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Season Champions, Part II — More One Designs Plus BAMA

The fleets celebrated in this second 2024 Season Champs feature range from tiny El Toros to substantial Express 37s to a 44-ft trimaran, with all sorts in between. We’ll start somewhere in the middle.

Moore 24 Roadmaster Series — Mooregasm, Steve Bourdow, SCYC

The Roadmaster Series consisted of nine events over 17 race days. Each boat’s best 12 scores (including up to two local optional substitution scores) were used to determine the series scoring.

start of Big Daddy pursuit race
Mooregasm, #36, takes to the start of the Big Daddy pursuit race in March.
© 2025

Moore 24 master of the road Steve Bourdow said that the Tahoe Roadmaster regatta, hosted by South Lake Tahoe Windjammers Yacht Club in June, was the most interesting for him. “First, my daughter Claire did bow for only her second time on the boat.” Second, Steve had never raced in South Lake Tahoe before.

“Our expectations were low for breeze. There were light moments, but there was also good breeze at times. It was super-shifty. We had a long-distance race all the way into Emerald Bay and back, which was fantastically fun and beautiful. The regatta came down to a last-beat battle with the Fennells (Paramour, #75), trading the lead, a succession of lee bows and lots of tacks — super-tense. But Karl Robrock was fantastic in the cockpit, Mike Holt took full control of tactics, Claire Bourdow called puffs, and I focused purely on boatspeed. We trusted each other to do our jobs. We each made some mistakes, but the focus of each person added up to excellence as a team — and that’s memorable.

“The SCYC Roadmaster in May was exciting. It was held on Mother’s Day weekend, and we couldn’t find anyone to crew. We hobbled it together at the last minute, with my daughter jumping on to do bow with zero experience and another newbie doing middle, with Karl in the cockpit. We had to set goals accordingly, with low expectations. However, we did great! Karl and I started racing like we had a seasoned crew, which led to some exciting spinnaker douses, but our newbies handled things just fantastic and we finished second, way above goal.”

Steve was the class president in 2024, so he prioritized attending every regatta possible. It’s also time for Karl to get his own Moore out on the race course. “So, I’m going to dial back my effort a little.

“For the fleet, two exciting things are happening. First, we’re having our first destination Nationals in many years, during Long Beach Race Week in June, an exciting new venue that we hope the fleet will rally toward. It will also draw in the handful of Moores currently located in SoCal.

“Second, our class has decided to lean into offshore racing again. After many years of increasing regulatory requirements that bring expensive equipment needs that were intimidating for Moore 24 owners, the boat remains an excellent offshore competitor. As costs come down and the requirements stabilize, we’d like to encourage more Moore 24s to tool up and compete offshore. We’re planning a training workshop, recommended equipment lists and how-tos, and are putting two offshore races on the Roadmaster calendar as counters.”

Also in this feature:

Moore 24 Shorthanded Series — Flying Circus, Bill & Melinda Erkelens, RYC; J/88 Fleet 3 — Ravenette, Brice Dunwoodie, StFYC/GGYC; J/24 Fleet 17 — Evil Octopus, Jasper Van Vliet, RYC; El Toro Senior — Henry, Tom Burden, RYC; Express 37 — Expeditious, Bartz Schneider, SFYC; Knarr — Viva, Don Jesberg/Ethan Doyle, SFYC; Express 27 Long Distance Series — Salty Hotel, John Kearney, CYC; Express 27 Championship Series — Motorcycle Irene, Julia & Will Paxton, RYC; and BAMA Cup — Caliente, Explorer 44 Truls Myklebust, BAMA.

Continue here.

In the next issue of Latitude 38, we’ll visit the champions of the various Yacht Racing Association series and check in with the singlehanders and doublehanders of the Singlehanded Sailing Society.

 

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