Past Event

AC45's In San Diego

A few of us from Fleet 42 were able to go over to San Diego to watch the AC45's race in San Diego Harbor. This was a great trip! Scott Agan, Manny Dagnet, Julianne Berge, Jim Tomes, Ashley Tomes, and Brett Johnston all rode over to San Diego in Jims R.V. We were all looking forward to seeing these state-of-the-art catamarans sail against each other in the bay. We were wondering how close we could actually get to the boats and see if we could talk to any of the sailors. We arrived at the Holiday Inn right on the bay. We had a vrey good view of the harbor from our room and we were able to watch the races on Friday afternoon from our vantage point. Watching the tactics and the speed of these boats was amazing from above! After the racing was over for the day, we all went to the pier where the boats were put away for the day and to our surprise, we were able to get to within 6 feet to a couple of the boats. Manny was the first one of the group to make contact with the people working on the boat...speaking French of course. We were all amazed on how big these boats actually were. How they were put together, the size of the dagger boards, not to mension the size of the wing sail above. All the rigging, lines, and mesh were laid out on the boats in perfect order. It was just amazing!

Jonathon and Ruby Magick arrived Friday evening and contacted us, stating that their hotel reservation was messed up and they didn't get a room with a view of the harbor. After talking with the managenent of the hotel, they called us and told us to get over to their room and see if the view of the course was better than ours. As we arrived, we were told that we needed to go to the 32nd floor of the hotel and that is where the Magicks were. We all were very surprised to find out that we had the perfect view from above, 32 floors above the venue, in the Presidential Suite. Needless to say, we watched the next two days of racing from Jonathon's and Ruby's vantage point. Thanks you two!

We contacted Kelly Boycks and his girlfriend Michelle and told them about our vantage point. They were able to see a lot of the speed trials and racing from a prime spot on the pier. They could hear the sailors talking to each other while under sail. They were that close! They have great video of the boats going right by them. They agreed to come up and join us and they were not dissappointed.

After Saturdays racing, we all went over and had a great seafood dinner at a local restaurant, then all went over to see the nightlife at the venue. Not too big of a croud was there but still we all had a good time.

Sundays races were a lot of fun. Speed trials were first, and the wind cooperated, giving us a good look on just how fast these boats could go. Then, the final match race. All the boats hit the start line right on time and they were flying! Hulls in the air and very close to each other. The race course was huge as these boats were able to cover a lot of ground in a very short period of time. They were rounding marks just below us and we could see that the boats came within inches of each other while making their tacks and going around the marks. There were no flips, but a lot of close calls. Ruby was screeming every time one of the boats was flying the hull and getting close to going over.

We all really hated to leave after the races were over. We had a lot of fun and wished more people could have joind us there. But now, we get to look forward to the Americas Cup in San Francisco in 2013. I am already saving my pennies! I can't wait to go!