Family Reunion: The 50th Annual Moore 24 Nationals
The 50th Annual Moore 24 Nationals took place this past weekend, with an astounding 75 out of the 156 boats ever built signed up to race. After the casual-looking Thursday evening warm-up race, things got more serious, but we understand the legendary Moore 24/Santa Cruz vibe survived the intense competition.
Friday’s breeze was 25+ knots, making it a challenge to just stay on board. We understand about nine crew went overboard and were fully separated on these boats, which sail without lifelines. (The only lifeline is the ability of the skipper or a crash boat nearby.) Many others went over the side but managed to hang on and get pulled back aboard. It wasn’t a day for the meek to inherit the lead.
Saturday and Sunday settled down a bit, but the combination of over 70 boats in one start and a 50th national championship on the line meant the racing would be uber-challenging, regardless of the wind. We’re putting together a more complete story for our upcoming November issue, but in the meantime we couldn’t resist sharing a selection of Sharon Green’s amazing photos from the weekend. Results below.
Ron Moore told us that the previous best-attended Nationals was in the early ’80s, when they had 41 boats on the line.
We’ll have more photos and insights on the event in the November issue. In the meantime, we have to give a shout-out to the winners. Despite the high-caliber competition, the top two players emerged early — Philippe Kahn and Morgan Larson were the only two fighting for first place.
Morgan started the series on Friday with a 1-3-1 and Philippe with a 2-1-2, putting Morgan in first place. After that Philippe never finished worse than third, and Morgan slipped back with a couple of high scores. Philippe and crew on Pegasus finished first with 11.4 points, Morgan Larson on Tonapah Low finished with 26, and Leif Hauge aboard Bruzer finished in third with 49.6 points. This was Philippe Kahn’s fourth win at the Nationals. You can scroll to the bottom of this page to see the complete list of past national champions here.
It’s was amazing but to clarify Kahn wasn’t onboard he had a great team put together nevertheless . It was a windy crazy regatta and well run! Glad to have been on a Moore for this 50th anniversary. Hogan Beatie probably was the biggest winner he crushed it coming in 4th barely getting his Moore rebuilt after years sitting in the yard.