Mar 9, 2026 @ 14:13:17 EDT
What a beautiful weekend in Santa Barbara. High 70's and sunny with potential for wind all day on both days! Saturday started off well with a light southerly that allowed completion of two Gold A races before the wind shut off completely. After about 30 minutes a very localized breeze line showed up and the Race Committee was on it. By the time the wind hit the start line, the course was set for Silver Race 1A (the previously started Silver 1A race had to be abandoned due to the wind shutting off). It looked like game on with a very strong building breeze reaching around 14 knots at one point, but the wind had other ideas for the day as it backed off again pulsing up and down over long stretches of time between 4-10 knots from about 225 degrees. The wind was fighting offshore flow that eventually won out somewhere in the middle of the day and demanded a full reset of the course. Now racing upwind to the North, several more races were completed before the sea breeze pushed back through and the course had to be reset again. The RC really did do a great job minimizing any delay as they worked to get races off and keep the course as square as possible given the remarkably shifty and up and down amount of pressure (thank you UCSB Gauchos for the hard work!).
The day went as long as it possibly could with Silver race 6A finishing just as sunset was occurring. Protests and requests for redress were heard in the dark. The protests that were filed were dropped and several breakdowns were awarded in Silver fleet. Super huge thank you to the UCSB Gaucho Sailors, the Santa Barbara Youth Sailing Foundation, Chief Judge Greg Dair, and a special shout out to UCSB Team Captain Jonah Eckerman for organizing the onshore logistics.
Another (even more) incredible day in Santa Barbara. After a fairly shifty and pulsing breeze on Saturday, Sunday turned on right about 10:15 from 225 degrees with racing starting at 10:32am. With more consistent breeze, the racing was smooth and ran quickly for the most part save a few general recalls in the Gold B division. There was still some offshore flow from the north that was fighting for control with the occasional large right shift, but the WSW sea breeze was strong puffing up to the high teens at times and holding pretty consistently for most of the day. Breeze ranged from lulls down in the 4-5 knot range and puffs into the teens, but overall a lot more steady and less pulsing like the previous day. 6 B and 4 A races were completed for both Silver and Gold with Silver starting just minutes before the last warning signal option. Several break down requests were filed in silver due to a particularly leaky boat 35 and a mast breaking on boat 48. Almost all breakdown requests were granted except those that didn't show up to the hearings. There were several protests filed but only one went to a hearing that resulted in a DSQ.
Again, the UCSB Sailing Team sailors did really an exceptional job on the course and on land. A tremendous amount of effort went into the large list of hearings at the end of the day and a huge thank you goes to Chief Judge Greg Dair and the protest committee of Evelyn Engebretson, Jon Seawards, and Gabe Hasen for taking the job very seriously and trying to be as thorough as possible.
Overall, it was an incredible weekend. Thank you to all the parents, coaches, and volunteers that make it happen!
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.
