The SoCal 300 was created in 2015 as a race hosted by Santa Barbara Yacht Club and San Diego Yacht Club to provide a long coastal race with differing and challenging conditions. Now in its 5th year, the race is as popular as ever with a record 38 boats having competed in 7 classes in 2019. Many Southern California boats use the race as a Transpac Race qualifier (must sail a 150nm race or passage in year prior to Transpac with a specified number of the same crew on board). Additionally, teams from Northern California make their way through the CA Offshore Race Week and conclude the series with the SoCal 300.
This year, the race also had several international teams, including first to finish Alive (Phillip Turner’s RP 66), first in Class A and first overall corrected time Maverick (Quentin Stewart’s Infiniti 46R), Taurus (Barrington Darcy’s Farr 40) which sailed the CORW series but had to retire prior to the SoCal 300 with an issue with their boat). Next up for these two teams is the Transpac race, where they will compete in Division 1 against the heavy hitters such as record holder Comanche and two-time Barn Door winner Rio100.
According to the tracking, at 8.30 local time (15.30 UTC and 17.30) Maserati Multi 70 and Giovanni Soldini are 159 miles away from the finish line of the CA 500. They are sailing at 27 knots, behind their competitors Argo and PowerPlay, who already doubled the last buoy and are now heading straight to San Diego.
The Italian Team was delayed by some damages aboard. Giovanni Soldini explains: «We crashed against three different unidentified objects and that slowed us down. Yesterday afternoon we hit something with our right side rudder, the fuse system we installed last year worked perfectly and the fitting lifted above the water, but the part that connects the fitting to the transmission broke, so the right side rudder is out».
Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70 set sail from San Francisco yesterday, at 13.00 local time (20.00 UTC and 22.00 Italian time), for the first edition of the CA 500.
At 1.15 local time (8.15 UTC and 10.15 Italian time on May 31st), Maserati Multi 70 is sailing at 18 knots in third place, 24 miles behind Argo and 28 miles behind PowerPlay. The Italian trimaran, with 286 miles to go before the finish line, is following a route close to the coast of California, unlike her competitors who are further offshore.
While California might not have an excessive number of welcoming harbors for cruising sailors, it’s enviably long, north-to-south waterline makes it ideal for distance racing, especially if you don’t mind sometimes-cold water, sometimes-strong winds, and seas that enjoy a “significant” amount of fetch. But catch the conditions right, and the sailing can involve a lot of fun, fast angles, plenty of Pacific Ocean spray, and the chance to light up the offshore afterburners. For example, the SoCal 300 (May 31-June 1) starts on the waters off of Santa Barbara and takes the fleet of competing boats south to San Diego, passing the islands and the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor before crossing the finishing line between two San Diego channel-entrance buoys (“SD 5” and “SD 6”).
Giovanni Soldini and Maserati Multi 70’s Team will set sail from San Francisco for the first edition of the CA 500 tomorrow at 13.00 local time (20.00 UTC and 22.00 Italian time). The CA 500 is the last event of the California Offshore Race Week, a series of races organized by the Encinal Yacht Club, the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club, the Santa Barbara Yacht Club and the San Diego Yacht Club.
The CA 500 course is approximately 500 miles long, from San Francisco to San Diego: after crossing the starting line, off St. Francis Yacht Club, the fleet will leave Farallon Island Light to port before heading towards the finish line off San Diego.
The 2019 Coastal Cup was the fastest race in the recent 5 year history, with new elapsed time, ORR corrected and ORRez corrected times established by three different boats. In fact, the first 15 finishers all eclipsed the previous record from 2017. But for those that didn't finish by about 11:00 on Tuesday, the wind shut down and the last few boats struggled to reach the line despite the excellent racing over 90% of the course.
40 boats in 7 classes took part in the 2019 Spinnaker Cup race from San Francisco Bay to Monterey. Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club has been hosting the Spinnaker Cup on the finish end for decades, and partnered with Encinal Yacht Club in 2019 as the starting host club. The fleet made its way from all over the bay area to the west side of Angel Island, where the race committee searched for enough wind to offer a clean start. After an hour delay the 7 fleets started the race heading out to the Golden Gate bridge before turning south for the run to Monterey.
The addition of a 500 nm Race from San Francisco Bay to San Diego as part of the California Offshore Race Week was intended to provide some of the larger boats engaging in the Transpac a chance to stretch their legs a little and skip the shallow water marinas involved with other legs of the Race Week. The concept originated with Manouch Moshayedi, owner of RIO 100', seeking way to get some of Sleds and Maxi's and opportunity for a mid range feeder event for the Transpac.
The Monterey Harbor hoist is NOT operational! Due to extensive repairs to the hoist, it will not be possible to use the hoist until mid-June. Spinnaker Cup entrants who planned to take their boats out of the water after the race in Monterey, will have to make alternative arrangements. Options include sailing to Santa Cruz to use the Santa Cruz Yacht Club hoist, or using the ramp at Monterey. For enquiries contact the Monterey Harbor Master (831-646-3950), or MPYC Spinnaker Cup Chair, Jean du Preez (spinnakercup@mpyc.org).
