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Etchell’s August One Design Weekend – South Bay
By: Dale Gordon Fleet 13 Secretary
A picture-perfect weekend was celebrated by an all-female crew win, a different venue, outstanding weather, Coronado Yacht Club hospitality, and converging racecourses characterized the weekend of sailing. It was another amazing Etchell’s one Design Weekend!
The winners...
The all-female crew of Mostly Harmless, skippered by Summer Greene and crewed by Kristen Zillmann and Marnie Jenkins, won the weekend with 26 points, Summer and crew bookended the event with bullets winning the first and last race of the 7-race weekend! A huge congratulations to Summer and crew beating the 13-boat fleet!
Jack, Charlie Mann’s boat, finished 2nd with 28 points and won race 3. They were followed by Kjeld Hestehave’s, Miss Murphy who ended up in 3rd with 29 points and had wins in races 2 and 6. Other race winners for the weekend included Mickey Ryan’s Ahui Hoi, skippered by Charlie Jenkins, who won race 5.
The venue, sailing conditions, and non-fleet boat traffic....
August’ One Design Weekend races was sailed on South Bay which has become an annual tradition for the Etchell’s fleet. This venue challenged the crews with flat water and tricky breezes, a departure from most of the years racing out on the Coronado Roads. Crews had to make adjustments to their rigs necessary for the flat water of the bay which generally requires tighter forestays and flat sails. One would say that the unpredictable breeze, with shifty lanes, was a bit maddening for the crews... Is it a sustained shift or is it not? Should you dig in or wait and see? Will the left pay or the right? Often the fleet was split and there were numerous lead changes and many times the winner was determined on the final leg
On another chamber of commerce day sailors enjoyed beautiful weather with temperatures in the mid 70’s and light to moderate breezes throughout.
Complicating the crews on-course tactics was the fact that the Finn’s and J-105’s raced the same or the same course. During one of the races a local PHRF fleet sailed right through the downwind gates while much of the weekend was met with pleasure boats weaving their way across the course often disrupting boats with their large wakes.
A visit to the Coronado Yacht Club....
Our gracious hosts, Coronado Yacht Club, let the fleet tie up their boats overnight to eliminate the sail or tow back to the SDYC on Saturday evening and welcomed the sailors to the bar and restaurant after the first day of racing. Skippers and crew were also treated to free drinks compliments of Etchells Fleet 13 member Geoff Davis who is based out of Coronado Yacht Club.
Looking ahead...
The fleet will be back on the Roads September 28th - 29th for its next One Design Weekend.