Dec 10, 2024 @ 06:05:44 EST
62 teams showed up to Santa Barbara, California at the bright and early hour of 8:00am to register and get ready for the annual Gaucho Regatta hosted and run by the UCSB Sailing Team in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Yacht Club. Breeze is unpredictable in March. 2012 brought gusts of 30 knots and 2013 brought gusts of 5 knots, so it's easy to get nervous about this event. This year the forecast showed 8-10 from the prevailing westerly and like clockwork, it turned on at 10:45am when races started up. Nestled in next to the pier, the race committee watched the beautiful day become sunny and hot (82 degrees) and wind turn on to 10-12 knots. Some fluky shifts in the afternoon made for some interesting racing and hard decisions for the racers.
In the Gold Fleet there were 6 A races completed and 4 B races completes while Silver Fleet completed 4 races in both A and B division. There was one protest in silver resulting in a DSQ and redress of two spots granted to a silver fleet boat.
Thank you so much to UCSB Alumni Kent Pierce, Tedd White, John Long, Lauren Bell, and Jon Bell in addition to local expert Kathleen Baushke, and hopefully future Gauchos Carson Shevitz and Kila for helping out on RC.
Sunday's forecast was not as promising as Saturday's though the sun was sure to be out with some nice warm temperatures. The water was like glass when the competitors arrived and so an on shore postponement was prompted. However pressure touched down at about 10:15am and the RC got the racers out on the water for another 10:45am start with about 4-6 knots of south westerly breeze at about 205 degrees. Breeze built over the day shifting right as far as 225 and then back to 215. Great racing for the competitors to say the least. The course was up along the breakwater allowing for some more consistent breeze direction (though it came with a little bit of extra chop). The trade off was probably worth it as the competitors seemed genuinely pleased with the conditions.
In Gold fleet 2 more A races were completed and 4 B races for a total of 8 complete races in each division. Silver complete 4 more races in each division for 8 races total in each division. There was one protest that resulted in a DSQ in silver fleet and 3 breakdown requests that resulted in redress of average points.
Again, thank you to the race committee: UCSB Alumni Kent Pierce, Tedd White, John Long, Lauren Bell, and Jon Bell in addition to local expert Kathleen Baushke, and hopefully future Gaucho Carson Shevitz for helping out on RC.
Complete details regarding the event including photos can be found on the event website at http://www.ucsbsailing.com/regattas/2014-gaucho-regatta/
| Sym. | Explanation |
|---|---|
| * | Head-to-head tiebreaker |
The following chart shows the relative rank of the teams as of the race indicated. Note that the races are ordered by number, then division, which may not represent the order in which the races were actually sailed.
The first place team as of a given race will always be at the top of the chart. The spacing from one team to the next shows relative gains/losses made from one race to the next. You may hover over the data points to display the total score as of that race.
