Richmond Yacht Club Hosts ILCA Masters Pacific Coast Championships

As always, Richmond Yacht Club was a fantastic host for the 2026 ILCA Masters Pacific Coast Championship [held May 23–24], where the winners receive the Don Trask Perpetual Trophy. As the second-place finisher, I am designated to let you know what happened (a District 24 tradition) in my fleet, the ILCA 6s.

The forecast for Saturday was light winds in the morning, increasing to the teens in the afternoon … oops. When we got to the club, the westerly was already in full force. Some decided not to go out, some came limping in with issues, and I didn’t even get out of the breakwater before my boom vang tang blew apart. This was the first time this had happened to me in over 50 years of Laser sailing.

On the racecourse, the ILCA 6s got off to a clean start, and it was immediately apparent who was going to take control as David LaPier (Great Grandmaster, aka GGM) dominated this race from start to finish for a well-deserved victory. Alan Sun (Master) and Charles Thomas (GGM) were second and third. And just to prove it was no fluke, the second race ended the same way. The winds were in the low to mid-20s, with readings as high as 28 knots [ed: actually, it bumped up to 30 knots]. The RC gave the sailors a choice between sailing a third race and taking hot showers, so we headed for the bar.

Sunday’s forecast was for more wind than on Saturday, but just to prove who’s in charge, we went out in a nice 12–14-knot breeze for the noon start, expecting more breeze in the afternoon, but were pleasantly surprised when the great-sailing, moderate breeze held up for the entire day.

The RC got off four great races, hardly having us wait at all. David, Alan and Chris Boome (Legend) battled the whole day, trading places one through three pretty evenly. At the end of the day, Boome had 7 points, and David and Alan each had 8, including David’s having to restart the next-to-last race. The restart must have gotten David pumped, because he ended the day as he had started, with another bullet.

One of the most consistent sailors was Charles Thomas (GGM), who finished every race, sailed consistently, and tied for third place with Alan Sun. After the Masters handicap was applied, Charles came out on top because, in the Masters scoring, a tie goes to the Geezer.

Another sailor who stood out and got better and better throughout the series was Jenny Maybee (Apprentice). She was fourth in the last two races, and was especially up close to the leaders in the last race. So guys, watch out: Jenny is coming after us, and there is no maybe about that!

We missed having the West Coast rock stars, who were off to Greece getting ready for the ILCA 6 Masters World Championship early next month, but good luck to Toshi, Jon Andron, Walt Spevak, Bill Symes and Chris Raab (winner of the first year of the Don Trask Perpetual trophy in 2004).

The Richmond YC was a great host, and the Laser camaraderie is alive and well in California, largely thanks to Emilio’s hard work, hospitality and generosity with the fine wines from his family winery, Castelli Vineyards.

Thanks to all the hard-working people at RYC who made this a great weekend and a fitting tribute to Don Trask.