Sep 12, 2025 01:36 EST
photos by Randy Ames on Flickr
...Sep 10, 2025 18:44 EST
To view the photos taken this past weekend, go to: J24 Nationals | Flickr ...
Sep 08, 2025 11:34 EST
Thank you J/24 Corinthian competitors!
We at Southwestern Yacht Club would like to thank all of you for attending this event. We pride ourselves as one of the friendliest yacht clubs around and hope you feel that way after visiting with us these past few days. The winds were higher, the weather hotter and the competition fiercer than we usually see in the south San Diego bay. From comments I've received, everyone enjoyed the event.
Congratulations to 2025 J/24 Corinthian US National Champion Evil Octopus and skipper Jasper Van Vliet and crew. They won 7 out of 9 races - nearly untouchable. They and second place boat Wharf Rat and skipper Harry Dursch qualified for the J/24 Worlds in Australia next year.
We hope you enjoyed the registration and boat/sail inspections, crew weigh-ins, the Opening Ceremony and the racing on Friday and Saturday. And maybe the live band played tunes you liked and fit your musical era - although we had a wide range of competitors with our teenage Juniors crew to three boats with skippers over 70!
Sunday's final day saw just a little bit of movement in the standings but proved to be another great day on the water!
We plan to bid for the 2027 Corinthian Nationals again and may have another J/24 specific regatta next year. We will let you know…
Hope you'll come back and race with us again - we San Diego J/24 racers want another chance to keep those trophies from leaving town!
...Sep 08, 2025 01:50 EST
September 7, 2025 DAY THREE of racing
The final day of racing for the 2025 J/24 Corinthian US National Championship started at the scheduled noon time with winds blowing 12-14 at 255 degrees and a distance to the weather mark of 1.2 miles for a 4.7 miles course.
Race 8 had a clean start with the field splitting 6 to the left and 6 to the right. When boats eventually crossed the right had the advantage approaching the first mark. But then shifted for the second leg windward with the left gaining. The last downwind leg had the fleet well bunched together with Susan Taylor’s Take Five crossing first, Mark Thaidigsman’s Challenger just 11 seconds behind with Jasper Van Vliet’s Evil Octopus placing third 6 second later.
Race 9 was the same course, same breeze and same wind direction. But different results. Evil Octopus won (yet again) and Harry Dursch on Wharf Rat was second with Take Five in third.
After racing, the fleet began the hour plus motor/sail back to the Southwestern Yacht Club where they were met with pulled pork barbecue sliders and Salty Crew beer on tap – right on the docks as boats pulled in. Out of town sailors prepped their boats for hoisting and unstepping masts for their treks back home to Ventura, Richmond, and Los Angels, CA while others would be catching flights later to Arizona, Idaho, Washington and Colorado.
The bar was open with a specialty drink and Salty Crew on tap with some impressive hors d’oeuvres to nibble on. Regatta co-chairs Jerry Lewis and Charles Campbell welcomed the competitors to the awards presentation and introduced the attending SWYC bridge and board members. Commodore Mark Pearcy thanked all competitors for coming to visit our friendly club and thanked the many volunteers that helped make this regatta so successful and fun. Charles then thanked Event Coordinator Tammy Salvo for all the many things she coordinated. Charles also highlighted the SWYC staff for their support in the food and beverage service, setting up for the appetizers and dinner, and overall great hospitality.
Then Jerry asked that each skipper come up and share where they were from, how long they have been racing J/24s – and what started as a joke request from the crowd – how new or old their sails were. As previously mentioned, sailors came from all over the western US, some have only sailed on J/24s for a few months and some have campaigned the same boat for over 25 years. Sails ages ranged from “first regatta” (some large cardboard boxes were seen on our clubhouse lawn!) to “a year old set but only used for top regattas” to “my genoa is 2017, main 2018 and spinnaker is newer, only 5 years old.” You might guess that the crisper sails had the better results – and you’d be correct!
Awards were presented starting with the Juniors trophy won by the SWYC Juniors boat Tight Lines helmed by Jefferson Lazurus (14 years old).
The Mixed Fleet trophy (2 woman on crew or 1 as skipper) had three boats contending. Susan Taylor on Take Five did the best of the three.
Next the overall finishing places were announced leading up to fourth place – Dan Chepley’s Abracadabra. Third place was Take Five with two bullets. The top two finishers automatically qualify for the next J/24 Worlds in Australia. Wharf Rat finished second overall with consistent top placing.
First – and 2025 J/24 Corinthian National Champion – with 7 bullets was Evil Octopus, repeating their winning performance here in 2023. They were presented with the J/24 Corinthian National Championship perpetual trophy that they’ll keep for a year, then pass along to the next Corinthian US National Championship in Long Island, NY.
Winners were presented with beautifully decorated stainless steel bowl trophies mounted on acacia wooden bases that the skippers keep. Each member of the winning boats also received a stuffed Panda bear – representing one of San Diego’s most famous icons: the Pandas at the world famous San Diego Zoo.
Click on Race Results here: https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/30115#_newsroom
...Sep 07, 2025 01:50 EST
September 6, 2025 DAY TWO of racing
Day Two of racing for the 2025 J/24 Corinthian US National Championship started at the scheduled noon time as PRO Colleen Cooke posted Course 2 (twice around windward/leeward) with winds at 255 degrees and a distance to the weather mark of 0.9 miles making a 3.5 mile course.
Race 4 (first of the day) had a crowded start line near the slightly favored RC boat but managed a clean start. The 10-14 knots of steady breeze made keeping boats upright going upwind tough but dead downwind runs fun! A familiar top two in Race 4 with Jasper Van Vliet’s Evil Octopus winning with Harry Dursch on Wharf Rat a close second. Third – at first – went to Susan Taylor on Take Five but they were later DSQ after a protest hearing (their spinnaker touched the backstay of a boat right in front of them).
So third went to Ashli Thompson on The Atomic Time Bomb. That name comes from the owners of Atomic in Sandpoint, Idaho not repeating towing their boat all the way from the northwestern US border to the southwestern US border (as done in 2023) – instead chartering local boat Time Bomb – hence the two boat names together.
Race 5 had a few OCS boats as all in this group sure want to win the start! Winds again around 10-14 at 255 and rather steady. Guess who won? Yep, Evil Octopus again. And again Wharf Rat in second. Dan Chepley used some of his tactical magic aboard Abracadabra to take third.
Race 6 had the same breeze, same direction, same course – but a different result! Not surprisingly there were four boats OCS for this start including regatta leader Evil Octopus who eventually clawed their way back up to sixth by the finish. Winning race 6 was Susan Taylor on Take Five with The Atomic Time Bomb second and Mark Thaidigsman on Challenger third.
Race 7 was a repeat of race 5 – but much closer – with Evil Octopus, Wharf Rat and Abracadabra all within 0:16 from first to third.
Back at Southwestern Yacht Club a keg of Salty Crew beer was waiting plus a specialty drink of the day.
At 5:30pm the local trio Sidetracked began playing their version of classic rock songs to the diners on the lawn. A Hawaiian BBQ chicken dinner with macaroni salad, watermelon basil salad, steamed vegetables, rice, and Hawaiian rolls was enjoyed by all. The music continued while competitors were eating and – once dinner was over – the band turned 180 degrees to provide music on the quarterdeck that was behind them, with a dance area that got a lot of use.
Race Day 3 (and final) is Sunday, September 7 with two more races planned.
Best,
Jerry
...Sep 07, 2025 01:48 EST
September 3, 2025 Registration and practice races
Southwestern Yacht Club welcomed all 12 registered boats in the past two days for the 2025 J/24 Corinthian US National Championship – but not without some harrowing tales in how those visiting got here.
First, Susan Taylor’s Take Five had a blowout on a trailer tire coming down the I-5 from LA. Unfortunately, their spare was dry-rotted plus they don’t carry a jack big enough to lift the boat and trailer. Fortunately, they were near an exit and quickly found a tire shop, replaced the tire and got back on the highway.
Dan Cheply’s Abracadabra had an extra 2 hours traffic delay added to their nearly 200 mile trip down from Ventura, CA arriving just in time for all boats to be splashed.
But defending 2023 Corinthian champ Jasper Van Vliet on Evil Octopus out of Ventura, CA had the most bad luck as one of the bearings on his dual axle trailer blew out between gas stops in Coalinga (nearly halfway in the 515 miles trip) and Anaheim (yes, near Disneyland). AAA proved to be little to no help before sunrise Thursday morning but BoatUS came through and a couple hours later the boat and trailer were on a flatbed for that last 100 miles to San Diego. Our on-site repair specialist Chris Donathan of Class One Yacht Services is getting replacement bearings and buddies and they should be able to head back north after racing is completed on Sunday.
Speaking of racing, the Race Committee did give us a couple hours of practice starts and two single loops around a very short course near the club.
Thursday evening was our Opening Ceremony where the SWYC bridge was introduced by regatta co-chairs Charles Campbell and Jerry Lewis and challenge coins with regatta details were handed out to each of them. Commodore Mark Pearcy offered thanks and encouragement to the competitors and reiterated how much the club enjoys hosting this event (our second time in three years and hopefully more). Charles and Jerry then introduced each skipper and called them to the front and they were each given a challenge coin with the traditional palm-to-palm exchange, and an envelope with coins for each of their crew.
Salty Crew beer was on tap and a variety of hors d’oeuvres were supplied to the thirsty and hungry sailors while viewing the pictures of the practice starts on a TV monitor.
We learned this is going to be an aggressive group as only one of the six starts did not have an OCS with one race having half the fleet over early.
Regatta racing begins on Friday morning (after a competitors briefing) through Sunday afternoon (awards presentation) with ten races planned. The venue is about 5 miles away in the south San Diego bay past downtown San Diego waterfront and the Coronado bridge. It’s not that deep there and no obstructions to the west for the normal winds. Expect winds in the 8-12 knots range with flat water and little to no tide.
Should be fun racing!
Jerry M Lewis, Regatta co-chair
...Sep 06, 2025 20:55 EST
RC docking time was 1705. Protest time limit is 1805.
RC boat docked well before any J/24 docked. l ...
Sep 06, 2025 10:58 EST
September 5, 2025 DAY ONE of racing
Day One of racing for the 2025 J/24 Corinthian US National Championship started with a Competitor’s Briefing where PRO Colleen Cooke went over any questions anyone had with the Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions.
Then all boats departed Southwestern Yacht Club for the race venue in the south San Diego bay, about 5 miles away where competitors found nice breezes of 12-15 knots and short chop – quite unusual for this venue that boasts of year-round 8-10 and flat water.
The first race was delayed a few minutes as the Race Committee reset the marks due to a wind shift. Once set all 12 boats were off, but with a couple over zealous resulting in OCS. A mishap also occurred at the start as Gordon Eckler’s Superdry closed the door on Roni Hebdon-Hallauer’s Limoncello at the RC boat and Limoncello T-boned the leeward boat and bent their forestay bracket and retired to get it repaired.
About halfway up the first leg, the RC called out “we’re flying flag N” abandoning the race – due to another major shift in wind direction.
Once back at the start area, we had another aggressive start with two boats OCS. The field split and the left bore fruit on the first two lap windward-leeward race with Jasper Van Vliet’s Evil Octopus winning, Harry Dursch on Wharf Rat in second and Bill Ramacciotti on RYLAH taking third.
The wind built with gusts to 16 and again there was mayhem at the start line with a couple more OCS boats but closer racing for all with most boats finishing the twice around course within a few minutes of each other. The results were the same with Evil Octopus, Wharf Rat and RYLAH in that order.
The RC delayed the start of race three as the wind had shifted even more to the right placing the windward mark practically at the Coronado bridge. Course 3 was chosen which meant a windward finish at the windward mark – that way we were heading back to SWYC upon crossing. Evil Octopus won yet again (three bullets) but there the order changed. Mark Thaidigsman’s Challenger took second with Jerry Lewis’ Kudzu 3 finishing third.
Overall standings after the first day of racing have Evil Octopus in first, Wharf Rat in second and Challenger in third.
The rest of Day One results can be found here:
https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/30115#_home
...Jul 02, 2025 11:48
Event site launched on Regatta Network ...
