Five California Sailors Win Class in July’s Chicago-Mackinac
This one got buried among the emails, but we meant to highlight what happened when a group of California sailors headed to the country’s freshwater coast to race in the salt-free, current-free, 300-mile Chicago-Mackinac Race way back in the middle of July.
It was Bay Area Express 27 sailor Nick Gibbens who was up to his usual shenanigans again. In July, he went back to sail in his fourth Chicago-Mackinac Race. He skippered the J/145 Sic Parvis Magna (“great things from small beginnings”) for title sponsor Wintrust Financial, taking his third victory out of four Mac races. Joining him from California were John Collins from Mill Valley on foredeck, Tommy Ducharme from Walnut Creek as watch captain, Greg (Radar) Felton from Lake Tahoe, also foredeck, and Doug Johnstone from Los Angeles as navigator.
Nick reported, “We were fortunate enough to again prevail in our class, recording a 50-minute victory for first place in Class 2 and 12th overall. Third–fifth places were separated by less than three minutes! This makes three wins out of four races for this team. Our first race was on a chartered Beneteau 40.7 and the last three on the J/145, which is a powerful and excellent all-around performer.”
Unlike some of the prior years with squalls, thunderstorms and lightning, this year was calmer, but Nick told us, “This year’s weather was predominantly upwind with over 80% of the miles made under jib. This made for some challenging tactics and many long hours on the rail, hiking. As one of the lowest-rated boats in our section, we were always playing catch-up and trying to avoid too much separation from our fleet. Strong navigation and weather forecasting were key, and we had that in spades. Thankfully no midnight thunderstorms this year, which made it a lot less stressful on the skipper!” Despite our belief that there is no current, Nick let us know there was actually a fair amount of current along the Michigan shore.
Nick will be back in the Bay competing on his Express 27 Shenanigans, where he’s shown equally impressive results over the years.
Good Jibes #206: Kira Maixner on Coaching All-Women Racing Teams
This week we chat with Kira Maixner about teaching women to sail and race. Kira is a USCG 100-Ton Master and ASA Master Instructor who’s completed several crossings and races across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Tune in as Kira shares with Good Jibes host Moe Roddy how she transitioned from snowboarding in the Rockies to sailing the world, how to dedicate your life to sailing, how to become a captain, the personal-growth moments that happen offshore, and how to keep growing opportunities for women on the water.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- Trusting yourself at sea
- Kira’s pre-race ritual
- The best boat snack
- What has Kira learned from offshoring?
- How Kira became a captain
Learn more about Kira at CaptainKira.com and ModernSailing.com.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast spots — follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes!
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Danish Teams Leading 55th IKC, First StFYC Team in Seventh
The 55th International Knarr Championship (IKC) is underway in Copenhagen, hosted by the Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub (KDY, Royal Danish Yacht Club in English). Jon Perkins of St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC) is currently the highest placing Bay Area team, sitting in seventh place. This year’s IKC features one of the most crowded start lines in IKC history, with 33 teams competing. It’s also the most one-design an IKC has probably ever been, with all of the boats provided by the Danish teams using identical sails. This is also the first IKC to use “Vakaros” technology on the starting line to electronically call boats over early.
As with longstanding IKC tradition, the Wednesday during the weeklong regatta is a “lay day.” During this off day, sailors can re-evaluate, the out-of-town crowd gets to explore the host city and country, and sailors get to recover from the midweek party.
Going into this year’s lay day, the home teams at the 55th IKC are dominating. The first six teams on the scoresheet are Danish, five-time IKC winner Lars Gottfredsen (Rungsted Sejlklub) leading the way with 21 points from four races. According to the Sailing Instructions for the event, the plan was for six of the scheduled 14 competitive races (there is also a practice race to start the regatta per IKC tradition) to be completed prior to the lay day. The light wind in Copenhagen had other ideas on Tuesday.
After the leading pack of Danish teams Perkins’ boat can be found in the scores. Jon Perkins is sailing with his brother Chris and Larry Swift (all of St. Francis Yacht Club), might not be in the top five, but with 31 points from the first four races, they are only six points off fifth, and only 11 points out of first. After team Perkins, the next San Francisco team is Don Jesberg’s (SFYC) in 14th place, with 60 points. As of now, the highest Norwegian boat is Johan Gustav Hvide’s (Bergens Seilforening) team with 56 points.
According to the SIs, the first drop will come into play after the sixth race, which will shake up the scores. The second drop will come into play after race nine, and the third after race 13.
“There were tons of shifts, and the left side paid off big-time in the first few races,” Tommy Finnegan, the bowman for Mark Dahm’s team Benino (StFYC), tells Latitude. “[Monday] and Sunday it was 12-15 knots …. [The] Vakaros system has been cool to use. It gives you distance to the line, and calls you OCS via GPS, so there’s no hiding from the race committee. Vakaros has made everyone super-cautious on the line. There’s been no U-flag, so that’s been great. There was no racing [on Tuesday]; we were postponed until 1:30 and then we saw AP over Alpha, so I spent the rest of the day at the bar.”
Labor Day Weekend and September Racing Preview
Labor Day Weekend
Labor Day comes as early as it possibly can this year, on September 1. So most of the Labor Day Weekend events actually fall at the end of August. Some regattas this coming weekend include:
- August 30: Jazz Cup, with the start run by South Beach Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay and the finish run by Benicia YC on Carquinez Strait. The course is mostly downwind.
- August 30-September 1: Humboldt YC’s Redwood Regatta on Big Lagoon, on the North Coast.
- August 31: Inverness YC’s Hog Island Race, a distance race on Tomales Bay.
On San Francisco Bay
Berkeley YC’s Big Windward/Leeward will sail out and back on September 6.
Richmond YC will hold their Multihull Invitational Regatta for beach cats 21 feet and under on September 6-7.
Rolex Big Boat Series will occupy St. Francis YC on September 10-14; we expect to run a detailed preview in the next week or two. The following weekend, StFYC will host the Aldo Alessio, an ocean race, on the 20th. As of this morning, 73 boats had entered.
The singlehanders and doublehanders of the Singlehanded Sailing Society will race to Half Moon Bay on September 13.
South Beach YC is calling all female racers to the Red Bra Regatta on September 20.
SFYC will host the Knarr San Francisco Bay Championship on September 20-21, then the Opti PCCs on the following weekend.
The Yacht Racing Association will hold the final installment of the Doublehanded Sunday Series on the 21st. The YRA will have two ocean races on the 27th: the 150-mile Bluewater Bash and the final race in this year’s Offshore Series.
Sequoia YC’s South Bay Championship on September 27-28 will also serve as the Open 5.70 North Americans.
Elsewhere in Northern California
Tahoe YC’s Fleet Championships will be held on September 6-7. ILCAs and RS Zests are invited. “Racing doesn’t begin until 3 p.m., giving you the freedom to mountain bike ride, SUP, hike, play, brunch, etc. Bring the whole family. The single track above Tahoe City is truly world class,” writes Tahoe ILCA fleet captain Rick Raduziner. “Early September in Tahoe is truly spectacular.
“There are a couple of twists: It’s being held on Lake Tahoe out of the Lake Forest Boat Ramp next to Tahoe City. It’s a fabulous venue. The Alpine Meadows boat inspection station should be pretty quiet given the time of year. Boat storage is right at the boat launch. We are securing several spaces at the Lake Forest Campground (right next to the boats). It’s a first-come-first-served campground so we are going to secure spots starting Thursday night with a check-out on Sunday. It’s only $25 per night per campsite. The sites are large enough to accommodate up to 30 RVs. We are looking forward to seeing every ILCA sailor in the Bay show up to this one!”
Inverness YC will welcome Vanguard 15 sailors for their Fleet 53 Championships on September 20-21.
Santa Cruz YC’s Mix & Match/Jack & Jill race will take place on the 27th.
Southern California
San Diego YC will host the Snipe Western Hemisphere & Asia Championship on September 2-6. SDYC will then host the Finn California State Championship on September 13-14.
Los Angeles YC will host the Mercury Pacific Coast Championship and Nationals on September 26-28. Click here to register or to learn more.
Coronado YC in San Diego will run the US Para Sailing Championship on September 26-28.
As usual, the above is but a sampling of the vast array of events available to West Coast sailors. Find more in the Calendar section of the September issue of Latitude 38, coming out this Friday, August 29. See you out there!
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