2025 Fall Regatta Recap

Thank you to all who participated in the 16th Park City Sailing Association Fall Regatta. The Fall Regatta is a tradition that we cherish and that has grown enormously since our beginning. This year we had 66 boats on the line and over 80 sailors, including several from as far away as California, Colorado, and Charlevoix, MI.

We are particularly grateful to all of the volunteers who helped organize the event and the sponsors who made it possible. A special thank you to our shore crew- Annaliese VerMerris & Kristen Kenley, our PROs- Todd Wake and Bill Rusconi, our photographers- Sam Tarrant & QM Travels, as well as all of our ramp attendants and coffee retrievers! Additionally, we are so grateful to our generous sponsors-  Deer Valley East Village, Zeal Optics, Urban Sailor Coffee, and Pit Viper.

Fall may be upon us, but sailing is not yet done on the Jordanelle. The US Adult Sailing Championships are being hosted by PCSA September 26th-28th. This event will bring some of the best adult crews from North America to our beautiful venue. Our racing and teaching programs continue until the end of September. 

Circle 1 report (Ultimate 20, J22, Melges 15 and ILCA 6/7) from PRO Todd Wake (toddwake@aol.com)

It was a beautiful weekend for sailing on the Jordanelle. The leaves were changing on the surrounding mountainsides, and the wind made an appearance. The fleet consisted of 20 Lasers (ILCA 6/7), 6 U20s, 5 Melges 15s and 3 J22s. Race committee volunteers (Sam Tarrant, Matthew Wise, Ian Holtzworth, Casey Marsh, Kristine Wake, Carol Wiley, and Kim Plavan) worked hard to run good races in the open windows of wind that were available and the fleets got in about 8 races each. The racing in the Laser fleet was so tight that it was a real challenge to record the finishes. The Melges fleet had enough wind to get up on a plane every now and then and show how fun the boat can be. The U20s had many tight mark roundings keeping things exciting. The J22 fleet was smaller but the sailors couldn't help but enjoy the nice weather and the chance to be on the water. Thank you to the volunteers, sailors and sponsors who made this awesome weekend possible!

Circle 2 report (Zim Pram, RS Tera, Flying Junior and ILCA 4) from PRO Bill Rusconi (billrusconi@gmail.com)

Circle 2 was composed of 4 classes: 6 Flying Juniors (FJ), 16 RS Teras, 7 Zim Prams and 6 ILCA 4s. The weather forecast for the weekend had competing models predicting winds (if there was to be any wind at all) from every point of the compass. This uncertainty had the RCs considering several options and even a last minute SI amendment to anticipate the myriad possibilities. But, in the end, the Jordanelle didn't disappoint.

Saturday racing began after a 90 minute delay with a steady SSE,  6-8 kts. that eventually built off the dam to 10-12kts. By 1 pm the clouds started building over Deer Valley. By 2, they started getting darker and at 2:30, the first far-off glimpse of lightning ended the day of racing, with 11 races in the books. 

The FJ fleet was competitive with 3 different boats getting bullets in 4 races. The Day 1 Tera class was dominated by Jake Wolfe with 2 bullets in 3 races while the remaining podium positions were up for grabs among 5 competitors. In the ILCA 4s, the 3 top positions rotated through Asher Baurley, Augie Wise and Court Maloof. In the Prams, Henry Moore came out in first place followed by Augie Christianson and Lucy Tapu.

Day 2 began on time with a consistent wind direction off the dam and fluctuating velocity from 6-12 knots. This made for a great day of racing with 23 starts among the Circle 2 fleet allowing the racers to try each course option. At around 2pm the wind took a hard left, convincing the RC to call it a day. After 34 racers the competitors (and RC) were relieved.

In the FJs, Team Copeland of Charlevoix YC dominated the day with line honors in 5 of their 7 starts. The Sail Durango team of Oliver Compton and Lily Gallacher led the remaining fleet for 2nd place followed by a tight race for 3rd, awarded to the other Sail Durango team of Calder Kimple and Jack Houston.

In the ILCA4s, Augie Wise of Team BYC won 4 of the 6 races to take the overall win, followed by Asher Baurley from ABYC with PCSAs Court Maloof only 3 points behind taking 3rd place.

In the RS Tera class, PCSAs Jake Wolfe took 3 of the 6 Day 2 Races for the overall win. 2nd place ended in a tie between PCSAs Emma Lake and West Davis decided by the 4th level tie breaker after equal numbers of 1s, 2s and 3s, with Emma Lake awarded 2nd and West Davis garnering 3rd.

Finally, the Pram fleet had really tight racing among an all-PCSA class, with 3 different competitors getting 1sts in 4 races and only 4 points separating 1st and 4th overall. By the end of the last race, Augie Christianson held on to 1st place, with Violet Loeffler (despite missing Day 1) charging into 2nd and Aksel Spenser and Samantha Benard tied for 3rd before the tiebreaker awarded Aksel with the honors for his first place in race 4. 

Special thanks to the Circle 2 RC volunteers and coaches for their efficient race management and supportive racer encouragement. 2 RC volunteers, Hannah and Madeline, having never been involved in racing, impressed us all with their quick uptake of the jobs. The remaining RC volunteers were stellar, including DeWitt Smith, Megan Rusconi, Romain Astie, Andrew Parker and Geoff Hurwitch. Thanks also to Coaches Christian and Zack who corralled the racers while keeping them motivated and engaged

All in all, one of the best and biggest Fall Regattas for the junior sailors in PCSA history.