Great
Day Of Sailing And A Surprise Guest For USMRA
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| Scott
Dickson drives with crew Tony Stuart, Geff
Fisher, Skyler Lehr and Sonny Gibson in preparation
for the Congressional Cup at a USMRA meet
on Saturday, March 29th. Photo by Sean Downey |
San
Diego, CA (March 29, 2003) -- Saturday dawned
bright, clear, and windy in southern California.
The Santa Ana winds were blowing dry and hard
offshore, making excellent sailing conditions
for the Tom 28's and their crews to hold a day
of match racing in San Diego Harbor.
Fifteen
people assembled at the dock including a surprise
guest, Scott Dickson. For those who don't know
Scott, he is as masterful a match racer as is
his brother, Chris. Scott is active in match racing
and crewing and calling tactics for a multitude
of grand prix boats. He placed second in the 1998
Congressional Cup and was fifth last year. He
has won the Ficker Cup six times and has participated
in Kenwood Cup, Big Boat Series, Mumm 36 and Farr
40 class regattas. Currently Scott is a regular
tactician on the Farr40 west coast circuit and
the Transpac 52 team, Victoria 5. In 2001 he participated
on Zephyrus IV which won the Capetown to Rio race
smashing the previous record by two days. He was
Long Beach Yacht Club’s 1998 yachtsman of
the year.
Scott
brought down a few of his teammates including
trimmer, Tony Stuart, who will be competing with
him in the upcoming Congressional Cup scheduled
for April 6-12 in Long Beach. The Congressional
Cup is the 6th event on the Swedish Match Tour
after the Steinlager Cup was cancelled earlier
this year due to lack of sponsorship.
 |
| USA-29
& USA-30 go into the dial-up. Photo by
Sean Downey |
James
Herrera, the president of the USMRA, set a great
course with the starting line right off of the
Star Of India. Patrons of a local San Diego restaurant
and the San Diego Maritime Musem had the best
seats in the house as the crews zipped their nimble,
high performance Tom 28's back and forth in a
masterful display of tactics.The competition was
fierce but there wasn't any yelling going on.
There were a couple of "taps" that resounded
through the harbor, however, and a bit of paint
was traded as well.
When
the horn sounded, the boats were bow to bow at
the line and sailed up the course to the first
cross, where they pealed off and came back to
the starting box. The crews had just completed
their first of many pre-start exercises of the
day. There were roughly 6 full races completed
as the group of fifteen traded off positions aboard
the two Tom 28's owned by TeamOne of San Diego.
As
the day wound down, there was an overall sense
of accomplishment among the group. Sonny Gibson
expressed it best when he said, "When you
get on one of these boats and go through the paces,
at the end of the day you know you've done some
racing!"
The
USMRA was founded in February, 2003 by James Herrera,
a San Diego sailor who was tired of the inconsistencies
of racing one-designs and PHRF fleets. He knew
that there was a need in the United States for
a organization determined to match racers against
racers by taking out the factor of boats. The
chosen boat for the USMRA is the Tom 28 sport
boat design by Giovanni Ceccarelli, famed America's
Cup designer.
 |
| The
crews battle for position below the line in
pre-start maneuvers while spectators onshore
look on. Photo by Sean Downey |
The
USMRA is the only organization in southern California
that is actively working towards advancing the
sport of match racing. It is currently building
its membership base and will be holding a match
racing series off the coast of select California
cities this summer under the title of the Pacific
Challenge Cup. Yacht Clubs interested in hosting
an event and interested participants are encouraged
to visit the organization's website at www.usmra.net
for more information and an application to join.
The
USMRA will also be represented at the upcoming
Pacific Sail Expo at Jack London Square in Oakland,
CA. There will be a boat on land next to the Last
Chance Saloon and one in the water at the demo
dock to take out people that are interested in
finding out more information. For dates, times
and location, go to www.sailamerica.com.
USMRA
United States Match Racing Association
James Herrera
955 Harbor Island Drive #155
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone 619 209 4742
Fax 619 209 4744
http://www.USMRA.net
jamesh@usmra.net
