SYC Women on a San Diego Weekend

By Sheridan Fergusan

Over this past President’s day weekend, the Seattle Yacht Club Women’s team went down to sunny southern California to race in San Diego Yacht Club’s 2^nd Women’s Winter Invitational. Lindsay Bergen, Regan Edwards, Naomi Medley, and myself, Sheridan Ferguson raced J22s against some of the top sailors from the US and Mexico. 20 teams competed all told, in fleets of five in the beautiful La Playa Bay. 

We arrived on Friday and were welcomed with a lovely potluck dinner on the dock, reconnecting with friends from last year and finding new ones along the way! Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful, with a nice breeze in the morning filling to solid wind by mid-afternoon. The locals couldn’t stop apologizing for the slightly cooler weather, with the temperature sitting around 60°, but we Seattle girls were thrilled to escape the snow.  

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Before the skipper’s meeting we attended a very sailing-focused yoga class for the racers, getting us in the perfect mindset for competition! For the first day of racing we took on all the teams, sailing a total of seven races, and securing a spot in silver fleet for day 2. Our learning curve through the first few races was extreme, as we got accustomed to reach other and the odd race course. A small craft advisory had brought many boats into the bay to anchor, providing a minefield through the course. Laylines were determined less by wind angle and more by an ability to dodge the powerboats swinging on their anchors. 

Masseuses on the dock provided some much needed relaxation between our energy-filled but quick races. A successful first day of racing completed, we were treated to a wonderful meal at the San Diego yacht club, with more opportunity to connect with competitors from all around the country. We called it a night early and were rearing to go after another yoga session Sunday morning, with the first few hours of racing determining who would be going to the finals! 

After three races, we progressed to the petite finals (for silver fleet) and competed through the afternoon alongside the finals (for gold fleet). More wind had filled in for day 2, with gusts to 17 knots, occasionally dropping all the way down to 4 or 5. Much to our luck in the last race of the finals the rain came through, and our southern California competition was entirely thrown off!  In (literally) our element, we pulled out a win to finish off the day, ending up with a 3^rd place in silver fleet. 

Sharing a last few drinks with our friends at the awards ceremony we closed out the weekend by watching rainsqualls roll through the packed SDYC marina. A few of the team flew home that night, and Naomi and I begrudgingly hopped a plane to Seattle bright and early Monday morning. All told it was a most successful weekend, many thanks to SDYC for hosting us and for our own Seattle Yacht Club’s endless support of our endeavors! The SYC Women are looking forward to many more regattas in beautiful San Diego!