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Racing Grab Bag

The action in last year’s LA Harbor Cup.

© 2015 Jeremy Leonard / Sail Revolution

Ten of the best college teams in the country will compete in the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup collegiate regatta hosted by Cal Maritime Academy at LAYC today through Sunday. Collegiate races are usually run aboard small dinghies in protected waters, but this one is held in open-ocean conditions aboard Catalina 37 keelboats. Cal Maritime skipper Christopher Vilicich will defend his school’s four-year winning streak.

St. Francis YC will follow up last weekend’s Spring Dinghy Regatta with the Spring One Design Regatta this weekend. The 86 entries include Express 27s, J/105s, J/111s, J/70s, Knarrs, Melges 24s, Moore 24s, and Open 5.70s.

Saturday’s Rites of Spring for singlehanded, doublehanded and women’s full crew divisions will start on the Central Bay, and, wind willing, Oakland YC hopes to finish the race down the Estuary at OYC in Alameda, where a St. Patrick’s Day buffet and live music will follow.

This is the time of year for midwinter series to wrap up and spring series to begin. For a pretty darn comprehensive list of races this weekend in Northern California, see our Calendar.

Sailing is up for bid at the St. Francis Sailing Foundation’s Night with the Stars Auction and Dinner on Tuesday, March 17. The event raises funds for Call of the Sea, Treasure Island Sailing Center, aspiring Olympians, community outreach, and more. Auction items include unique travel packages such as a Team Alvimedica experience during the Newport, RI, stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race. Call StFYC at (415) 563-6363 for tickets, which are $135 each.

Last year’s SSS Corinthian Race was held on a cold, windy, rainy day in March.

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Oakland YC in Alameda will host the skippers’ meeting for the SSS Corinthian Race beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18, which is the deadline to enter too. The race itself will be held on March 21. See www.sfbaysss.org.

Also on Wednesday evening, just two doors down at Encinal YC, the YRA will present An Evening with Dave Perry, a racer social. Perry is an expert on racing rules and the author of Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing through 2016, Winning in One-Designs, 100 Best Racing Rule Quizzes, and North U Rules and Tactics Seminar Workbook. The talk will start at 7:00 p.m. and cost $20; an optional buffet dinner at 6:00 p.m. is not included in the ticket price. Register here.

The Carlos Aguilar Match Racing Championship in St. Thomas, USVI. Dave Perry’s boat in on the left; 2014 US Sailing Yachtswoman of the Year Stephanie Roble is on the right.

© Dean Barnes

Dave Perry invites our readers to subscribe to The Dial Up, a free newsletter recently relaunched by the US Sailing Match Racing Committee.

The start of the Volvo Ocean Race Leg 5 from Auckland, New Zealand, to Itajaí, Brazil, has been delayed due to Cyclone Pam, which has so far registered wind speeds of up to 124 mph (108 knots). The VOR fleet was originally set to depart for the 6,776-mile voyage through the Southern Ocean on Sunday, March 15, but with forecasts suggesting that the Category 5 tropical cyclone could hit the area hard, their exit will be delayed until Tuesday, March 17, at the earliest.

Projections have Cyclone Pam moving southeast toward northeastern New Zealand on Sunday.

© Windyty

Speaking of late-summer hurricane-force winds in the Southern Ocean, Barcelona World Race doublehanders Jörg Riechers and Sébastien Audigane aboard Renault Captur revealed that they encountered 70-knot gusts after rounding Cape Horn on Wednesday.

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