Carolyn Nute Regatta – Final

Mission Bay, October 31 – November 1, 2015.

Report by Seth Siegler and photo gallery (All the pics were taken by Judy Tillson http://www.judytillsonphotography.com)

San Diego has an interesting quirk where when the Santa Ana Winds rip through Socal (in some areas, at over 40 kts), it somehow results in extremely light and unstable breeze in Mission Bay. That’s really saying something since for Mission Bay, 12 knots is normally considered “breezy”.

But even with the Santa Ana’s in the forecast, San Diego’s fleet 495 dove headlong into one of the best regattas of the year: The Carolyn Nute Memorial Regatta. With 23 teams registered, they rigged up on Saturday with the breeze blowing lightly from “the wrong direction”. But by the time the boats slipped off the sandy beach at Mission Bay Yacht Club, the breeze had turned around and filled in to a surprising 10+ knots. Things were looking up!

…

Race-one got off to a standard-issue kickoff with a general recall. The PRO for the event was in no mood for such antics, however, and went straight to a Z-Flag for the next start. As usual, that did the trick and the teams were off and racing. (And Hiking!) After five laps, Bob Bowden and Gus Wirth sailed through in first followed by David Tillson and Emma Batcher in second and Randy Lake with Maddy McGrath in third.

After a second race in similar conditions, won by Seth Siegler and Anna Schoenbrunner followed by Chuck Sinks with Katherine Bowman and Gene and Tami Ratliffe, the RC got bold and posted a seven-leg W/L course. Shortly after the start, it was apparent that it was getting lighter by the minute with the delicate local seabreeze starting to lose out to the effects of the Santa Ana. Things got weird on a downwind leg that seemed to have lasted several days but as the fleet approached the windward mark for the second time, the RC mercifully shortened the course and finished the fleet there. Gene and Tami Ratliffe won the race over Tillson and Batcher and Sinks and Bowman.

A keg of local beer greeted the sailors in the boatyard and some teams stuck around for the annual MBYC Halloween Party too. A long evening of trick or treating was ahead for some parents so most were thankful for the extra hour of sleep coming their way via the overnight end to daylight savings time.

Sunday came and things were actually looking better breeze-wise. By 10:00, it looked to be filling in nicely from the right, westerly direction. It was also custome-day with all teams encouraged to race in costume. Many did and I can personally attest that it was quite a feeling to duke it out with the best of the fleet while wearing a cheeseburger suit!

Though relatively solid, the breeze was pretty light compared to the first two races on Saturday. Plenty enough to race though and the fleet kicked things off for race-four under the familiar Z-flag which had been flying since race-one. With big gains and losses to be made by choosing your path from puff to puff the fleet saw many lead changes throughout and when it was over Tillson and Batcher took the gun with Lake and McGrath following in second and Siegler / Shoenbrunner in third. The next race was equally technical and won by Gene and Tami Ratliffe after a smooth downwind pass of Siegler and Shoenbrunner. Bryan Lake, who jumped in for Chuck Sinks as a replacement skipper, shook off his snipe-rust and left his normal kiteboarding foils on the beach, took a third place finish in the race.

The sixth and final race would be critical to those teams needing the throwout race (like Anna and I, who were saddled with an OCS in the first race). The breeze looked to be holding and so confident was the RC that they posted another 7-lap course. The fleet was away for the last time and actually completed all 7 legs in the nick of time before the breeze checked out for the day. Siegler and Schoenbrunner won the race over high school sailors Cole Harris and Tanner Chapko and Tillson and Batcher in third.

With the throwout race now counted, Gene and Tami Ratliffe would win overall in a tiebreaker with David Tillson and Emma Batcher. Seth Siegler and Anna Shoenbrunner discarded an OCS to end up third overall followed by Randy Lake and Maddy McGrath in fourth. Rick Arneson and Diana Waterbury cruised into fifth.

The awards ceremony was attended by Carolyn Nute’s sister, Andrea, who shared some words about her late sister and regatta namesake. She handed out awards to the top women’s team (and fleet newcomers) Marianna and Cassandra Shand, top father/daughter team of John and Avery Fretwell and best costumes to Chris and Lauren Wright (Curious George and the man in the yellow hat). The top juniors award went to Jesse McKnight and Daisy Holthus who finished sixth overall! They were among a strong jr sailor contingent including four all-junior teams and eight other junior crews with senior skippers.

Place	#	Ghoul	Goblin	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total
1	29439	Gene Ratliffe	Tami	MBYC	– 7	3	1	4	1	4	13
2	30109	Dave Tillson	Emma Batcher	MBYC	2	– 5	2	1	5	3	13
3	31114	Seth Siegler	Anna Schoenbrunner	MBYC	– 25 ocs	1	11	3	2	1	18
4	28854	Randy Lake	Maddy McGrath	SDYC	3	– 11	8	2	8	5	26
5	30800	Rick Arneson	Diana Waterbury	SDYC	4	6	– 10	5	7	8	30
6	30337	Jesse McKnight	Daisy Holthus	Bungalow	8	7	4	8	– 13	9	36
7	29315	Ken Redler	Diego Escobar	MBYC	5	10	– 13	7	11	7	40
8	29013	Chris Wright	Lauren	MBYC	9	8	6	13	10	– 15	46
9	28858	Cole Harris	Tanner Chapko	SDYC	10	9	17	9	– 18	2	47
10	30618	Don Bedford	Willem Perry	MBYC	– 25 ocs	14	9	10	4	11	48
11	29646	Aimee Heim	Eric Heim	SDYC	11	12	7	– 18	6	12	48
12	30113	Bob Bowden	Gus Wirth	MBYC	1	4	14	– 17	16	16	51
13	29248	Aine Fretwell	Cal Pedroli	MBYC/Bungalow	15	– 16	5	12	15	6	53
14	30359	Jack Plavan	Amanda Majernik	Bungalow	13	13	12	– 14	9	13	60
15	28687	Chuck Sinks	Katherine Bowman	SDYC	6	2	3	– 25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	61
16	28687x	Bryan Lake	Katherine Bowman	SDYC	– 25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	6	3	10	69
17	31256	Ed Machado	Jon Robertson	MBYC	14	15	15	15	– 17	14	73
18	30611	Ray Treppa	Claire Lester	OBYC	12	17	18	16	– 19	17	80
19	29356	Craig Storms	Rick Shand	MBYC	– 20	18	19	19	14	18	88
20	28857	John Fretwell	Avery Fretwell	MBYC	17	– 25 dnc	25 dnc	11	12	25 dnc	90
21	29166	Marianna Shand	Cassandra Shand	MBYC	16	– 20	20	20	20	19	95
22	38337	Kay Voss	Kara Voss	CGSC	19	21	16	– 25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	106
23	29316	Todd Smith	Cathy Black	ABYC	18	19	21	– 25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	108
24	29941	Doug Hart	Cragan Smith	MBYC	– 25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	25 dnc	125