Fifteen Moores and folks ranging from original owners to teenagers, showed up in Santa Cruz for the PCCs. A change of the guard took place this year in some respects - a solid number of new boats and skippers on the scene, a healthy sign for the fleet. Nick Dugdale’s 117, Mike McCarthy’s 101 (this boat has been absent since Ronnie sailed it to Hawaii!), Evan Diola of Ballenger Spars driving Terry Hensley’s second entry 87, Henry Nieuwstad driving 36 while Steve Bourdow takes a 505 sabbatical… it was fantastic to see these boats out there cutting their teeth in the Moore fleet.
Notably, of the top 10 boats, all were names that one might expect to see in the top three or four. There’s just a lot of talent stacked up there. In Moore fashion we keep it comically low budget: Scott Sorensen and Scott Nelson made a Costco run funded by the race entry fees that were not supposed to include food - we flipped burgers for dinner on the SCYC grill and had a keg in the parking lot (thank you Dave Hodges!). Outstanding!
Marching along
On the water the unexpectedly tight battle of the weekend was between Philippe Kahn’s Team Pegasus and Joel Turmel’s Firefly. Some words from them
This was the regatta that almost never happened for firefly - my entire crew was watching the Sail GP in the bay. Couple that with my torn MCL two weeks before the race, it wasn’t looking good. As usual the fleet picked me up and helped with crew, a place to keep the boat and place to stay. What members will do for each other is part of what makes this the best fleet around!
10 to 15 kt range on Saturday and Sunday with little chop in sunny skies had me pumped to be back in Santa Cruz. The breeze seem to be a little more left this year which kept us from ping-ponging up the kelp bed too much. My crew stacked with local bad asses Chris, Karen and Kip navigate it us around the local changing conditions. The plan was simple, be aggressive at the start find a lane and clear air and send it. Most of all have fun! Everyone seemed to have their shining moments and “ well crap that didn’t work” moments.
On our immediate radar was team Pegasus. We seem to be like boxers trading blows back-and-forth, not giving an inch. We had some ‘spirited conversations’ as they say a couple times but in the end with one point separating us we agreed it made for great competition.
In the end it seem like everyone left it out there including a bit of fiberglass, and on the docks smiles from ear to ear with a beer in everyone’s hand.
Joel
Leeward mark action
JV driving Mike McCarthy’s 101 on Saturday
It wouldn’t be Santa Cruz without injured boats.
Surreptitious people in the dry storage
Bullet
Firefly
Evan Diola driving 87
Nick Dugdale 117
Results:
Team Pegasus - 1st place
Firefly - 2nd place
The Veterans on Banditos - 3rd place
All these outstanding photos by Tina Verutti. And the biggest thanks to our tireless Santa Cruz host Sydnie!