Sabre Sails Designs Win Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup

SAN DIEGO---The Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup remains in the 'hood, only now becoming the temporary property of Southwestern YC---the fourth club on San Diego Bay to share it over the last seven years.

Skipper Geoff Longenecker and his crew, flying a secret weapon set of sails (more on that later), outsailed 13 other J/105s to win the West Coast's most prestigious interclub prize by two points over ever-threatening Balboa YC, which had Jack Franco driving and Dave Ullman and world-class designer Alan Andrews on board.

Twenty-four hours earlier, with a one-point lead after the first day, Longenecker said he wasn't sure his team belonged in that sophisticated company.

"Well," Longenecker said late Sunday afternoon, "I guess we do."

After Saturday's light and lumpy frustrations, the fleet found better conditions on the Coronado Roads ocean course, where it was still a bit bumpy but with clear skies and a breeze of 8-9 knots providing enough power to drive through the moderate swell and chop.

Southwestern YC crew, sailing the J/105 Nemesis, demonstrates championship form in the spinnaker set drill. Photo by Rich Roberts

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Southwestern, sailing Nemesis, made a quick statement by winning the first race Sunday, with Balboa sixth on Bold Forbes. But then the leaders looked momentarily vulnerable when they committed a pre-start foul and had to do a penalty turn as the rest of the fleet sailed away. With no throwouts in the seven races, a comfortable lead could disappear in a hurry.

But SWYC started picking off boats on the two laps around the 1.25-mile windward-leeward course until settling for sixth, one place behind Balboa and still five points ahead.

"This team's tenacious," Longenecker said. "Our guys did not give up."

Chris Snow sailed San Diego's defending champions to their only first place in the final race as Southwestern placed fifth to Balboa's second. Coronado YC, with Scott Harris as skipper, wound up third overall, two points ahead of San Diego.

This was the 90th running of the Lipton Cup, which was first contested in 1904. Since Coronado Cays YC lifted it from Balboa's five-year reign in 1997, it has floated to Coronado, San Diego for two years, back to Coronado and back again to San Diego before finding a new home about a cannon shot south on Point Loma.

Balboa YC's runners-up, sailing Bold Forbes, approach the windward mark in a rolling sea and 9 knots of breeze Sunday. Photo by Rich Roberts

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Southwestern, founded 78 years ago, had never won it. Commodore Jim Wachtler seemed overwhelmed and about to explode out of his blue blazer.

"We're just pleased to keep it here in San Diego," he said. "It's the most fantastic thing that has ever happened to Southwestern Yacht Club . . . the biggest honor one of our sailing teams has ever achieved."

Then he confided, "To be honest with you, I'm a fisherman. I don't know diddly squat about this sport, but I know this is a really big one."

Southwestern competed with the only set of West Wind Sails in the fleet. These winning sails were designed by Sabre Sails, who has designed sails for West Wind since 1995. West Wind is a small company in New Orleans run by Longenecker's tactician and jib trimmer, David Bolyard, who flies out to the West Coast regularly to sail with Longenecker and sell sails.

Lipton Cup rules require that all crew members must belong to the club they represent. Bolyard joined SWYC about a year and a half ago. The rest of the crew was Terrence Gleeson, main; Mike Ford, spinnaker; Mary Coogan, pit, and Ian Trotter, bow.

Dripping after a mass celebratory dunking, the Southwestern YC crew: (from left) skipper Geoff Longenecker, spinnaker trimmer Mike Ford, pitperson Mary Coogan, bowman Ian Trotter, mastman Terrence Gleeson and tactician/jib trimmer David Bolyard. Photo by Rich Roberts

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Longenecker, who met Bolyard when he lived in New Orleans, said, "I've been sailing with all these guys for about six years."

But the sails, he said, were the reason they had superior speed and pointing ability in the unusual conditions.

"We had great pointing and speed upwind all weekend," Longenecker said. "In chop you might think flat sails are bad but, boy, we were hot, and we had the flattest sails out there."

Bolyard said. "Well, they're different. They're actually flatter in the main and deeper in the jib."

The competition this year shifted from South San Diego Bay to the ocean to give the boats more room to run. In view of the severe chop that was far out of proportion to the winds, especially on Saturday, Wachtler said SWYC would probably leave the venue alone.

"My thinking is we'll keep it outside," he said.

Final standings (7 races):

Southwestern YC (14) appeared to have a good start in Race 6 Sunday but immediately did a penalty turn (second photo) to erase a foul. The team scrambled back to finish sixth and retain its overall lead en route
to the club's first victory in the Lipton Cup, the West Coast's most prestigious interclub competition. Photo by Rich Roberts

1. Southwestern YC, San Diego, Geoff Longenecker, (6-1-2-2-1-6-5) 23 points.
2. Balboa YC, Jack Franco, (1-3-4-4-6-5-2) 25.
3. Coronado YC, Scott Harris, (4-12-1-5-4-1-7) 34.
4. San Diego YC, Chris Snow, (5-2-11-3-4-11-1) 36.
5. Bahia Corinthian YC, Mike Pinckney, (2-8-13-1-2-7-4) 37.
6. Santa Barbara YC, Kenneth Kieding, 48.
7. Newport Harbor YC, Phil Thompson, 50.
8. Long Beach YC, Scott Birnberg, 58.
9. Dana Point YC, Sonny Gibson, 60.
10. St, Francis YC, Rich Bergman, 63.
11. King Harbor YC, Redondo Beach, Art McMillan, 65.
12. Lido Isle YC, Brian Dougherty, 74.
13. Women's Yacht Racing Fleet, Colleen Cooke, 77.
14. Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Assn., Chuck Spears, 85.