Bruce Ayres’ Monsoon Wins Pensacola YC's Inaugural Melges 24 Bushwhacker Cup
Pensacola FL, November 17, 2019 - By Talbot Wilson/Pensacola Yacht Club - The three teams leading Pensacola Yacht Club’s Melges24 Atlantic & Gulf Coast Championship aka the Bushwhacker Cup after Day 1 were confirmed as the three podium finishers on Day 2. The one race that PRO Hal Smith got off the line saw the leaders in front, bow to bow, in clean air after each made a quick tack to Port in the middle of the line. Then the general recall horn sounded.
Unfortunately, predictions for close to zero wind for Sunday on Pensacola Bay came true. A rare event. The wind died just after that start. Thus the recall. About 15 minutes later, Smith went on the radio and announced to the fleet and spectators that he wouldn’t keep the boats drifting aimlessly out on the bay. Sunday’s racing was abandoned, so Saturday’s five race results were final for the regatta.
Bruce Ayres’ Monsoon [USA 825] from Newport Harbor CA with crew Brian Porter, George Peet, Chelsea Simms and America’s Cup challenger Stars+Stripes’ CEO/Skipper Mike Buckley finished in first place with scores of 2-1-2-5-1 for 11 points. Monsoon was the winner of the inaugural Melges24 Bushwhacker Cup.
Ayres and Monsoon are the reigning champion of the Bacardi Winter Series. In accepting the award, Ayres, owner and driver said, Saturday was a hard day, the race committee got five races in and I was kind of blessed that the wind shut off today. I could hardly [race more].”
Introducing his crew the Californian said, “This crew is my second family…. We keep track of each other. If I miss a beat on Monsoon, I know it. They are on my [you know what].”
Bora Gulari [USA820] with his crew of Kyle Navin, Norman Berge, Ian Liberty and America’s Cup Challenger American Magic’s CEO/Skipper Terry Hutchinson stood three points back in second with a 4-5-1-2-2 record and 14 points.
Gulari, a former Melges24 US National Champion, spent the 2018-19 sailing American Magic’s Mule on Pensacola Bay. That almost makes him a local, certainly he has local knowledge. In the final race that was recalled Gulari and
Kelly Shannon, a Lake Lanier Sailing Club sailor from the Atlanta GA area, sailed Shaka[USA 801] to third place with scores of 3-4-3-4-5 for 20 points. He commented on his first time on Pensacola Bay. “We are lake sailors and we enjoyed the flat water in the bay Saturday. Melges24’s do well in these conditions.” Sailing with Shannon were Ben Lynch, Elizabeth Lynch, Jackson Benvenutti, and Tommy Sawchuck.
PRO Hal Smith, Pensacola Yacht Club’s Fleet captain, managed the courses in the shifty northwesterly breeze to perfection on Saturday, Day 1. The highest steady wind Saturday was around 11kts and the lowest was 5kts, “With less than that in the holes.” Smith said. “Our target was to run 40-minute races today. Only one of the five ran over that… around 58 minutes.” Sunday winds went to below 2 Knts and stayed there.
The regatta served as the official championships for the Melges24 Atlantic [now Southeast] & the Gulf Coast regions. Taking first place in the Southeast was Kelly Shannon’s Shaka. Zane Yoder’s FNG took the Gulf Coast Championship.
Corinthian sailors are Integral to the Melges24 class. Steve Suddath in Up for Debate was top corinthian in the Atlantic/SE region. Glen Tonguis in Kryptonite was top Gulf Coast Corinthian and the Ratliff’s Decorum was the best corinthian for all the other regions.
“Pensacola Yacht Club,” Hal Smith said, “will be contacting each skipper for suggestions about how we can improve the event and even the timing. Our plan is for this regatta to be the annual feeder event for the Bacardi Winter Series.”
By all measures the First Annual PYC Melges24 Bushwhacker Cup was a success on and off the water. Burgers for lunch and free Bushwhackers were served as the final treat.
All the news will be posted on the event website pycbushwhackercup.com, Facebook on PYCBushwhackerCup, and twitter at BushwhackerCup #bushwhackercup. The complete entry list is at Bushwhacker Cup Entries.
Sailing on Pensacola Bay
Pensacola Bay and Santa Rosa Sound are naturally protected by Santa Rosa Island to the south. The pass to the Gulf of Mexico is located to the southwest, across from the Naval Air Station Pensacola and divides the Gulf Islands National Seashore on Santa Rosa Island from the western park on Perdido Key.
The racing area is a matter of minutes from the Bayou Chico channel and the Pensacola YC marina. That’s close racing… more racing and less transit time.
In summer months, sailors find a daily sea breeze that builds from a mid-day southeasterly to the afternoon 12-15 knot southwesterly they love. In other seasons, the winds are determined by frontal passages, temperature variables, sunshine and other factors. Tides are minimal, about one foot to one and a half feet.
Pensacola Bay is naturally deep with a white sand bottom. The water is clean, seasonally warm and just choppy in a breeze, but not often rough. The east-west shoreline in downtown Pensacola to the north is perfect for stadium regatta spectating.
All sailors— race or cruise— are invited to come sail on Pensacola Bay. Organizers of both amateur regional, national or international sailing championships and professional sailing events should contact Pensacola Yacht Club to discuss racing on beautiful Pensacola Bay. http://www.pensacolayachtclub.org
The NYYC America's Cup team, American Magic, chose to train in the 'Mule' on Pensacola Bay in the fall and winter of 2018-19. They have returned to Pensacola train in both the AC75 'Defiant' and the 'Mule' in 2019-20 before heading to the first Prada Cup race series in Sardinia in April.
Pensacola Yacht Club, the South's Finest—
Pensacola Yacht Club is a championship sailing venue on approximately 22 acres at the mouth of Bayou Chico just west of downtown Pensacola, Florida. Part of that area is approximately 250 feet of sparkling white beachfront property on Pensacola Bay adjacent to the club marina in Bayou Chico.
PYC has been the site of numerous one design and handicap championships over the years. These include the 2000 USODA Nationals, and the inaugural Gulf Coast Championships in 2010 and the highly successful 2013 USODA Southeast Optimist Championships and the 2015 USODA Optimist National Championships which drew 320 sailors from 12 foreign countries and the USA to the competition. The 2018 Optimist Nationals, just completed, drew 301 sailors and featured an opening ceremony keynote presentation by the team from the AC36 NYYC American Magic Challenge.
PYC hosts the Junior Olympic Sailing Festival every year near the Fourth of July. PYC hosted the US Sailing Single Handed Championships in 2010. The club hosted several Flying Tiger East Coast Championships, and the Flying Tiger Nationals were held at PYC in 2011. The club hosted the Ultimate 20 Nationals in 2012, and the Thistle Nationals in 2011. In 2009, PYC hosted both the Corsair Nationals and the Snipe Nationals. Also in 2009, PYC hosted the Junior Lipton Championship, the Gulf Yachting Association’s Junior Championship.
In 2019 PYC hosted the Thistle Class Southeast Championship in April, the 2019 Junior Olympic Sailing Festival presented by BBVA Compass in June, the Flying Scot North American Championship in July and will host the Melges 24 Bushwhacker Cup — the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Championship— in November. PYC stages local regattas throughout the year and offers a youth Summer Sailing Camp in the summer.
See Pensacola Yacht Club