Santa Cruz Yacht Club hosted the inaugural ‘Made In Santa Cruz Race Week’ over two weekends from May 25 to June 2. The idea was to gather as many boats and classes that were built in the area. The first weekend was to feature big boats like the SC50’s and 70’s along with the Express 37’s and some PHRF racing. Not a great turnout but some good racing was had. The Jester races on Thursday was hilarious to watch and the real stars of the show – the Moore 24’s (31 boats) and Santa Cruz 27’s (17 boats), both holding their respective National Championships.
Conditions were varied all three days with the breeze flip flopping between onshore and offshore. The race committee did a great job keeping the courses oriented and the competitors informed. They set a long line due to the Moores so the 27’s had a lot more room to work with at the starts!
Shark Kahn and his team on Pegasus sailed a great regatta winning a very tough Moore 24 fleet that included Morgan Larsen and other top class veterans. It’s great to see the longevity of this class with a whole new generations of junior up and comers on a number of boats.
I was on the Santa Cruz 27 ‘Gotcha’ attempting to defend our Nationals win from last year. The fleet definitely raised their game this year but two bullets on the last day sealed our second Nationals win.
If there is going to be another MISCRW the people in charge need to do a better job marketing and promoting the event. Transpac certainly might have been a factor for some of the big boats but without the Moore’s and SC 27’s the event would have been a disaster. Santa Cruz is a great place to sail and visit so hopefully this will continue to be an annual event! Results.
– Chris Snapper Winnard.
