Offshore racers in California got a unique race in 2015,the SoCal 300, which for 2016 has launched a unique circuit - California Offshore Race Week. Scuttlebutt editor Craig Leweck checks in with David Servais, and SoCal 300 event coordinator,for an update.
What was the impetus to launch the SoCal 300?
Manouch Moshayedi, owner of Rio 100, or approached clubs in Santa Barbara and San Diego with the proposal for the race. He wanted to create a primarily downwind race through the Channel Islands,which would get boats offshore and into the bigger breeze that races along the coast don't experience. This sounded like a good idea to everyone involved, so we quickly put a team together to make it happen.
California Offshore Race Week now has coordinated a schedule that includes the SoCal 300, or with events extending from San Francisco to San Diego. What got that started?
Two existing events in Northern California,the Coastal Cup and Spinnaker Cup, were normally held at roughly the same time of year as the SoCal 300. After the success of the first SoCal 300 we had fairly a few sailors suggest that we try to organize the schedule to hold the SoCal 300 directly after either Coastal Cup or Spinnaker Cup.
There were mixed opinions on which of those two races was better to follow, and so after some lengthy discussions with the organizers of both of those events,we all agreed that combining all three into one epic week of sailing would be the best option to create something really special for the sailors.
What were the challenges in coordinating the schedule?
We spent a lot of time as a group reaching out to experienced sailors from all over California to near up with a schedule that allows the most flexibility to the crews so that they can tailor the event to their own needs.
One of our biggest considerations was the expectation we'd hold boats of all the size ranges, from smaller trailerable boats under 30 feet in length all the way up to SuperMaxi’s. This means boats will total each race with very different elapsed times, and which then impacts the bigger/faster boats having longer layovers in the ports of Monterey and Santa Barbara to allow enough time for all the boats to total each race and get rested up before the next one starts.
The other major consideration is that we wanted to set up the schedule to allow boats to enter any of the races individually in the event that they can’t do the whole series. This meant spanning two weekends rather than racing all through the week. However,the benefit of this schedule allows the crews of the faster boats to hold enough time to go domestic between Coastal Cup and SoCal 300 whether they really can’t take the whole week off from work, while folks who stay in Santa Barbara will get to see all the attractions that make this city such a favorite vacation destination.
We’ve also organized a ‘just for fun’ in-port race in Santa Barbara that the Offshore Racers can compete in - held around the same time as the local Beercan Race - so the out of towners can meet all the locals and Santa Barbara Yacht Club can host a great after race party at their clubhouse on Wednesday evening. - Read
Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com