Stanford Wins Fall PCCs in the Santa Barbara Rain

College Sailing’s Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference (PCCSC) hosted its fall Pacific Coast Championship on Nov. 14 and 15 in Santa Barbara, with the sailing team at UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara Yacht Club (SBYC) named as the official hosts. Stanford, the powerhouse of the West Coast and defending Leonard M. Fowle Trophy winners, dominated the regatta, which featured 20 teams from up and down the West Coast, as far out into the Pacific Ocean as the University of Hawaii, and as far inland as Arizona State University.

Racers and race committee alike battled light winds and heavy rain throughout the weekend. The regatta featured three divisions, but only four races were sailed in each division due to the conditions.

“The skipper’s briefing took place in a downpour of rain and no wind — a potential precursor to what was to become of the weekend,” the official regatta report on Techscore tells us. “A short postponement on shore occurred before enough breeze warranted getting out of cars and going sailing. Fortunately, the rain lightened enough and the wind increased enough (four knots minimum to about 12 knots at the absolute peak puff) to get three A races, two B races, and two C races before race 4A had to be abandoned when the wind fell below the limit early in the race. The sailors waited around on the water from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. when a front came with plenty more rain yielding a lot of wet sailors and one more A race. Race 3B was started and abandoned when the wind died again. Frustrated, the RC called the day at roughly 3:30 p.m., recognizing a large dump of water was coming along shortly and sunset was before 5:00 p.m. As the sailors hit the docks, the dumping began, and so did the 8-10-knot southerly. Truly a brutal day to try to run races. During the races that did occur, the wind shifted steadily right the entire time, starting from the east and switching all the way to the northwest.”

“The rain forecast looked less ominous Sunday morning,” the regatta report continued. “The wind forecast was not great, but also not to be trusted. The first warning was moved up to 10:00 a.m. in hopes of completing the regatta. But at 10:00, the wind died. Fortunately, some mercy occurred with an easterly breeze that kicked on at a whopping four to five knots at 10:20 a.m. Two more races were completed in every division, getting A division through race 6A when the wind zeroed out and race 5b was abandoned. And that was it.… On a very positive note, the conference was in great spirits the whole weekend and seemed to agree they were building character — several teams camped all weekend!”

Stanford was dominant throughout the regatta, finishing outside the top two in only two of the 12 races that were sailed (fourth- and sixth-place finishes in races 2A and 3A, respectively). The Cardinal freshman duo of Samara Walshe and Kate Myles won all four races in C division, while freshman skipper Freddie Parkin and sophomore crew Piper Blackband recorded three bullets and a second in B division. Junior skipper Reade Decker and sophomore crew Abby Baird recorded two bullets in A division to go with the fourth and sixth. Stanford’s final tally was 22 points for the weekend.

Host UC Santa Barbara was second behind the Cardinal with 49 points. The Gauchos recorded bullets in races 3A and 3B. In third with 69 points were the Cal Poly Maritime Keelhaulers, who, despite never recording a top-two finish, finished outside the top six only twice. Also of note, San Diego State’s A Division boat, skippered by freshman Ian Nyenhuis and crewed by sophomore Sadie Marinerstein, was the only non-Stanford boat to win a division, finishing with 11 points. The Aztecs finished fourth overall with 72 points.

You can find the full scores from the PCCSC Fall PCCs here.