SCYA Midwinters for 2019 officially underway

SAN DIEGO—Three yachting classes kicked off their respective 2019 seasons at this year’s Southern California Yachting Association’s Midwinters Regatta Series. The Beneteau, Pac52 and Transpac 52 classes all competed at a regatta hosted by San Diego Yacht Club, Feb. 9-10.

Kea, Interlodge VI and Vesper were the weekend’s big winners, each claiming a first place finish within their own classes.

Skipper Chick Pyle of San Diego YC guided Kea to the top of the Beneteau 36.7 class, finishing ahead of eight other boats with eight points. Kraken, which was skippered by Thomas Shepherd of Oceanside Yacht Club, finished second in class with 10 points. The top three was rounded out by San Diego YC’s Legend (skippered by Neil Sentria, 14 points at finish). There were four races scored in this class; Legend finished first in the first two races and second in the third, but a poor showing in the fourth race earned the vessel 10 points – the worst possible score – and cost Senturia a shot at winning the class. Kraken’s fourth-place finish in the third race was the difference between a first and second place finish for Shepherd.

Interlodge VI, meanwhile, dominated the Pac52 class, which only featured three boats in competition. The class featured seven races, which Interlodge VI finishing first in six of those legs (8 points total at finish). Frank Slootman (Tahoe Yacht Club) claimed first place in the six race aboard Invisible Hand, but the boat’s 15 points was almost double the final score of Interlodge VI, which was helmed by Austin and Gwen Fragomen (New York Yacht Club).

San Diego YC’s Tom Holthus finished third (out of three boats) in the Pac52 race; Holthus helmed BadPak and finished with 19 points.

The Transpac 52 class, meanwhile, featured five boats competing in seven scored races. Vesper, helmed by David Team of Newport Harbor Yacht Club, finished in first place with nine points (corrected time, 6:58:09); she finished first in six of the seven races. Team guided Vesper to a first-place finish in the first four and final two races; she came in third in the fifth race, behind WASABI and Rio.

Manouch Moshayedi of St. Francis Yacht Club finished second with 16 points (7:07:25 corrected time) aboard Rio, while WASABI (helmed by Dale Williams) came in at third place with 18 points (7:11:02 corrected time). Rounding out the competition were Nimbus (fourth place, 34 points, 7:26:07, San Diego YC) and Pendragon (fifth place, 34 points, 7:42:22, Hawai’i Yacht Club).

All boats competed in the 90th annual SCYA Midwinter Regatta at San Diego YC.