A nice fleet of 10 boats gathered at Cal Yacht Club in Marina del Rey this past weekend for the 86th annual SCYA Midwinter Championship. The sun threatened to come out several times but for the most part the weekend was cloudy with some showers—a true winter day in Southern California with temperatures never climbing above 70 degrees.

Races 1 & 2 belonged to Eric Doyle with crew Payson Infelise as they were able to turn good starts into nice upwind legs and with the wind shifting predominately to the south, the runs were fairly straightforward bear aways almost straight to the gate or finish. In race 3 however, Alejandro Bugavo and Andy Macdonald were all warmed up and had a fine battle with Andy Mac just taking the gun.

Cal Yacht had their usual great hospitality with beer by the hoist and a nice complimentary chili buffet and bar in the lower lounge for the evening’s entertainment.

Sunday brought some real rain showers and more wind. After a spirited fight with Andy Mac all the way around the track, Eric and Payson took the gun for race one. This left Alejandro and Andy tied going into the last race with large shifts and puffs coming in from the South. Myles Prichard played the first lap of the final race to perfection, but got caught up by catching up to the Martin 242 fleet on the second beat and dropped back to third. Andy MacDonald, racing with super crew Brian Fatih, won the battle for second from Alejandro Buganov who was sailing with Eugenia Cingolani. Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise showed some good all around pace and smarts to take the final gun and with it the series championship.

They raced using the standard North M-16 mainsail and a new J-1F jib out of the class mandated heavier cloth and longer battens which seemed to work nicely.