Challenging Moore 24 Pacific Coast Championship
Twelve Moore 24s showed up in Santa Cruz to compete for their Pacific Coast Championship on May 13-15. “Everyone was expecting a crash-and-burn ballistic gear-busting surf-fest — denied!” reports Sydnie Moore of Nobody’s Girl. “The volunteer race committee did a solid job of getting seven races off in three days with challenging light winds, no wind, and conflicting wind directions.”
New Zealand Crusty and Seattle Joe traveled the longest distance. “New Zealand Crusty,” aka Mark Christensen, is a Kiwi pro sailor on Pegasus (they have won the PCCs the most times). Pegasus scored three bullets, but others were able to get bullets too. Seattle Joe Wilderman was on Peter Schoen’s Mooretician with Roe Patterson and Erica Ryan. Peter and Roe have doublehanded and sailed together for 35+ years.
Steve Bourdow’s regular teammate Mike Holt, a 5O5 champion, was racing in the Elvstrom Zellerbach at St. Francis YC. “Steve is a very talented coach and sailed with his new team, with Karen Gosling (they just met the morning of the regatta), to get a bullet too and finished third overall.”
Pete Spaulding, the owner of Foamy, has switched custody of Flying Circus with Bill and Melinda Erkelens, who are using Foamy for the Pacific Cup. “I believe his crew had never sailed together,” commented Sydnie Moore.
The youngest sailors were two 15-year-olds aboard Rust Never Sleeps (they were crazy enough to go swimming between races).
The crews sailing the longest together were aboard Wet Spot (40+ years) and Mooretician (35+).
“Thanks again to Scott Sorensen for hosting a blowout party Friday at his new home, and to event chair and chef Steve Bourdow for Saturday’s fabulous jambalaya feast,” added Sydnie.
Sydnie speculates that what the Moore 24 fleet considers a low turnout could have been “due to a few teams coming down with COVID, proms, high school sailing conflicts, Elvstrom Zellerbach, and gas prices,” and difficulty getting time off from work or school for a three-day regatta. For results, see https://scyc.org/regatta/sxCPZxEaYe/results.
Welcome to Good Jibes #41, With Liz Clark
This week’s host, Nicki Bennett, is joined by Liz Clark to chat about Liz’s lessons on sailing, the environment, and life from over 20,000 nautical miles and counting.
Liz is an environmental activist and the author of Swell: A Sailing Surfer’s Voyage of Awakening, which recounts her decade-long journey of sailing the world and living aboard her Cal 40, Swell.
Liz talks about how to merge your passions, take big risks, and be confident enough to problem-solve; the things you learn on the water away from everything; and how to do the right thing for the ocean gods — everything from singlehanding to writing a sailing book. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:
- How did Liz merge her passions?
- When did she leave on her voyage?
- Where is she now?
- How much does she sail these days?
- What advice would she give to a woman who wants to set sail?
- How did she get into environmental advocacy?
- What projects is she working on currently?
- Short Tacks: Bucket list sailing destination?
Learn more about Liz at SwellVoyage.com, Instagram @CaptainLizClark, and check out her book.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast spots – follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes!
Waves of Improvement Are Transforming the Berkeley Marina
Waves of improvement are transforming the Berkeley Marina. Download a free day pass for your boat and check out all the improvements we have to offer. A clean, fenced entrance off the freeway transitions drivers off I-80 while smooth paving and new street improvements guide you to your dock gate. Come on in to check out our renovated restrooms, dock improvements, and more.
ORMA 60 ‘Mighty Merloe’ Visits San Francisco Bay
If cats have nine lives, how many do tri’s have? When ORMA 60s burst onto the scene in the mid-’90s they were the fastest ocean racers around. Sometimes too fast. They were prone to capsizing while racing around the world via the great capes, so their time in the limelight faded in the mid-2000s. But that wasn’t the end of life for all of them. Franck Cammas’s ORMA 60 Groupama 2 ended up on the West Coast. racing as Howard Enloe’s Mighty Merloe.
Mighty Merloe continued racing around the Pacific collecting wins, including the record-breaking “first to finish” in the 2017 Transpac race. Two days ago she sailed into San Francisco Bay under the command of new owner Captain Donald Lawson. Lawson will be rechristening her Defiant, and after some tuning, plans to set off with the trimaran to break a number of solo course records.
Because all of the world’s circumnavigating ocean races start in Europe and circulate around Antarctica, it is rare to see these types of boats make their way north to San Francisco. Tom Siebel’s MOD 70 Orion spent time on the Bay, and the MOD 70s Powerplay, Argo and Maserati came by in 2019 for the Coastal Cup and the Transpac.
The Clipper Race (in 72-ft monohulls) just passed by outside the Gate, heading from Seattle to Panama, but generally San Francisco Bay is rarely visited by the world’s circumnavigating race boats.
Captain Lawson is starting his tenure with Mighty Merloe by sailing her from her former Southern California home up to Seattle, via San Francisco, as a way of introducing the boat and his Dark Seas Project to West Coast sailors. His primary mission for the boat is to take on some of the world’s great solo course records. An African American sailor, he is also chairman of US Sailing’s DEI committee and is carrying the message of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as environmental stewardship while he pursues his record-setting dreams.
The boat doesn’t fit in too many harbors, so Lawson is planning to spend the next two to three weeks on the mooring balls off the Corinthian Yacht Club. While in town, he’s available for speaking engagements around the Bay and will be speaking tonight at the Corinthian Yacht Club at 7p.m. Anyone is welcome to attend.
To have Capt. Lawson visit your club, email [email protected].
Yes, cats can have nine lives, and legendary racing tri’s are poised to replicate that tradition as they get passed on to new owners with new ambitions for their exceptional speeds.
Solo Kayaker Prepares for Second Pacific Crossing Attempt
Solo kayaker Cyril Derreumaux is preparing for a second attempt at paddling from San Francisco to Honolulu. His first attempt, which saw him leave the Bay on May 31, 2021, was aborted five days later, approximately 70 miles west of Santa Cruz, due to his kayak’s sustaining significant damage in heavy seas.
Now, one year later, Derreumaux is ready to start again, this time with a list of adjustments to his kayak including modifications to the sea anchor system and its lines, the rudder and the daggerboard well; a manual bilge pump inside the cockpit; the addition of custom side panels to reduce water ingress into the cockpit; installation of a satellite communication system with an external antenna (Iridium GO!) enabling him to make phone calls and emails from inside the cabin; and specific training in high-wind situations off the coast of Santa Cruz, California.
The adventurer, entrepreneur, and father of two will paddle 2,400 nautical miles over 60 to 70 days, solo and unsupported.
Derreumaux has an impressive résumé of canoeing, outrigger paddling and ocean rowing, in both endurance and race events. In summer 2016, he successfully rowed across the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii in an expedition of just under 40 days, earning him and his teammates a Guinness World Record for the fastest crossing.
The solo paddle across the Pacific will require extreme physical and mental strength, and the adventurer has been preparing with gym workouts, kayaking, cycling, zazen meditation, visualization and in-situation trials.
You can follow Derreumaux on his website as he paddles from San Francisco to Hawaii aboard his custom-built kayak, Valentine.
San Francisco on the Bay: Dock, Dine, Stay, Play
The List: Dine, Drink, Smoke, Stay, Play and Shop. Discover San Francisco Bay and all that inspires those of us who live or visit here.