May 31, 2013

Love was in the air in Santa Cruz on Thursday, as a long-running romance with boats bloomed again among the denizens of the West Harbor.

A Jester start. The 8-ft boats were built of fiberglass by the Moore Bros. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The late afternoon Jester race was a love-hate affair, as many of the 17 sailors who took to the water first griped about how uncomfortable they were before proceeding to have a great deal of fun in three races to the mouth of the harbor and back to the crowd watching by the hoist.

The Jester race was enjoyed by those ashore too. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The Sailing Instructions for the Jesters included: 1.4. The Jester class will race under the traditional No Sniveling Class Rules, and 3.4. All Jester Dinghies that conform to 1.4 above are eligible.

The windward mark. "They go great in light air," said Jester racer Ian Klitza. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The three races each had different winners, and Chris Watts was the overall winner on YIIIIIKES MOMMY! The Jester results are available here.

Immediately following the Jester Regatta, 20 Concours d'Elegance entries in four categories romanced four judges.

Susie Snyder of the Olson 30 prototype Pacific High hands Concours judge Eileen Sundet a refreshing beverage. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Bill Lee announced the Concours awards. "This was the first ever Concours d'Elegance at Santa Cruz Harbor. We offered five classes, but got no powerboats, so we judged four classes."

The judges, left to right: Eileen Sundet, Bill Lee, Dave Wahle and Skip Allan, conferred after visiting the 20 entries. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Big Boats 30+ got two entries, the Santa Cruz 52 Elyxir and the Santa Cruz 50 Octavia. "Fortunately I didn't have a conflict of interest in this class," said Bill. Octavia won. In the Wooden Sailboat Class, the 12.5-ft Hereshoff design Sparkle built last year was winner.

Human-Powered Craft saw two entries submitted by Mark Pastick and Toby Goddard. After a lot of looking and a lot of story-telling, they were judged on presentation, and, although both were restored, Mark's rowing dory originally built by Aoelus Boat Works of Davenport and restored by Elkhorn YC was judged more work because the boat was sunk for two years at Moss Landing.

This Aoelus Boat Works dory got bonus points for presentation, as her display included photos and the story of her restoration. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

In Sailboats Under 30-ft, the six entries were the Moore 24s Rocket Science and More Uff Da, the lovely Grendel in British racing green, Summertime, Pacific High, and Cahoots, a 1985 5o5 built by Larry Tuttle of Waterat.

It was love at first sight with the unique Moore 24 predecessor Grendel. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Honorable mentions were made to Grendel, the oldest boat; to Moore Uff Da for presentation (the entire crew wore blue blazers with the logo embroidered on the back; and to Summertime for best paint job; but the winner was the "girl-next-door pretty" Pacific High.

The More Uff Da crew from Seattle got style points for their presentation. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Best in Show went to "The best sailboat in the world," according to Bill Lee, Paul Tara's 5o5 Cahoots, with its beautiful live oak transom.

Paul Tara with his prize for Best in Show with his beautiful 5o5 Cahoots. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The Moore 24 and Santa Cruz 27 Nationals started today; we'll bring you coverage of those regattas in the next couple of days. See www.madeinsantacruzraceweek.com.