Huntington Lake Finn Regatta

Trailering your boat through LA traffic, staying awake on the dusty hot I-99 through Bakersfield and Fresno. But you get to turn to starboard and elevate to a slice of heaven at Huntington Lake (elevation 6k’) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 7 Finns, 3 from SDYC, competed in 7 races over the last weekend in July. Gary Mitchell, John Reiter, Lee Hope, and families shared a cabin in the woods near the lake. It was party time for the fleet as most gathered at our pad for food and grog.
Typical lake sailing conditions, as the wind fluctuated from 7-15 knots both days. Many theories about which way to go, but the leaders typically won the drag race to the left side of the lake and never looked back. Beautiful low 80-degree weather, but cold water. Henry Sprague, 74 years old, dominated the fleet with all bullets except for the last race. Henry is coming off the Finn World Masters in Europe, with 250 competitors. Henry finished 12th overall at the Worlds and dominated the Grand Masters Fleet. He is the current reigning World Grand Masters Champion and always shows up to sail his Finn fast.

But Henry almost got chucked in this regatta by the regatta chair (me), as he forgot to bring money to the event. He somehow came up with the $40 entry fee, and paid off the park rangers for his camping fee, just before the trophy presentation.
2nd Overall went to Robert Kinney of NHYC, John Reiter of SDYC in third.

The SDYC July OD weekend was one of the most well attended in recent memory thanks to the promotional skills of SDYC fleet captain Mike Dorgan. Mike was again dominant in his finishes as he pretty much buried the competition, but carded an OCS in the 4th race. The One-Design weekends do not have a throw-out, so overall Lee Hope came out on top followed by Matt Dorgan in second and Dorgan third overall counting his OCS.

by Lee Hope