2019 Harbor 20 Class Championships

2019 Harbor 20 Class Championships Gold Fleet Start       Photo Courtesy of Don Logan

By: Len Bose

Newport Beach CA 03/01/2019 to 03/03/2019 Harbor 20 Class Championships. The weather forecast painted a picture of calm before and after the arrival of a weather train named Atmospheric River ( aka Pineapple Express) due in early Saturday morning.

Thirty-four competitors entered the regatta yet thirty decided to confront the forecasted weather conditions and showed up on the starting line for Fridays qualification day. The first day of the Class Championships the participants were seated and split into four divisions then sailed in six races to determine who would sail in Gold and Silver Fleets. The brightness and warmth of sun kept the participant's foul weather jackets below deck and sunglasses on throughout the day. The wind stayed consistently out of the west at about 7-9 knots with a good ebb tide flowing most of the day. The seated favorites all won their divisions Team Menninger, Team Wiese, Team Bissell, and Team Buckingham. Please note that the top three teams where all couples which is something that the Harbor 20 fleet encourages and promotes. A number of teams took a quantum leap forward by sailing better than normal. I would think that everyone would agree that Team Bose sailing “Only Child”, Father-son team Cole & Karl Pomeroy aboard “A Salt & Battery”, McDonald seated in “ 12” and Scruggs sailing “Summer Wind” were all sailing consistently better than our norm.

The race course was managed expectedly well with emphasis given to sail 20+ minute races with no blending of the divisions on the course. This added to more lag time between races yet I found it much more pleasurable on the course with the chances of fewer entanglements with other competitors. Confrontations between competitors where solved by getting clear of all other boats and completing one full 360 circle, which is one tack and one gybe. Unfortunately there is always that one competitor that wants that pickle dish more than sailing to the Corinthian spirit and yet “What are you going to do?” The fleet as a whole has made leaps and bounds to understanding the rules better and clearing any infractions. Which has lead to a much more enjoyable experience in one-design short course sailing. 

As expected the Pineapple Express showed up on time and delivered, as expected, a constant downpour and wind gusts touching 25 knots. Add in the ebbing tide and the location of the starting line, next to Harbor Island, lead to all of us getting bounced around quite a bit. Like I wrote above the class takes pride in the number of couples that sail together. Yet as I looked over the race course I thought do I really need to put my wife in such uncomfortable circumstances with such extreme conditions? By the end of race one three teams had enough and called it a day, many more teams questioned why should we do this to ourselves with many other teams rotating out crew members to meet the conditions before the day even started. I questioned was this good for the class? Team Bose did come very close to throwing in the towel on Saturday before leaving the dock. I kept thinking, I had achieved my first goal of qualifying for A fleet, do we really need to punish our selves in these conditions? We pushed on and at the end of the day we both were glad we did. In hindsight, I am glad we sailed, yet the class should note that these boats and competitors were at their limits. 

That night, at the Dinner Party, the quotes kept pouring in, no pun. “ I have not sailed in the rain since the ’90s and now I remember why.” “ Oh, my skipper owes me, owes me big.”,  “ We don’t get to sail in these conditions very often, I’m glad we did.” The unique part of the event was the participants from Annapolis, Santa Barbara, and South Carolina attending. Newport Harbor Yacht Clubs new clubhouse is absolutely perfect with a blend of tradition and modernization. Good times as always, with my friends and I capped off the evening by stepping outside and ordering our Ubers at the same time and having a $ 20 bet on which driver would arrive first.

From Annapolis Margaret Podlich (Left) & Madeleine Carty

Sunday the clouds lifted and we had a southwesterly breeze of 8-11 knots, I don’t recall taking my jacket off and on so many times during the day. In Silver fleet Jay Swigart sailing “Holy Sheet” held on to his lead from Saturday with Brad Dwan aboard “Joint Venture” placing 3rd and Kathryn Reed sailing “Wood in it be Nice” finishing in 2nd place. In A fleet to no one's surprise it came down to the last two races between Perry & Brain Bissel aboard “Bluebird” and Bill Menninger/Peter Stemler sailing “Dart”. Team Menninger placed their names on the trophy with everyone feeling the effects of sailing in a three-day regatta with as many as 16 races.

Don Logan goes the extra mile for the sport and the fleet by taking his time and money to produce the Ariel coverage of the Harbor 20 Class Championships. His final edited draft will be spectacular as always. I will have more photos posted soon. 

Sea ya