ILCA Masters PCCs regatta reports
Al Sargent
2026 ILCA Masters PCCs: From Gear Buster to Champagne Sailing
As always, Richmond Yacht Club was a fantastic host for the 2026 ILCA Masters Pacific Coast Championship, where the winners receive the Don Trask Perpetual Trophy. As the second-place finisher, I am designated to let you know what happened (a District 24 tradition) in my fleet, the ILCA 6's.
The forecast for Saturday was light winds in the morning, increasing to the teens for the afternoon…oops, when we got to the club, the westerly was already in full force. Some decided not to go out, some came limping in with issues, and I didn't even get out of the breakwater before my boom vang tang blew apart. This was the first time this had happened to me in over 50 years of Laser sailing.
On the racecourse, the ILCA 6's got off to a clean start and it was immediately apparent who was going to take control as David LaPier (GGM) dominated this apparent who was going to take control as David LaPier (GGM) dominated this race from start to finish for a well-deserved victory. Alan Sun (M) and Charles Thomas (GGM) were 2nd and 3rd. And just to prove it was no fluke, the second race ended the same way. The winds were in the low to mid-20s, with readings as high as 28 kts (ed: actually, it bumped up to 30 knots; see below). The RC gave the sailors a choice between sailing a 3rd race and taking hot showers, so we headed for the bar.
Sunday's forecast was for more wind than Saturday, but just to prove who's in charge, we went out in a nice 12-14 kts breeze for the noon start, expecting more breeze in the afternoon, but were pleasantly surprised when the great sailing moderate breeze held up for the entire day.
The RC got off 4 great races without having us wait hardly at all. David, Alan, and Chris Boome (L) battled the whole day, trading places 1 through 3 pretty evenly. At the end of the day, Boome had 7 pts, and David and Alan each had 8 pts, including David, who had to restart the next-to-last race. The restart must have gotten David pumped, because he ended the day as he had started, with another bullet.
One of the most consistent sailors was Charles Thomas (GGM), who finished every race and sailed consistently and tied for 3rd place with Alan Sun. After the Masters Handicap was applied, Charles came out on top because, in the Masters scoring, a tie goes to the Geezer.
Another sailor who stood out and got better and better throughout the series was Jenny Maybee (A). She was 4th in the last 2 races and was especially up close to the leaders in the last race. So guys, watch out, Jenny is coming after us, and there is no maybe about that!
We missed having the West Coast rock stars who were off to Greece getting ready for the ILCA 6 World Championship early next month, but good luck to Toshi, Jon Andron, Walt Spevak, Bill Symes, and Chris Raab (winner of the 1st year of the Don Trask Perpetual trophy in 2004).
The Richmond YC was a great host, and the Laser camaraderie is alive and well in California, largely thanks to Emilio's hard work, hospitality, and generosity with the fine wines from his family winery, Castelli Vineyards.
Thanks to all the hard-working people at RYC who made this a great weekend and a fitting tribute to Don Trask.
– Chris Boome 💥, USA 199206
2026 ILCA Masters PCCs: How to Sail Shifty Pressure and Not Lose Your Mind
Here's a detailed report from Julian Soto, who got almost straight bullets in Masters PCCs without losing his mind. We can debate whether he still has all his marbles, but even so, these are good tips.
Day Two at the ILCA Masters PCCs -- Richmond Yacht Club
I’m writing this after day two of the ILCA Masters PCCs out of Richmond Yacht Club, California. A two-day event with a few practice days leading up to it. Day two is where the juiciest competing and the real learning happened. Four races. Three sailors going at it the whole time: James Espey from Ireland, now residing in California. Duncan Pierce from Canada, who came all the way down for this regatta. And yours truly, from San Francisco.
Reading the Line
The bias was pretty easy to figure out. If you have a compass, line your boat up approximately parallel with the starting line and note the compass heading. Then point your boat toward the windward mark and note that number too. Subtract the two -- there should be a 90-degree difference. If it’s less, the course is skewed left or right. At the same time, check the wind direction. That third number tells you whether the wind is left or right of the course. Then head up on starboard tack to get your settings and a wind direction heading, so when the starting signal goes you already have an idea if you’re headed or lifted right off the bat.
The Start Sequence, 3…2…1… GO!
The sequence I go through on every start begins with “reading the Line”. Then, the five-minute countdown begins, and I get a heading. The next reading I get is around three minutes or two-thirty, depending on the size of the line, the size of the fleet, and factors like current. But most of the time, three minutes or two-thirty is when I get another wind shot to see if the wind has shifted left or right, so I can make my final decision on where I want to be on the line. If the wind has gone one way, I’ll go closer to that end. If I get another opportunity to check around one-thirty, I will. But generally, at that point, I’ve already committed.
For this regatta, the line was a decent size. Enough room to start anywhere. You could pick your spot and stay there. No real crowds. I started mostly on the boat end, sometimes the pin end, because it gave me more options to tack out early if we got headed -- which mattered a lot since the puffs were so short. Getting a jump on the fleet right away was more valuable than staying stuck on starboard in a header.
Upwind
Most of what worked for me upwind was sailing my own race. I was managing the fleet and watching which tack was more lifted toward the windward mark, but the priority was getting into the wind lines because the pressure was so up and down. Even if I was approaching a puff on a header, as long as it wasn’t too big, I was okay taking it.
One thing to note: if your heading is, say, 180, and a puff hits and you’re still at 180, you might actually be in a header -- because in theory the puff should let you point higher. If the puff hits and you’re still stuck at the same number, that’s a significant header. But before you tack, you want to see how far the puff extends. If you tack right away and sail out of it into a hole, you’ve done two unnecessary tacks for nothing. There were a lot of holes out there.
Before the windward mark, I made a quick estimate of the laylines. I tried to come in on port as often as I could, but that didn’t always happen. When coming in on starboard with port tackers ducking you and you’re not quite making the mark, the better move is to tack before those port boats get too far to your right. When you need to tack back to port, you’ll be dealing with starboard tackers who may not be making the mark either, and it becomes a mess at the top. The other option is to push all the way to the mark and tack to port inside the circle -- but you risk fouling someone. Safer to tack early.
Rounding and Downwind Setup
My order for easing controls at the windward mark: Cunningham off, boom vang off, then centerboard up a bit. I always gave myself a little extra room at the mark because it’s much harder to ease the centerboard after you’ve already rounded. And at that point, you want to be prioritizing catching waves or staying in pressure anyway.
Here’s the important one: after rounding the windward mark, think about which tack you spent the most time on upwind. That’s generally the same jibe you want to sail downwind. If the wind is right and you’ve been on starboard tack longest, bear off and stay on the starboard jibe sailing by the lee.
There was one race where James pointed out the wind was more left, with more pressure on the left side. We spent more time on port tack upwind. I rounded and headed straight toward the finish. James and a few others went high on a reach and had much more speed than I did. I really struggled to get traction on the downwind. They stayed in that pressure longer and worked their way down faster. James beat me in that race by about two seconds. Well done. Duncan almost got me too.
The lesson: if you’re spending more time on port tack upwind, you may want to jibe onto port downwind. That said, it might be easier to stay on a starboard broad reach -- it gives you more flexibility to bear away and keeps your options open. Which one you choose depends on how comfortable you are on each. If port jibing isn’t a strength, practice it. But mid-race, work with what you have.
Boom Vang Setup
My boom vang was pretty tight most of the time -- just off of two-blocked, not slammed all the way in. I like doing big upturns and slamming with body weight to turn back down. When I turn back down, I lean against the sail, and that gives a big burst of speed. A looser sail makes me feel unstable and the boat doesn’t want to upturn as cleanly. That said, it all depends on how you sail and what the wave angle is.
→ Thanks RYC Race Committee and Emilio for putting on this event. Good to see everyone out there giving it their all. Just a few casualties from day one, but in the end, we all want more.
What’s Next
Next regatta for me is the ILCA North Americans down in San Pedro, California -- a four-day event in early July. A couple of weeks after that, the Olympic Class Regatta at the same venue, also four days. That one is part of the Grand Slam series. Then it’s head-down training for the ILCA Senior Worlds in Dublin, Ireland, in mid-August.
A lot of sailing ahead. I look forward to hearing what you all think about day two of racing at the ILCA Masters PCCs. And good luck to everyone heading to Greece for the Master Worlds. We’ve got quite a few sailors going from Richmond and the Bay Area. Wish I could be there. Talk soon!
– Julian Soto, USA 222186
ILCA 6 Final Podium:
Dave LaPier (and first great grandmaster)
Chris Boome (and first legend)
Charles Thomas
Alan Sun (and first master)
First Grandmaster: Ernie Galvan
First Apprentice: Jenny Maybee
ILCA 7 Final Podium:
Duncan Pearce (and first grandmaster)
Julian Soto (and first apprentice)
James Espey
First Great Grandmaster: Emilio Castelli
First Master: James Baurley
Results:
https://theclubspot.com/regatta/94Mh4yH5Ce/results?list_view=true
Thanks to John Liebenberg for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Nw459A5R5PvNRCp49