June 3, 2013

The show is over and the Made in Santa Cruz Race Week was a big hit by all accounts. The final act, the Moore 24 and Santa Cruz 27 Nationals, premiered on Friday, and although they had light winds the whole way through to Sunday, there was no lack of action. Here are a few soundbites from the weekend:

"Welcome home to the first Made in Santa Cruz Race Week. The two greatest fleets ever were born here." – Rob Schuyler, Santa Cruz Yacht Club Commodore

"We had awesome racing today. We're on a blind date. We usually double-hand, and we haven't sailed with our other two crew before. It's been love at first sight. We have two teachers and two grad students, so everyone can read – they're good at reading the flags." – Sydnie Moore, Moore 24 Nobody's Girl

"As a Santa Cruz 27 owner it doesn't get any better than this. The conditions were more unpredictable than San Francisco Bay, which was surprising." – Michael Irish, SC27 Shibumi

"Good thing we bought a #1, because we needed it. It's all we used… On Saturday night, Andy Schwenk from Wild Rumpus walked over to us and said, 'You might want to measure your forestay.' We did and it was four inches too short. We bought a toggle piece for the forestay and installed it.
That four inches increased our speed a lot. We had more helm, moved up to fifth place finish, and were actually competitive. We bought them a case of beer." – Corinna Stolp, SC27 Shibumi

"The first race was reasonable, but only really windy at the top of the last windward mark. We were hiking hard and put up the #2 for the second race because we were 100 pounds light and we thought we needed it." – Matt Vecchione, Moore 24 Paddy Wagon

The Moore 24 Snafu had three Moores represented on the crew. Gilles Combrisson owns Blue Angel (ex-Numa Boa), Kevin Durant owns Double Trouble, and Karl and Angie Robrock own Snafu. Karl had a broken thumb. "Angie was supposed to stop Karl from starting any crazy boat projects. But he decided to take the winches apart at 8:30 on Friday morning. The plastic bearings cages fell on the ground and exploded. They put them back together and they worked okay because it wasn't very windy." – Synthia Petroka, the only non-owner on the crew

"My life and this story has been a complete improv. I never thought this could happen. I'm blown away. The boat picks the people who sail it. It's made history, and I'm proud to be part of it." – Ron Moore, Moore Sailboats

"About six weeks ago we saw Seldom Seen in Monterey. She needed some love. Mom and Dad came up from New Zealand to help work on her and the original owners helped too. We'll pass her on to a good owner who will keep racing. Congratulations to Pegasus. You dominated. Awesome job."
- Morgan Larson, Moore 24 Seldom Seen, second place

"Thanks to the crew. I came in at the last minute and they dragged me around the course." – Samuel Kahn, Moore 24 Pegasus-MotionX, first place

"We had this idea while sitting at the bar one day. Why don't we get all those great Santa Cruz boats together? This is what racing is all about, the laughter and the fun that everybody had. I wish all the regattas were like this." – Beau Vrolyk, Regatta Committee Chair

Here are a few snapshots from the final three days:

The Moore 24 Mercedes was skippered by13-year-old Josselyn Verutti, who will start high school in the fall. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The youthful crew of Adios, back at the dock after Friday's racing. Left to right: SCYC Juniors Amy Ely and Emma Drejes, and Corinthians (young adult members) Hilary Walecka, Boris Baggerman, and Joe Crum. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Joseph Hagen and John Ross's Gotcha, splashing through the lumpy stuff, is the new Santa Cruz 27 National champion. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Morgan Larson's new-to-him Moore 24 Seldom Seen has been rescued from obscurity. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Seldom Seen leads a Moore 24 parade, closely followed by Pegasus-MotionX. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Variety Show, Barry Whittall 's SC27. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

A human pole on Henry Cassady and Jim Livingston's Sumo. They were recognized for having sailed together for 30 years. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Wild Rumpus was one of two SC27s that came from Washington. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Moore 24 class president Scott Sorensen presided over the Saturday night trailer races. Much hilarity ensued. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Keeping track of the contestants in the trailer races. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Line heaving is an important skill in the trailer races. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

So is beer chugging. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The "pull up and park" finish of the first Moore 24 race on Sunday. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Variety Show, Summer Breeze, and Yellow Belly ride a light ocean swell on Sunday. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The start of the final Moore 24 race. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

For complete results and much more, see www.madeinsantacruzraceweek.com. We've posted a photo gallery from MISCRW too. The crew of California Zephyr have produced a video; you can watch it on You Tube.