Report by Bill Buchan
Almost exactly a year ago, I made the decision buy back Frolic #7260 which was built for the 1988 Olympic trials. As things have turned out, I haven't built any Stars since then. In the last 10 years it has had two Canadian owners who took very good care of, what to me, is a special boat. After racing somewhat off and on, with modest success, here in Seattle this past summer, I decided that we, the boat and I, needed to be tested against a different Fleet.
I planned on attending the Pacific Coast Championship and Calvin Paige Regattas in San Francisco this past October but I had a nasty cold at the time so those plans were cancelled. Fortunately, Foss Miller decided to leave his boat in Southern California after doing well in the Calvin Paige Regatta, which gave me the incentive to join him in San Diego for the Kriss Kringle Regatta. I felt that Foss would give Mark Brink and me a good benchmark as we had several good races against them during the summer so we would be able to determine how competitive our Fleet is, also we would know if we were doing better or worse than we had been doing at home.
As things worked out we only raced on Saturday with Foss having a great day with a 2nd and a 3rd to win the Regatta. Benny Mitchell finished second with Will Stout, sailing his first Star Regatta as a skipper, in third place.
Even though we only had a 9 boat fleet, it was a good test for my rebuilt boat, which incidentally is outfitted with a new keel and I came home pleased with our performance. Foss should be very pleased as well as he sailed very well and showed particularly good off wind speed together with his always excellent upwind performance.
For me, it was great to see my San Diego friends, who almost without exception, managed to drop by and say hello. It was great!