J/125 "DT" Three-Peats Spinnaker Cup

(San Francisco, CA)- This year's annual running of the Spinnaker Cup saw another strong group of the "downwind flyers" that love to go ripping down the California coastline in a hurry from San Francisco to Monterey just 90nm south-- a day race for some!  Andy Costello's J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE was sailing with the hope to be the first team ever to win three Spinnaker Cups overall in a row.  In addition, sailing in other divisions were the J/35c BRAINWAVES, the J/35 PEGASUS and the J/42 TIKI-J, all hoping to win-place-show in their respective classes.

For starters, here's a breakdown of what took place after H20shots.com founder Erik Simonson interviewed Andy Costello shortly after the finish.

As Andy described it, "The Spinnaker Cup continues to deliver. Three years in a row of just awesome sailing conditions. This race was a bit tricky, there were a lot of ways to exit the bay and we usually get it right but the conditions at the start were very shifty and we ended up on the wrong side of the bay. This was a tough way to start the day watching our competitors sail away. Usually we are the ones up front. Mark Howe's and his team on War Pony did an excellent job starting in the division behind us and beat us more than half way to R8 as the race committee had opted for course 2. I think a wise move given the conditions outside the bridge.

The slight hitch to R8 was pretty lumpy and the wind was gusting as high as 32. The breeze definitely had a punch to it and felt a bit denser than our usual wind the puffs came on hard and fast. Keeping the boat flat and rumbling was key. We sailed most of this leg with a reefed Main and # 3 jib.

At R8 we rounded third with Tai Kuai and Condor Ahead by maybe 10 minutes and 5 minutes, respectively, with Pony nipping at our heels. We set a Jib top with the reef in the Main and reached along for a good 8 or 9 miles until we were able to unleash the A5-- that's when DT started to show her stuff. We reeled Condor back in to even. It was important for us to stay with them as we knew it was boat for boat contest with us both rated at -12 for this race. As we progressed down the coat the breeze lightened back to the High teens to low 20s. Condor and us both peeled to larger kites for us this was our A4.

Trevor (Baylis) was not happy with our exit of the bay and was not happy just sailing along next to the Condor and was going to find away to get us back up front so we could pull off the "Hat Trick" (three overall Spin Cups Wins in a Row on corrected time). He made the gutsy call to leave the competition & jibe back towards Ano Nuevo, hunting for more pressure as DT really hits her stride in 21 and up TWS. Leaving Tai Kuai and Condor to stay offshore and maybe give them the race. We were either going to win this or loose a ton on this next move. At least that's what was going thru my mind. If your going to trust somebody's judgement on racing down this coast I had the right guy making the call.

Jibing down the coast, blue water, sun and great wind pressure! What a place to race a sailboat. Inshore our breeze steadily increased as we sailed the rim of the marine layer, jibing back and forth as we followed the coast to Santa Cruz. Our ride across Monterey Bay was another epic one, 23 to 27 knots of breeze under full main, A4 and spin staysail. We were averaging speeds no lower than 18 and highs to a bit over 21 for the last 25 miles. I won't give all Trevor's secrets away, but he called our final jibe lay line from 22 or 23 miles out and we nailed it with the kite up all the way thru the finish, sailing at optimum polars the whole way.

Another favorite for me on this race is watching your competition as you blast across Monterey Bay, waiting to see who will get to the finish first. We saw Condor come out the fog from offshore and with 8 to miles to go we had gotten ahead-- they crossed behind us about 1 mile back, jibed and were essentially on our line for final approach. We continued to pull away from them and then we saw Tai Kuai, they crossed just in front of us on the opposite jibe with 5 miles to go. They sailed a bit more inshore before jibing on to there final approach to the finish.

Now it was on! A drag race between us and Tai Kuai for the last 5 miles to see who would take line honors. We were able to stay very close and in the end Tai Kuai beat us over the line by 4 seconds for first boat to finish!

Our team was very happy with our performance and we also knew we had accomplished beating Tai Kuai and Condor on corrected time. Now it was a waiting game to see if the Pony or a slower boat from the later starters would take us out on corrected. Pony ended blowing a kite with 8 miles to go or they may have won, or at least it would have been a lot closer than 8 minutes on corrected.

We put the boat away had an awesome dinner together laughing at all the little things that went well or didn't on the race down the coast. BTW, they have great food" at the MPYC.

My Crew was wet and tired but as always rocked it.  Matt Noble and Ben Landon were under water on the bow more than they were dry. I joked that next year I will just get them team wetsuits and a snorkels !  Jody Mc Cormack and Molly Robinson were awesome and did everything the boys could Grinding, Trimming, Packing Kites. They are both extremely athletic women who love the sport and are awesome to be around!  Trevor Baylis- what can I say? He's pretty good.  Shaun Hagerman- my Finance Director from the dealership who owns a J/105 and thought he had a fast boat. Talk about wide open eyes! I wanted him to see what Coastal Sailing can be like when you have the right boat, the right crew, great conditions, and awesome competition from some really good sailors with well prepped race boats!

On a safety note, I will have to say the "Low Speed Chase" incident definitely impacted our team. Our discussion for safety before the race was much more in-depth.  All of the team was clipped in at different points most of the day, even if the conditions didn't merit it. The team would just clip-in to clip-in. The bow guys never went forward not clipped-in. There was never a call to clip-in by me as the conditions were not that extreme except for the upwind portion. My boat program has always been very safety oriented. We push the DOUBLE TROUBLE to its limits and that's even more reason to make safety the number one priority. I'm extremely proud of my crew for making the effort to clip-in and wear their harnesses and tethers all day. On my program there is a point where a call is made by the skipper to clip in and it is mandatory to do so but this day was not one of those days. If we would have done this exact race before the Low speed Chase incident the crew probably would have been clipped-in unless I asked. The loss of friends has changed the way all these excellent sailors race with or without the skipper telling them too.  That's an awesome feeling.  Of course, when we docked in Monterey, who would be the first boat to be safety inspected?? DOUBLE TROUBLE, of course! We passed having carried more safety equipment than needed including a life raft. Thanks to SFYC and MPYC for another Awesome Spin Cup !!"

In addition to Andy's fast downhill sleigh-ride, others in the J/Clan were having fun, too!  Amongst them was the J/35c BRAINWAVES sailed by Jim Brainard. Jim's crew managed a 4th in Class C, just 5 minutes off a third place podium finish!  That must've been a bit frustrating.   Another fast J/cruiser was the J/42 TIKI-J sailed by Scott Dickinson, managing a well-earned 2nd in Class D!  Finally, going "two-up" in Class E Doublehanded division was the J/35 PEGASUS sailed by Mark Sykes and friend, getting a 3rd in class!  Congratulations to all!

For the NBC News Affiliate- KSBW Monterey, take a peak at this sailing piece of news reporting- shows Andy and crew on DOUBLE TROUBLE just getting nipped at the finish line by a few feet!

For more Spinnaker Cup sailing information and results  Sailing photo credits- Sharon Green/ Ultimate Sailing and Eric Simonson/ h2oshots.com/pressuredrop.us.