Turkey Day Regatta and Pacific Coast Championships News

[John Papadopoulos]

The Alamitos Bay Turkey Day Regatta is a very popular one design event (more than 120 boats across 23 classes) that draws sailors young and old, from San Diego to San Francisco, and is thought to be longest continuously attended 29er event in the history of the 29er class in the US. What makes it so successful? Perhaps it is the turkey dinner Saturday night. Or is it the frozen turkeys and pumpkin pies given out as awards? Who knows. One thing is for sure, the regatta has a long tradition of comfortable conditions - warm, probably sunny, and mild to moderate winds.  Not ideal skiff racing conditions but very good conditions for such a late season regatta.  As an aside, these mild conditions are related to the Santa Ana winds that are the engine behind the ferocious wild fires that occur in the mountains of So. California each winter.

Topping the regatta score sheet are the brothers Ian and Noah Nyenhuis, who just a little more than a year ago were one of the youngest (or youngest?) 29er teams at the 2017 Worlds Championships held at the very same venue.

A big thank you to all that attended, and congratulations to Ian and Noah! For full results, please click this link https://www.sailwave.com/results/ABYC_2018_TurkeyDay.htm.

The Turkey Day Regatta is also the last stop of the Pacific Coast Championships Series.  The series consists of one regatta in each region of the Pacific Coast:29er Midwinters West (San Diego), Santa Barbara Skiff Fest, Gorge Skiff Regatta (Oregon), the ABYC Turkey Day Regatta (Long Beach) and, when we can get a fleet, a regatta in San Francisco.  This year there weren't any regattas in San Francisco with enough 29ers to be scored - perhaps next year?

The Maxam Family Trophy for the Pacific Coast Championships is awarded to the top skipper and top crew (scored separately) amongst all those that participated in one or more of the series events.  This year,  the winners are Peter Joslin (San Diego, CA) and Scott Mais (Newport Beach, CA)!

A full ranking of all participants at these events is available for download here.