16th The Port of Los Angeles/Cal Maritime Harbor Cup Regatta lineup announced
by Los Angeles Yacht Club 23 Feb 21:09 UTC
March 8-10, 2024
The Port of Los Angeles/Cal Maritime Harbor Cup Regatta © Los Angeles Yacht Club
"Los Angeles Yacht Club is pleased to host the 16th running of The Port of Los Angeles/Cal Maritime Harbor Cup Regatta," announced Tom Trujillo, Harbor Cup Race Chairman and Principal Race Officer.
Slated for March 8 to 10, 2024 the POLA Harbor Cup is one of the preeminent intercollegiate sailing events in the nation.
"This is one of our favorite regattas of the year," continued Trujillo, who is also a Staff Commodore at LAYC. "This event brings 10 sailing teams from leading universities and institutions to Los Angeles to compete in ocean-going Catalina 37 keelboats. Many collegiate sailing programs feature smaller dinghies, so one of our main successes is to expose these teams to competitive offshore sailing on large format sailboats."
This year's lineup includes defending champion University of Hawaii, eight-time victors California State University Maritime Academy, and other past winners College of Charleston, Maine Maritime Academy, U.S. Naval Academy and University of Southern California. Also in the mix are California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and making their Harbor Cup debut: the new University of California San Diego offshore sailing team.
"Over the past few years the UCSD Sailing Team has been expanding our knowledge, from FJ sailing to practicing on keelboats as well," said Robert Capita, UCSD Sailing Team Coach. Capita credited the 'amazing San Diego sailing community' with making connections and opportunities for the coeds, which has led to the creation of an offshore sailing team. "We are super excited for the opportunity to come to Harbor Cup and compete and thankful for all who are involved with putting this event together," Capita added.
Participating teams are selected from a large field of hopeful applicants. Since its founding in 2008 the POLA Harbor Cup has hosted 154 varsity sailing squads from 30 different universities and institutions: over 1,320 varsity athletes and coaches. "We truly enjoy the energy that 80-plus students bring to Los Angeles and to our yacht club each year," added Trujillo. After arrival at LAYC the students and their coaches are fully hosted by LAYC members, with all housing and meals provided.
In addition, the three-day event includes a Saturday evening dinner program at LAYC featuring yacht racing icon Roy P. Disney as this year's keynote speaker. Disney, owner and skipper of Pyewacket, is a lifelong competitive offshore sailor with multiple record-breaking voyages to his name. His presentation is sure to be a thrill and inspiration for the young adults in the audience.
The POLA Harbor Cup regatta will begin Friday morning March 8 with registration, a skippers' briefing and practice, with the first race slated to start at 1:30PM. Racing continues Saturday and Sunday, as the co-ed teams enjoy a series of 10 thrilling races in the challenging waters off Pt. Fermin. Sailing in the Long Beach Sailing Foundation fleet of 37-foot Catalina sailboats, these identically matched and maintained vessels will guarantee the focus is on each crew's skills and strategies to win the title. The event is organized annually by the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Yacht Club and California State University Maritime Academy. www.layc.org/LAYC-harbor-cup
Roy P. Disney bio
Roy P. Disney's offshore sailing experience is extensive. He grew up boating with his family, making frequent crossings to Catalina for weekends and vacations at a young age. At just 11 years old, in 1968, Disney competed in his inaugural blue water race from Newport Beach, Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico.
In 1975 Disney competed in the first of what would become 26 Transpacific Yacht Races, onboard his family's 52-foot Sparkman & Stephens yawl Shamrock. They returned to the Transpac course in 1977, 1979 and 1981, until they entered the 'sled' years: ultra light displacement boats designed to excel in Transpac's downwind conditions. The ULDBs were very fast for their size, and Disney finished third in class on their first Transpac on a sled, the Santa Cruz 50 Samurai in 1983.
A series of boats named Pyewacket followed: the first, a 68-foot Nelson Marek custom design, was raced in 1987, succeeded by various Pyewackets in Transpacs 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 (setting a new elapsed time record), 1999 (again setting a new elapsed time record), 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 201, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. The only year Disney did not complete the Transpac was 2019, when two days after the start Pyewacket diverted to rescue the crew of a sinking competitor; earning Disney and team US Sailing's Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal. Disney currently holds the record for the greatest number of Transpac races sailed (26) along with Gary Weisman, who races aboard Pyewacket as crew.
The Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpac race is customarily held in odd years, so in the even years Disney often competed in Pacific Cup as well as Victoria to Maui races. Additionally he has competed in over 50 Mexico races going to destinations such as Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán and Manzanillo, as well as numerous Newport to Ensenada races. Disney currently holds the Newport Beach to Cabo San Lucas elapsed time record on his most current Pyewacket 70, a super-charged Volvo 70: setting a new record of one day, 21 hours, 22 minutes for the 800nm course.
Competitive racing - whether big boats or small - has been a lifelong journey for Disney. He has competed in the 1984 Olympic Trials in the 26-foot, three-man Soling; the trans-Atlantic Route of Discovery Race in 1992; and was a key crew member of the America's Cup PACT '95 campaign, which narrowly missed qualifying for the Cup.
In addition to his one-the-water prowess, Disney serves on many large corporate boards of directors, is the President of Shamrock Holdings, and is a member of the US Naval Academy Sailing Foundation-Fales Committee.