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With the recent changes in the USA IOM calendar and leadership we were thrilled to be able to continue our annual Mid-Winters Regatta here in San Diego.  This year was well attended with 24 Skippers signing up with 23 on the line during the first day of racing.  But, let’s back up a little.

Due to scheduling the Mid-Winters event was hosted for only 2 days with an added practice day on, yep, Valentines Day, February 14th.  This included –  bring your M and your IOM for racing and practice as you desired.  The boat house was open to pre-tech in your IOM for the event.  On the 14th – 7 boats were registered in and there were about 10-15 skippers on the water practicing.  A basic course was laid out in advance of the competition to facilitate this practice day.  My thanks go out to Bill Bridge for assisting me this day. 

First day of racing was started late morning, as of course the remaining 16 boats had to be weighed and checked.  For the morning time – Bob Hirsch was on hand with a drill to help get the weigh in started, and David Woodward assisted with the tables and chairs and setup (as well as breaking down the day) which helped get everything ready for an 11:30am start. And we also said a very Happy Birthday to Larry Grant this day!

Winds were best described as out of the west / north west and mostly gusty between 6 to 10kts.  With some higher gusts from time to time.  Seeding racing went quickly and the two fleets started in earnest shortly thereafter.  Skippers were mostly Californian in origin with some other skippers from Seattle region also gracing our shores.  Also in attendance were a few guys out of Arizona, Canada and Virginia.  Early racing saw some exchanges of first place between Mark Gollison and Denis Rogers with just one point between them at days end of 9 full races. Close on their heels were Craig Mackey, Gary Boell, and Michel Roure. 

Day 2 was much the same weather fo about 67 degrees and sunny with much of the same winds. Skippers were able to get started a little sooner this day and racing started with 10B.  Only two protests went to committee during the event with most squabbles handled quickly on the water.  Racing continued until 3pm as planned with a total of 16 races completed in total.  We want to thank everyone who came out and attended our event and who helped to make it successful.  It was nice to see a couple of brand new skippers giving it a go and a big thank you to all who traveled for the event.  And without further ado, here are the final standings:

Corinthian Award: Doug McLellan

Fifth Place: Craig Mackey – 67pts

Fourth Place: Michel Roure – 66pts

Third Place: Gary Boell – 48pts

Second Place: Mark Gollison – 41pts

First Place: Denis Rogers – 32pts