Moore 24 50th Anniversary Nationals Kicks Off in Santa Cruz
The Moore 24 Nationals got off to an epic start as about 75 boats showed up on the line for a classic Santa Cruz evening with a warm, flat-water westerly greeting racers for a warm-up rabbit start to the four-day extravaganza. The largest previous Nationals was 41 boats in the early ’80s, so this gathering has dramatically exceeded all expectations. It’s rare to find any one-design regatta over 50 boats — especially in keelboats.
The culture surrounding the Moore 24 conjures up the best of the Santa Cruz sailing community. Competitors included champions from many classes, and with class maestro Ron Moore on hand to witness the cult he cultivated, the event launched with the vibe that formed decades ago.
We got to join the evening’s PRO, Morgan Larson, who announced the course to the fleet as it headed out past the breakwater. The boats were looking their best as they met a 12-knot westerly blowing across a sparkling blue Monterey Bay. Many have been through refits and thorough upgrades, which inspired Ron Moore to compare them all to jewelry hanging from a necklace as they were dropped into the water from the lift.
The boats carry three jibs, and we saw boats with their ones, twos and threes set, so they’re all still dialing in what to sail amidst this talented crowd.
Competition will be tough, but it was clear from the smiles, laughter and greetings across the water that regardless of the results, everyone is just happy to be there.
One of the class champions, Dave Hodges, was at the helm of Summertime, 00, (pictured above) — the very first Moore 24 built. Summertime was the rabbit for the rabbit start and went on to lead all the way around, with just one tack to the windward mark. A colorful, tight spinnaker reach to the reaching mark led to a smooth but crowded rounding to the leeward mark before a tight reach to the finish off the breakwater. It was a perfect warm-up race to get everyone in the mood for the three-day regatta ahead.
The race started at 4 p.m. Somehow the 75-boat fleet got around the course, put the boats away, and gathered for a beer and buffet provided by Santa Cruise YC, before settling into a presentation with fleet captain Sam Corso. Sam was followed by Marina Fennell and Ron Moore, sharing some of the fun and highlights of the class’s 50-year history. Ron’s style, enthusiasm, joy and smile on the stage made the presentation another magical highlight for a class that just loves to sail together.
We’ll look forward to bringing you more after the three-day battle is over and the spray settles on Monterey Bay. In the meantime, you can read up on the Moore 24 history in Latitude 38’s September issue, here.
An incredible event! Wish I were there!
We went out on the family sailboat and watched the Thursday night rabbit race. It was well controlled chaos for all those boats. It was quite the sight. We also went out Friday and watched the practice starts and the first two races of the day. It was blowing 25 kn with big seas out there and listening to the radio there were at least five people overboard that I heard from the radio calls during the first day’s races. But everybody lived to tell about it. It will be interesting to see how many boats are left on Sunday afternoon if the conditions continue as they were today. But everybody seemed to be having a great time, even if they were a little worse for wear and soaked at the end of the day. I think the common comment at the end of the first day racing was “more beer!”