Rod Davis
Flawless
Ever had one of those crazy ideas, one you actually followed through with, and it worked!? Recently I conned the San Diego YC into inviting me to their International Masters Regatta. The regatta dates filled a gap in my TP52 and
RC44 European racing programmes, and looked to have tight racing and great fun, win, lose or
draw. That might be the biggest difference between me and most of the professionals sailing today. I am always looking for regattas to sail in, just for fun. If it does not go well my ego can take it. Finn Masters, OK dinghy or local racing – if I can make it fit I will give it a go. I love racing sail boats – weird, I know! This time slot, very fortuitously, also allowed me to visit my
91-year-old mother in San Diego for the first time in a couple of years, due to the wretched Covid pandemic. And also very fortuitously my younger brother Geoff, an Etchells
sailor and longtime member of SDYC, took on the job of organising the crew and all the paperwork. All I had to do was show up, do what I was told to do and sail. I went to school in San Diego, maybe I should say I was supposed
to attend school. SDYC was a second home to me, too much so for school work. My time was ‘invested’ in wandering the docks, crewing on the local boats and mostly just making a nuisance of myself. It’s been 40 years since I left, and other than a couple of America’s Cup campaigns in San Diego I have not lived there since. It made for an almost twilight experience when I arrived for the
Masters Regatta. Driving into the club it hit me – not much seemed to have changed. It is still the upmarket yacht club of the west coast with a guard at the gate, perfectly manicured tennis courts, glistening
38 SEAHORSE
varnished handrails and polished brass. Awesome! Then I heard people talking about Chuck Hope, John Driscoll and
Chris Bush. These are all the guys I used to crew for when I was wandering those docks back in the 1970s. That is fantastic… oh wait, you mean these guys are their kids?! And I sailed with their dads!? Ahhhh, I guess that makes more sense. There are age limits for the sailors in the Masters. Skippers have
to be over 60 and the crews over 45. When I first read that I wondered ‘who the hell is going to put the sails up and down??’ I mean normally foredeck crew are in their 20s and 30s. How is this supposed to work? Geoff, you’re going to have a bit on! J/105s are the boat of choice for this duel. The SDYC begged,
borrowed or stole 12 of them for the regatta. I had never seen a J/105 before, but good draft choices meant my crew had, so it was a matter of learning from them. The J/105 is a 34ft racer-cruiser with fractional rig, asymmetrical
downwind sail and bowsprit. The boats were split about half with tillers or wheels. I am quite comfortable with either, so that did not matter too much to me. But, you know, after sailing them I think the wheel was actually easier. Unique to this regatta is you switch boats after every race. Twelve
boats, 12 races, four races a day. Switch boats three times a day and the boat switch is like a beep test. All on! When it comes to boat switching this is not the SDYC volunteers’
first rodeo – they know how to do this. Picture a long dock anchored by one end, just off the start/finish
line, able to accommodate six boats end to end down each side. After the finish you start the motor in a mini race to get to the dock and your next boat. Odd number boats to port, even number boats
MAX RANCHI
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