SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART III
SF BAY 30 — 1) Heart of Gold, 8 points; 2) Rhapsody, J/32, Chris Boome, StFYC, 4; 3) Tartanic, Tartan Ten, Robert Lanzafame, Club Lanzo, 4. (13 boats).
Laser — Humble Pie Marcel Sloane, SSC "The Lake Tahoe Laser Championship at Stampede Reservoir offered challenging and interesting conditions," reports Marcel Sloane about that regatta in September. "Zero to 10-knot winds with 20°-30° shifts gusting to 15-18 kept everyone on their toes. One short lapse of concentration and you're swimming. One race on Saturday was nuts. I recall reaching the top mark in second place only to fall prey to a mystery lull and stop five feet after the mark. I literally watched 18 boats sail by me on both sides. Ack! "One humorous memory was trying to convince 'Schmidty', a recent Philly Laser Master transplant, that it was important Page 82 •
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to avoid the current near the windward mark on Lake Yosemite. He thought I was feeding him bullsheet. 'No, man,' I explained, 'lakes o n t h e We s t Coast have curMarcel Sloane rent! For real — where the river flows into the lake. Don't go there!'" Sloane's favorite regatta was St. Francis YC's Fall Dinghy in October. "The
racing opportunities in diverse venues, very little hassle, and great motivation to stay fit."
Laser Radial — Extreme Ways Andrew John Holdsworth, StFYC "The whole season was fantastic from start to finish," said Radial champ Andrew Holdsworth. "It really was a bit of a blur. I ended up winning six Laser regattas here on the West Coast and two big-boat regattas in the Aegean in my X-Yachts Xp38." Probably his favorite Laser regatta was the Masters Nationals in the Columbia River Gorge at Cascade Locks: "great racing, great locations, great friends and fantastic support from my girlfriend Jennifer." Now 53, Holdsworth has sailed Lasers on and off since he was a teenager. "This was the first real year in Radials. I lost weight, got fit and finally went to a training camp and got some coaching. I am probably sailing the boat better now than I did in my 20s." In 2017, he was healthy for the first time in four years. In 2016 he sat out Laser sailing. "I had knee surgery and tore all the tendons in my elbow. I spent all winter in rehab and getting fit, and this provided the base as well the motivation Andrew John Holdsworth at the Laser Masters PCCs. for the whole season." conditions were ideal: 10-15 knots and LASER SVENDSEN'S GRAND PRIX sunny. "There's nothing like racing the STANDARD (13 regattas) — 1) Humble Pie, 77 Laser in the shadow of the Golden Gate." points; 2) Seaweed Magnet, Emilio Castelli, RYC, Winning the High Sierra Regatta 53; 3) #196080, Steven Schmidt, NoYC, 46. (67 was a key factor in taking the season boats; 6 qualifiers). championship. "The Huntington Lake RADIAL (9 regattas) — 1) Extreme Ways, 58 event (and Roger Herbst's Saturday points; 2) Voyager I, Toshinari Takayanagi, RYC, evening jambalaya fest) always attracts 52. (47 boats; 2 qualifiers). a big Laser fleet and the opportunity to Full results at score significant points in the series. In http://svendsens-grand-prix.myfleet.org the end, consistent participation, good results and a little luck was enough to dethrone the Laser legend and three-time ur trio of reports on the 2017 defending series champ, Emilio Castelli." season champions is now complete. Did Sloane joined the Laser fleet after nine your favorite fleet get passed over? Send years racing with the Benicia Vanguard an email to racing@latitude38.com and 15 fleet. "My daughters graduated from tell us all about it. high school and went off to college. I And now let's plunge into 2018, shall found myself without regular crew. I we? Plan your attack on the series of hooked up with Greg Pfeiffer and the acyour choice with the aid of the 2018 tive Masters fleet at RYC. I re-rigged my Northern California Sailing Calendar old Laser with the new 'go-fast' upgrades, and YRA Master Schedule, published on and off I went. I've loved every minute of December 29 along with this issue. See it since. There isn't a better, more fun you on the water! group of people in the sport. On a Laser — latitude/chris there's no one to blame but me, lots of HUMBLE PIE
making it a lot easier to do well." The HoG crew particularly enjoyed the 2017 Vallejo Race because of the tight boat-for-boat racing against some of the SF Bay 30 boats. "Typically, we look forward to the three big races: the Vallejo Race, the Westpoint Regatta and the 2nd Half Opener, because of the opportunity to sail in different waters and sightseeing the entire breadth of the San Francisco Bay (from the ocean entrance to San Francisco to the North Bay and gateway to the Delta and then the lessvisited South Bay port of Redwood City). Each of these regattas provides different challenges and experiences. This year, the Westpoint Regatta was particularly memorable because of the after-race party and the refreshing jump into the harbor waters by nearly the entire crew to cool off." The team's secret to success is "a no-brainer: Just show up to race. HoG did nothing extraordinary except to race consistently with the same crew as much as possible. The crew gets to practice sail handling; the sails and rigging get checked, repaired and tuned; and we avoid unnecessary penalty points. Even if we had a bad finish in a race, it would keep us in the running for the overall season points." Regulars in 2017 were Robert Hu, Angel Rodriquez, Collette Meyers, Jan Rice, Nathan Bossett, Mark Barber and Mara Guttman. The fleet stays in touch via a Yahoo Group, www.groups.yahoo.com/ neo/groups/sf30s/info.
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