Gaucho Fall Team Race

Teams arrived to a hazy-gray Santa Barbara scene which did not bode well for an on-time start as the clouds sat heavy and low. Eventually there was a soft southerly fill that allowed for a nearly 12:15 harbor start. The breeze built from a soft 3-4 knots eventually to around 7-10 from the WSW allowing for guest PRO Donny Dowd to rattle off a rotation and a half with the six teams present. Thank you very much to our umpires, Lucas Pierce, Teo Bowen, Quinn Wilson, Joe Politi, and Tristan Richmond. Thank you also to our Race Committee of Donny Dowd, Eric Dowd, Lekha Sapers, and Harriet Jessup in addition to the coaches from CMA and Stanford for helping out.

Similar conditions on day two upon arrival at the Santa Barbara harbor, yet a slightly shorter wait for a build. Harbor start was 11:20am and the sailors were greeted with a soft southerly once again, but it stayed light the whole day this time with about 3-5 knots of breeze. The shifty, flat water conditions made for interesting team racing as teams definitely spiced things up quite a bit more on day 2. As the end of round 2 approached, it became evident that a final four third round would be the only viable possibility and so CMA and Gauchos 3 sailed off for the fourth spot in the final round. While Gauchos 3 prevailed in that race advancing them to the final four, Cal Maritime left happy as their team on the east coast clinched the Kennedy Cup victory.

The final four provided interesting scenarios particularly as the breeze softened, but ultimately Stanford took care of business by mark 3 or earlier in all of their last three races going on to an undefeated victory at the Gaucho Fall Team Race. A lot learned at the event with lots of west coast camaraderie. Thank you very much to our attending teams and to Tristan Richmond for being PRO on day 2 along with our umpires Lucas Pierce and Quinn Wilson.