Photo courtesy of www.pressure-drop.us

The Great Pumpkin Regatta is the final high point regatta on the Open 5.70 One Design racing calendar for the Northern California Fleet. This event always delivers some unusual Bay conditions and this year was no exception. The regatta has boats racing around buoys on Saturday, followed by a giant Halloween themed party at Richmond Yacht Club, and then a pursuit “race” around San Francisco Bay on Sunday.

The Open 5.70s had 11 entries, making it one of the largest one-design fleets at the event – only the Express 27s and Moore  24s had 12 boats. Since it was the last high point regatta of the year there was a lot at stake with some podium places still up for grabs in the Northern California Overall One Design competition. (more…)

3 Open 5.70s and 1 Open 6.50 raced the Frank Guernsey Single-Handed Challenge out of Redondo Beach Yacht Club (results). It was light breeze but good conditions. Close racing in the Open 5.70 fleet although by the end of the 9 mile race there was quite a spread. Jerome was first boat across the line on “Chupacabra” an all carbon Open 6.50 and none of the other boats in the race managed to correct. Nik Vale was the first Open 5.70 to cross the line and finished 2nd overall (Kattack Replay)

The 2012 Open 5.70 North American Championship is going to be held in San Francisco, CA at Golden Gate Yacht Club. The regatta will see 20+ Open 5.70s competing for the coveted “Open 5.70 Keel” perpetual trophy. The regatta will take place along the city front in San Francisco – the same venue that the AC45s use for the Americas Cup. This venue is known for it’s great breeze and provides spectators on shore with an up close and intimate perspective of all the action!

Visit the North American Championships page on the Open 5.70 Class Association website or follow the event on Facebook!

“This year’s Sarcoma Cup was my first race as skipper on the Open 5.70 Boracic. We had a lot to live up to, considering that my dad, Nik and I had won the race the year previous on the same boat. But hey, first race driving? What could go wrong?”

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It has become a tradition for the NorCal Open 5.70 fleet to meet the SoCal fleet for the High Sierra Regatta organized by the Fresno YC on Huntington Lake, Ca. What an amazing place to race on the water and to spend time with the fleet onshore. This year 17 Open 5.70s joined the fun, 11 from the Bay area and 6 from South Cal. This venue is very laid back and many people make a long weekend out of it arriving early and leaving late so as to enjoy the lake and everything it has to offer – even the opportunity to sail with family members.

The final overall results were as tight as they could be with 3 boats tied for first with 9 points! Read more…

Photo by Bronny Daniels (www.joysailing.com)

What an amazing weekend of racing! Long Beach really delivered in 2012 with 3 cloudless days of sunshine and fantastic breeze in the high teens every single day! This year’s tag line was “Size Matters : LBRWs Biggest Fleet” and the Open 5.70 fleet drove that message home with 21 boats in all – 11 travelling from the San Francisco area and 10 local Southern California boats. This is the 3rd year in a row that the Open 5.70 fleet has been the largest at Long Beach Race Week.

Read more: Long Beach Race Week

 

Long Beach Race Week will be hosting the Open 5.70s 2012 Pacfic Coast Championships this year. There are already 21 boats registered for the event. Opens owners are congregating from all over California. The class has large fleets based in Marina del Rey and San Francisco Bay. Long Beach Race Week is one of the biggest regattas in Southern California and will host more than 120 boats in more than 12 classes. Hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club this event is exceptionally well run – with good breeze often reaching the low 20s and flat protected waters inside the Long Beach harbor this is the ideal venue for the Open 5.70. For the third year in a row the Open 5.70 will be the largest one-design fleet at the regatta. Stay tuned for plenty of race coverage.

Jeff Florczak on USA 266 takes a good start at the pin end on day 1 of the BYC regatta (© Bronny Daniels, JoySailing)

On the weekend of April 21st and 22nd, Balboa Yacht Club (BYC), in Newport Beach, hosted the Open 5.70 Fleet.   Four boats traveled from Marina Del Rey and together with BYC club member, Jeff Florczak, made for a five boat race.  The event is part of the fleet’s High Point series, which will culminate at Nationals hosted by Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco. Read more…

The Open 5.70 fleet sailed out of the South Beach YC this past weekend. 8 boats took part in the regatta, running between the opening to Oakland Estuary and McCovey Cove. Both days started out with a decent amount of flood and light wind [read more]

Open Sailing ran one of it’s first Open 5.70 racing clinics followed by an Open 5.70 exclusive regatta this weekend.

The clinic on Saturday was taught by Jerome Sammarcelli (North American Champion, 2011) and Nik Vale (Pacific Coast Champion, 2011). The clinic was an “open” forum that allowed the owners to discuss the techniques they use to get to the front of the fleet. (more…)