(San Diego, CA)- San Diego's favorite Fall racing series is in full swing! For
three Saturday’s (November 9th, 23rd and December 7th), the San Diego Yacht
Club plays host to the annual Hot Rum Series— a fun-loving “free-for-all” that
generally sees the fleet starting inside of San Diego Harbor, takes them on a
“tour” that heads out past the majestic Point Loma, around some buoy set
offshore, then “back home to the barn” to again finish inside the channel just
off Harbor Island. 
It’s an annual ritual for many SoCal sailors and, for most, it’s
pretty random how one finishes based on how the wind blows (or not!). For
those not “in-the-know”, it’s consistently one of the largest PHRF
“pursuit-style” races run annually— with the little boats (like 21 footers)
starting first and the big boats (e.g. over 70 foot ULDB sleds) starting last;
whomever crosses first wins! To say that it’s a blast and lots of fun d
oesn’t adequately describe the experience of having the likes of
famous local boy Dennis Conner come flying by you on his custom 60 foot sloop,
appropriately called STARS & STRIPES (like this ->>)!Many J/Teams participate in this festival of sailing, more fun than being an actual race. In PHRF Class 1, four J/125s are sailing and leading that pack after two weekends is Jim Madden’s STARK RAVING MAD. He’s followed by Mark Surber’s DERIVATIVE, Viggo Torbenson’s TIMESHAVER and Tim Fuller’s RESOLUTE.
PHRF Class 2 has a flotilla of J/120s and a gorgeous J/124. At this stage, top dog in the J/Fleet is Mike Hatch’s J/120 J/ALMIGHTY followed by Seth Hall’s J/124 MARISOL. The J/120s CAPER (John Laun) and CC RIDER (Chuck Nichols) are just behind them.
The J/105s are usually so dominant in PHRF Class 3 that most years
they occupy the entire top five. However, at this stage the J/105s are
taking up just 5 of the top 10 slots. Top boat is Dennis Case’s WINGS,
followed by Dag Fish’s VIGGEN, Steve & Lucy Howell’s BLINK! and Ed
Sanford’s CREATIVE.T
he seven J/70s in PHRF Class 4 are knocking it out of the park so
far! First in class is Karl Pomeroy’s ZERO TO SIXTY followed in second
place by Jeff Brown’s “J70 Team”. Dave Vieregg is sitting 3rd in J/70s
and fifth in class on SOGGY DOLLAR. Amazingly, the classic J/24 CAROLINA sailed by Ben Nieting is winning class and a fellow J/24 sailor is lying sixth in class, Mark Clements’s BRIGADOON. Dave Cattle’s J/27 BLACKADDER is ready to pounce in the next race from his seventh place spot in the standings! Sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ Joysailing.com For more San Diego YC Hot Rum sailing information
