Vince Paternoster and Steve Miller finished fifth, for SCCYC in MDR.
The Cabrillo Results (B Fleet):
- Gold: Mark Brazil and Frederique Haustete of SCCYC in Marina Del Rey
- Silver: Lucy Gillies and Simon Bird of Half Moon Bay YC
- Bronze: Stanly Martin and Dana Longo of Half Moon Bay YC
Most interestingly and unexpectedly, Mark and Frederique actually tied on points for sixth overall with Wil Paul and Chris Peasley of Seal Beach YC; Will and Chris won the tiebreak to take 6th, and so Mark and Frederique finished 7th and thereby won the Cabrillo Trophy.
Others in the competition included Marc Arseneault and Claire Sheehan, finishing 8th for HMBYC, Arman Rezaee with his kids Simone and Malcom as crew, finishing 11th, from HMBYC (Simone and Malcom are each future champions, I am sure; it was a joy to see them out there in the heavy stuff on Friday, having a great time without a care in the world), Carl Hage and Stevie Thompson, in 12th, from HMBYC, and perennial class stalwart Charlie Quest with his crew Ofer Amir, also from HMBYC. Charlie’s Grand Ol Gal (First in Class) had a few issues after spending a great deal of Friday afternoon upside down, but crew and vessel recovered overnight and were back on the water for the championship series.
A little 30 min video of some of the events and sailing action may be found here on Dropbox:
2024 C-15 North Americans Santa Barbara
Yes, it includes the infamous “there’s a boat in my boat” footage you may have seen on Facebook or Sailing Anarchy. Yes, that happened. (Apologies that the GoPro was on my boat for the racing; maybe in future we can incorporate some drone video.)
Speaking of drones the SBYC Race Committee did fly one on Fri and Sat, and we were treated to beautiful overhead videos of the racing to watch on Saturday night.
C15 Drone Footage (1:00:00 total length) : https://youtu.be/mQdR5gcX67A
Cheers and see you all soon – maybe in Half Moon Bay next year!