As a part of the Southern California Yachting Association's Midwinter Regatta, there was a Portsmouth fleet of Nacra 20s, F18s and F16s racing at the Mission Bay Yacht Club last weekend. Conditions were delightful; 8-10 knots on Saturday, which built to 16-18 knots and big waves on Sunday in advance of some weather. Results are posted HERE.

F16s were sailed by Annie Gardner and Eric Witte, and Dennis Key and John Williams. Outside of the Alter Cup, this may have been the first time more than one F16 appeared on a course together on the West Coast. Annie and Eric have competed in multiple events in the San Diego area, and John Dudash has competed at events in Long Beach in the past.

There is a growing interest in F16 racing in Southern California.

Have you got a story on Race 1.
First boat around the top sailed the wrong course?

Actually, the whole fleet sailed the "wrong" course in R1. We were told at skippers' meeting that the course number posted on the committee boat would correspond to the number of legs to be sailed. For example, a posted 3 would be windward, leeward, finish upwind. We were given a 4 for R1 - four legs with a downwind finish, right? That's what the fleet sailed.

As each smiling competitor crossed the finish line (and got a sound signal), the PRO began yelling at each in turn. Some people could hear her and some couldn't. Some thought she was asking boats to clear the line and they did so promptly, responding to the urgency in her voice. I was close enough to hear her tell me we "did not sail the proper course!" We sailed up to the committee boat to get clarification, and she said the committee's intent was that the fleet make a final C mark before reaching to the finish line. We contended this to be a fifth leg of the course. She was clearly frustrated with us, so I clammed up after a brief conversation. The fleet that had finished around us just shrugged and wrote it off as a slate of DNFs until ONE GUY decided to peel off from the rest of us to go and finish properly. This completely scrambled the actual finishes, because the back of the fleet all quickly followed the example, some properly (by unwinding through the finish line) and some not.

Back on the beach, the RC asked us what the fleet wanted to do about that race. We asked if times had been taken for the original finishes such that it could be properly scored in the event the entire fleet agreed to not request redress or protest each other; alas, no times were taken. The fleet then asked if the RC would accept DNFs for all competitors, and they agreed. No drops for the weekend, so we all sucked up equal points.

For the rest of the weekend, courses 4 and 6 were sailed with all teams making a final C mark before finishing. The last race of each day was a Course 5, which was an upwind finish at A mark on the way back to the Club.