ETCHELLS SIDNEY DOREN MEMORIAL REGATTA

Clients Sweep the Podium Overall and in Corinthian

Miami delivered near perfect conditions for the second event of the Biscayne Bay Regatta Series. A full series of five races was sailed over the course of two days. Winds were primarily 15-20 kts out of ESE. It was everything Etchells sailors hope for for early January sailing!

North Clients took 1st, 2nd, 3rd overall, while also sweeping the podium in the Corinthian Division. Our clients also impressively won every race in the regatta. Congratulations to Steve Benjamin and his team Stella Blue for taking the 2020 Doren title and to Steve Gurling and his team on Lion Heart for winning the Corinthian Division.

Saturday started with breeze-on from the ESE at 18 knots. It slowly trended down through the day. Boat speed and good starts yielded good scores. There were minimal wind shifts, so it was imperative to have wide open lanes and top boat speed. Vince Brun, Jeff Madrigali, and Jeff Reynolds on Louise won the day with an impressive 2,9,2. Jim Cunningham, Steve Hunt, Erik Shampain and Serena Village on Lifted also had a solid score line with a 1, 5, 8. Cunningham and his team have been sailing with the new Australian Designed jibs the MAL and GT, and it has translated into consistent speed. They have been training with North Sails expert Skip Dieball’s WarCanoe, helping them get up to speed and dialed in. Skip commented, “making the switch from traditional tuning to the new Australian tuning isn’t very difficult, but it is fun making tweaks to find even faster gears. Clearly Jim’s team has the right formula.”

Another new sail to the lineup in 2020 is the new FR2 Spinnaker. North expert Alex Curtiss talked about the FR-2, “The more we have used it, the more we realize that it is a game changing sail. It makes it super fun to go downwind! The new layout has proven to be fast in the correct conditions.”

“It’s fun making tweaks to find faster gears.”

Sunday brought passing fronts and good breeze with a similar breeze direction at 12-15 knots. Steve Benjamin and his team of Michael Menninger, Ian Liberty and Joe Morris won the day and regatta handily with double bullets.

Steve and his team were using the PCF-M main, LM-2HR and GT jibs, and FR-2 and VMG spinnakers.

Interesting in regatta-winning Etchells sails? Contact your local North Sails Etchells experts and up your game before the next event.