San Diego mountains and U.S. Navy ships framed the course of the International Masters Regatta today, Friday, October 19. Twelve seasoned skippers lived up to their Master titles, rotating J/105s after each of the four races on Day One. Light winds in the morning resulted in a 30 minute postponement, but the wind peaked at 12 knots by midday with temperatures in the low 80s. Cloudless skies and flat water made for ideal racing on the windward leeward course on beautiful south San Diego Bay.

The International Masters Regatta will return to the San Diego Yacht Club on October 19-21, 2018 for a regatta with some of the greatest names in sailing. Legendary skippers from across the country are invited to a round-robin battle in supplied J/105s and will be vying for the title in the stadium of San Diego Bay.

The final day of the 2017 International Masters Regatta could not have been a more picturesque day out on the water. Under the bright sun in South San Diego Bay, the twelve accomplished master sailors (slightly tired from the Saturday night banquet, but thirsty for the last day of competition) completed the last three races of the three-day regatta hosted by San Diego Yacht Club. The one weather complaint today was lack of wind at the scheduled start time. Race Committee postponed racing for an hour until the breeze came up to 5 knots and they were able to start the first race. There was a huge wind shift to the right at the end of the first race, so Race Committee re-set everything for the second and third races. Due to timing, Race Committee made the call to only run 11 races total, and they sent competitors on a long three legged race for race 11 in order to get back to SDYC for the awards ceremony.

The action returned to South San Diego Bay on Saturday, October 20th for day two of the International Masters Regatta hosted by San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC). The twelve master sailors from all over the country focused on the day’s four races, trying to improve from Friday, while also trying to keep up their momentum from the first two days of sailing until the regatta's final day on Sunday. With the wind at a light 5 knots, Race Committee started the first race on time at 11:30am. By race two, the wind was up to about 10 knots, a speed that continued throughout the rest of the day for the most part, similar to Friday. Luckily the weather has worked out largely as forecasted this weekend. Today the breeze filled in from the left and Race Committee got one race in at 250 before the breeze moved to the right.

The 2017 International Masters Regatta kicked-off on Friday, October 20 with a long day of sailing in South San Diego Bay. Twelve teams of seasoned master sailors completed the first four races of the three day regatta hosted by San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) in J/105 sailboats. Competitors were eager to get going, however racing was delayed due to a J/105 breakdown on the way out to the race course. Luckily a replacement boat came quickly and Race Committee was able to start race one at 12:30pm. With some slight changes, Race Committee ran course 4 throughout the day in mostly 10 knots of wind and flat water.

Returning to the San Diego Bay on October 20-22, 2017 is the International Masters Regatta, hosted by San Diego Yacht Club for the sixth consecutive year. Twelve teams from all around the world will compete in this year’s regatta, which will be sailed in a round robin format. Historically, the International Masters Regatta was first established in 1975 and took place in the San Francisco Bay until 2012 when SDYC began hosting the distinguished event. The name of the event originates from the rule that invited skippers must be over the age of 60 and crew members must be over the age of 45.

The International Masters Regatta, hosted by San Diego Yacht Club for the fifth consecutive year, finished late afternoon on Sunday, October 23rd. Racing was tight at the top of the fleet for the duration of the weekend, and Bill Menninger (Newport Harbor Yacht Club) had a spectacular last day, winning both races on the final day as well as the overall regatta.

Day two of San Diego Yacht Club’s International Masters Regatta featured more wind than the first day of racing. The twelve masters sailors competing in the regatta experienced conditions that were more typical of San Diego on Saturday afternoon in the City Front racing venue. Sunday, October 23 will be the final day of the regatta. There was enough wind on the course to start racing shortly after noon. The wind stayed constant until about 3:00pm when it died down to about 4 knots in the middle of the last race. Despite the dying wind at the end of the day, Race Committee was still able to hold all four scheduled races.