(Yacht) Racing Into April With Some Spring Classic Regattas
Northern California Races
St. Francis Yacht Club will host Spring Fest on April 5-6. Alerion 28, Express 37, Folkboat, J/22, J/24, J/70, J/88, J/105, Knarr and Moore 24 classes and ORC- or PHRF-rated boats are welcome. Enter by April 2.
Berkeley YC will host the Wheeler Regatta on April 12-13, with buoy racing on Saturday and a pursuit race on Sunday. Folsom Lake YC’s Camellia Cup will sail on the same weekend.
The YRA will kick off their 2025 Offshore Series with the Lightship Race on April 19.
San Francisco YC invites women sailors to compete in the Anne McCormack Invitational Cup on April 19, with racing in the Knox area west of Angel Island, and divisions for spinnaker and non-spinnaker boats. All skippers and crew must be female.
El Toro sailors ages 18 and older can test their mettle crossing the Bay from Sausalito to the San Francisco Marina in the Bullship on April 26. Racers should recruit a “Cowship” to herd them across (actually they’re just there for safety’s sake).
Laird Henkel writes, “The ILCA NorCals (allegedly the second-longest running ILCA regatta in the world, originating in 1973) will be at SCYC on April 26-27. After several years on the mid-summer calendar, we’re switching back to spring, which was traditional for many years. Similar to last year, the regatta will be combined with a Spring 5O5 regatta.” See https://scyc.org/club-regattas.
Shorthanded Sailing
Santa Cruz sailors can enjoy their own version of the Three Bridge Fiasco on April 5 at the Doublehanded Buoy Fiasco. See https://scyc.org/club-regattas.
“The 46th running of the Doublehanded Farallones Race is coming up on Saturday, April 5,” writes Truls Myklebust, commodore of the Bay Area Multihull Association. “This year’s edition follows the format from the last several years, with the start and the finish at the Golden Gate Yacht Club and the option to round the island in either direction. We have awards for best mixed-gender and best all-female crews. Also note that AIS transponders are required this year, and they must be transmitting throughout the race.” See https://sfbama.org/double-handed-farallones and register at www.jibeset.net/BAMA000.php?RG=T00980021. “We can be reached at [email protected].” This race welcomes monohulls as well as multihulls.
Registration is open for the Singlehanded Sailing Society’s Sort of Singlehanded North Bay Race on April 26. The SSS race chair advises us: “This is a new-singlehander-welcoming race where all boats sail ‘singlehanded.’ But for this one race, we let the skipper have an emergency backup person aboard as a ‘ghost.’ (The ghost cannot touch any control while racing, but they can help when the boat is not racing.) I’ve asked many people for suggestions on a course, and gotten many conflicting opinions. The comment that really resonated was ‘the best SSS races go somewhere.’ So I’m leaning toward a simple, ‘go sail around an island’ kind of a course that will be beginner-friendly even if that means it is not very challenging for the more experienced singlehanders. We’ll start and finish somewhere near Richmond and/or Southampton Shoal. Register at https://jibeset.net/JACKY000.php?RG=T005638297.”
In other SSS news, registration for March 29’s Round the Rocks Race will close today, Wednesday, March 26, at 11:59 p.m. See https://jibeset.net/JACKY000.php?RG=T001739020 to sign up. The awards meeting for the SSS Corinthian Race and the competitors’ meeting for Round the Rocks will be in-person tonight, starting at 7 p.m. “The swag team on the SSS board, [email protected], informs me they have SSS Corinthian shirts to hand out to people who show up to the meeting, but will not mail shirts for people that do not attend.”
Some Southern California Regattas
For our preview of the America’s Schooner Cup on April 5 in San Diego, see our post on March 12.
The California Dreamin’ match-racing series will conclude in Long Beach on April 5-6. LBYC will take their turn at hosting duties. Then they’ll host the Ficker Cup on April 24-27. It’s a Grade 2 event on the World Match Racing Tour. The first- and second-place finishers will receive invitations to the Congressional Cup. The 60th Congressional Cup will follow on April 29-May 4. The Congo Cup is Grade “WC” (for World Championship). LBYC will use Catalina 37s for all three match-racing regattas.
NOSA’s 77th Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race will start on April 25. Enter by April 6 to avoid a late fee. Registration will close on April 10. Running concurrently will be the 7th edition of the Newport to San Diego Race.
The Etchells West Coast Spring Series at San Diego YC will conclude with the Orca Bowl on April 26-27. The deadline to enter is April 12 at 4 p.m.
But wait, there’s more! You’ll find a more complete list in the Calendar coming out in the April issue of Latitude 38. Look for that on Tuesday the 1st. For advance planning, see the 2025 YRA Calendar and Master Schedule.