MPYC and SCYC Square Off in Veeder Cup
The 2025 Veeder Cup championship took place on Sunday, November 16, in a five-race match-racing format. The regatta was held just off Monterey Beach, with the winner being the first boat to score three points. Started in 1964, the Veeder Cup is a (mostly) annual race among the four clubs on Monterey Bay: Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club (MPYC), Stillwater Yacht Club (Pebble Beach), Elkhorn Yacht Club (Moss Landing), and Santa Cruz Yacht Club (SCYC). The Cup is named after Mrs. Grace T. Veeder, who at the time was an active member of the Stillwater Yacht Club. She created the regatta to bring together the area’s yacht clubs and crown a champion of Monterey Bay.
The current champion is the defender, and if more than one club is interested in challenging, the other yacht clubs have a sail-off to determine the challenger. Last year’s winner, MPYC, hosted as the defender, and Santa Cruz Yacht Club was the challenger. Over the years, MPYC has won the Cup 19 times, SCYC 20, and Stillwater three. The boats used vary from year to year, with Bill Lee’s Santa Cruz 27 being the weapon of choice this year. This event has featured some of the most accomplished area sailors, including several repeat champions: Bill Lee, Jack Halterman, Dave Hodges, Dick Clark, Mark Chandler, Jay Crum, Kate Conway, and Larry Gamble.
Racing for MPYC on Fearless were skipper/owner Jacob Paoletti with crew Brian Hoover, Kate Conway, Maya Hoffman, and Vince Schweitzer. All but Vince are former MPYC junior sailors. Racing for SCYC on Hanalei were skipper/owner Ryan Schuyler, Frank van Diggelen, Patrick Diola, Tom Preston, and Kaya Wilson. Ryan’s late father, Rob, had owned Hanalei, and had raced in the Veeder Cup in the past with Patrick Diola’s late father, Dave.
In the middle of a multi-day atmospheric river, the racing gods looked favorably upon the regatta on race day, with partly cloudy skies and winds varying from 5 to 15 knots out of the southwest. US Sailing umpire Rob Overton was officiating on the water, and MPYC past commodore Jerry Stratton was the principal race officer. MPYC members handled the marks, and a mix of MPYC and SCYC members were on the race committee boat overseeing the starts and finishes.
SCYC won the coin toss and elected to start the first race as yellow, entering on starboard. After a short dial-up, MPYC got into a controlling position and held it to win the start. MPYC held the lead through the race to take the first win.
With lightening winds, the boats switched to the genoas. Initially, MPYC pushed SCYC deep out of the pin end of the starting area, but a favorable wind shift allowed SCYC to tack across MPYC’s bow, get out of jail, and run back to the line and cross first. SCYC held the lead throughout the race to take the win.
The winds picked up again, and the boats shifted to #3 jibs for the remaining races. The pre-start on this race did not have any close engagements, but SCYC had a better-timed turn back to the start line. This was the closest race, with MPYC within a boat length of SCYC at the windward mark. SCYC maintained and slightly extended their lead to take race three.
The fourth race featured some close pre-start maneuvers but ended up as a long run back to the start line, with SCYC leading and timing the start better. SCYC led by several boat lengths at the windward mark. After rounding the windward mark, SCYC turned downwind across the bow of MPYC as MPYC approached upwind on starboard. Maneuvering to avoid a port/starboard incident, MPYC threw the Yankee protest flag, possibly setting up for a fifth race. The umpire conceded that while it was very close, the incident was not worthy of a penalty and displayed the green flag. SCYC extended their lead to take their third win and clinch the regatta.
At the awards ceremony, Ryan Schuyler talked about how his and Patrick’s fathers had both won and lost the Cup in the past, making this win very special for them, especially with SCYC’s vice commodore De Schuyler (Ryan’s mother) watching from the race committee boat. A big thanks goes out to the MPYC and SCYC members who assisted with the regatta. Congratulations to the Hanalei team and SCYC for the win, and congratulations to the Fearless team for a competitive performance. MPYC looks forward to competing for the Cup next year!