Santa Cruz Yacht Club Mixed Gender Doublehanded Regatta
With sailors aged 7 years old to 70 years young, 31 teams faced light, fluky conditions on September 26. They enjoyed a great day of challenging racing. This year’s Santa Cruz YC Jack and Jill Regatta has grown, with enthusiastic participation and a multiple-division format: Spinnaker, Jib and Main, Families, and Double Date with two couples.
The spirit of the regatta is to encourage more women, couples, friends and families to sail and race together. For many of the participants, this was their first racing opportunity. For several it was their first time doublehanding a boat and not sailing with a full crew.
Santa Cruz 27s
There was close racing among the six Santa Cruz 27s, with Evan Diola on Mistress Quickly beating Rachel Cherry and Mark Voropayev on Kasatka in B Division. For many parents, this is a great opportunity to share their passion for sailing with their kids. Ryan and Janel’s kids on Hanalei demonstrated their Schuyler racing skills to win in the family division. However, the youngest crew were Gary and Evgenia Mirfield’s 7-year-old Nickolas and 10-year-old Alex aboard their family’s SC27, Good Timing.
Several dads in the club were reuniting with their sailing daughters, such as Craig Smith on the SC27 Don Quixote, Chris and Rachel Hofmann on the Santana 22 Odonata, and Vern Wallace and Cindy Rodrigues on Seabird. Stefan Berlinski sailed with his wife, Mary, in the Families division on the Santana 22 Hamachi.
Moore 24s
Steve and Sara Bourdow on Mooregasm won the start among the nine Moore 24s. Tom Conerly and Amy on No Wildfire rounded the weather mark in first and finished second overall. Scott Nelson and Karen Loutzenheiser on Lowly Worm 2.0 sailed brilliantly on rhumb line, while every other boat was seeking better pressure, to win overall out of 13 boats in B Division.
Mike Evans and Nancy Rinkardt on the Moore 24 Tonopah Low had an impressive win in Jib and Main. The Lighthall 30 New Wave, with Mark Merritt and Janell Hillman, came in second. Moore 24 #101, with Mike McCarthy and his first-time-racing gal, came in third in a fleet of 11 entries.
JV Gilmore was determined to make the race, so he singlehanded, with his dog Noche, from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, proving that Less Is Moore is an apt name for his Moore 24.
This popular mixed-gender shorthanded sailing event reflects our club’s interest in developing the next generation of sailors. It highlights an opportunity to develop an outstanding caliber of women sailors and couples. Many of the doublehanded sailors have gone on to own their own boats, race internationally, or do regattas like the Doublehanded Farallones, Three Bridge Fiasco, Pacific Cup and Transpac.
SCYC is a friendly, fun, very welcoming club that provides opportunities to all members to be actively involved, not just on the race course. PRO Bob DeWitt, Captain Rick Diola, Gene Sofen, Barbara Booth, Christina Shaw, Bruce Donald, Doug Kirk, Susie Barber and Lois Van Buren and other volunteers made racing possible. Don’t hesitate to volunteer for any regatta. See https://club.scyc.org/racing.