Report by Erik Lidecis:
Mike Marzahl and I sailed our first regatta with our new boat Memorial Day weekend in San Diego. 18 boats showed up for what would be a great regatta. Many of the best names in the Starclass were in attendance.

Three races were held on Saturday in a 6-10 knot Southwesterly. The first race was a 4 leg windward-leeward. The wind was 230 degrees at the start. We had a good start, near the pin, played the left side of the course, and rounded the first mark in first place. The wind had gone left 20 degrees, and the run was actually a reach. Five boats got on our hip and rolled us to windward. Andy MacDonald was first to roll us. He jumped out to a good lead, and never looked back. Will Stout was second. We never recovered from our misfortune, and wound up picking up one boat for fifth place.

The second race of the day featured the same course, and the wind had shifted back to the right. We had a good start, near the pin, and again played the left side of the course. We rounded the top mark in second place, behind George Szabo. We jibed out too early and lost four boats by the leeward mark. Rick Merriman rounded the leeward mark in first, followed by George, Will, and Bill Hardesty. The second beat was left favored again. We had great upwind leg and managed to take the lead at the top mark, with Rick Merriman right on our heels. We held him off on the final run to win the race.

The third race of the day was a 5 legger. The wind was 230 degrees. We had another good start, playing the right middle of the course. We jumped out to a good lead, but right at the top mark the wind went left, and we lost four boats. Ben Mitchell rounded first, followed by Will Stout, George Szabo, Bill Hardesty, then us. We held our position downwind, and Ben opened up a decent lead. He led all the way around the course, and won handily. We managed to pass the rest of the boats, over the next three legs and finished in second. After the first day, we led the regatta with 8 points, Will was in second with 11, and Ben was in third with 13 points. Andy and George were tied for fourth with 14 points. We knew that we were in a good position, but it was anyone's regatta at this point.

The second day brought classic San Diego conditions with an 8-12 knot westerly. This means that it is a go right day in San Diego. The first race was a six legger. We were able to get a good start, near the committee boat, and got right as soon as we could. We led the entire race and took the gun. We did manage to pick up a huge piece of kelp on the second run, almost costing us our lead. Andy took second, and Will took third. This meant that we had a five point lead over Will going into the last race.