ILCAs at the 2026 High Sierra Regatta — High Altitude, Low Pressure
Seven ILCA sailors, all full rigs, sailed in last weekend’s High Sierra Regatta at Huntington Lake. The fleet split between four NorCal sailors (Al Sargent, Marcel Sloane, Steve Schmidt, aka Schmidty, and myself, Chris Simenstad) and three from SoCal, including father and son Robert and Sam Suddath, first-timers at this event. Ernie Galvan was registered but fell ill (and fittingly gave his luxury lodging reservation to an Aero sailor). Other regulars were absent, partly because the North American Championships were at Cabrillo Beach the same weekend. So, it was a small but tight fleet.
This regatta is one of the best in our district. The high-altitude lake is long and narrow with a dam at its western end, and most days a moderate thermal westerly comes up midmorning. More than a dozen small-boat fleets showed up this year — Day Sailers were the largest, with 17 boats. The Fresno Yacht Club issues commemorative cocktail glasses at check-in. It’s a fun scene with great racing.
Saturday’s three races were classic Huntington — sunny skies and 8–12 knots. Enough to hike much of the time, but not so much that you could forget to look for pressure. Downwind, staying in the wind required a “swivel head” to spot the puffs rolling down the lake. All races were yo-yo courses: double windward-leeward, with the second leeward mark at number eight at the lake’s easternmost end followed by a short beat to the finish.
Al dominated Saturday. I got second and Marcel third in races two and three. In race two, Marcel and I sailed into a hole by the shore of the fire-ruined Boy Scout camp at the end of the first beat, and watched Sam and Schmidty tack out, get lifted right past us, and take second and third.
Sunday brought monsoonal moisture. The race committee worried a Mono breeze would develop, bringing big easterly gusts and thunderstorm danger. Despite cloud cover, race four offered enough westerly to keep us moving: Al won, I was second and Marcel third.
Race five was challenging, and in the end very frustrating. The westerly puffs narrowed and then dissipated. Strategy became a guessing game, and Al’s supremacy was finally dislodged. Marcel rounded the first windward mark ahead, was passed by Schmidty and me downwind, and Schmidty won the second beat.
On the final run, the breeze died entirely, and we floated to mark eight in glassy conditions among a few Aeros and doublehanded dinghies. Marcel showed extreme focus and rounded first. Al, now last, hit the mark and did his circles. After 20 more minutes of floating, with the RC’s abandonment discussion squawking on VHF radios, Schmidty called it quits and fell off his boat (twice) trying to paddle in. Marcel got within striking distance of the finish, and then the RC made its call: racing abandoned for all fleets.
The awards ceremony was held in light rain. Al won the regatta, I took second, Marcel third, and Sam fourth.
Overall, a great regatta. Each evening, people gathered to exchange food and laughs, Marcel’s family and friends filling out the social scene and keeping the conversation from being all sailing. On Saturday night, his friends Kim and Ted shared a half-gallon of vanilla ice cream and a pan of brownies, setting a new standard for a camping regatta. One note to our district secretary: When invited to dinner at other sailors’ campsites, show up with two things minimum, a cup and a chair.
Schmidty remarked how much fun it was to sail with new people like the Suddaths. Maybe next year we can do some outreach to District 25 and make this a competition between our two fleets. If the Day Sailers can get 17 boats, why can’t we?
You will be able to read more about the 2026 High Sierra Regatta in the Racing Sheet, in the August issue of Latitude 38.