The Mercury Class, after a lot of planning on how to handle the Corona virus, held a 3 race regatta over the weekend. Prior to racing, the class developed a virus safety plan which was reviewed by the US Forest Service before they granted this year's permit. Social distancing was of primary concern so the skippers meeting was done on VHS radio.  The RC was moved from the beach to a boat off shore and the annual Saturday night Tri-Tip dinner was cancelled.

Huntington Lake being a largely outdoor venue and not having a yacht club facility was the optimal spot for a regatta this year of the virus. The lake is full of water and the wind for all 3 races was the typical medium breeze with lots of shifts. In the first race Doug Baird with son Michael crewing took an early lead on the first lap of a double sausage course. Dave West with Chris Krueger crewing and Jim Bradley with Kathy Bradley crewing gave chase for a close 3 boat finish. In the second race of the day Baird took the risky north shore route while West and Bradley duked it out on the south shore. Baird came back to split West and Bradley at the windward mark and that was the way the race went the rest of the way to the upwind finish at Lakeshore point. After the first day of racing Baird and West were tied for first with Bradley alone in third and John Ravizza with Chris Boome crewing and Chris Messano with Greg Dair crewing were tied for fourth.

Sunday was another beautiful Huntington Lake day. The RC choose a long course to see how they could sort out the top five boats and break the ties. Bradley, who was the regatta chairperson, was the only boat called OCS (the RC showing no favoritism) and had their work cut out for them to work their way back to the front part of the fleet. The lead changed a couple of times on the long second beat but at the windward mark Ravizza and Boome had the lead and held it to the finish line.The three race regatta had three different boats winning a race. But it was Doug and Michael Baird who proved to be the most consistent with a first and two seconds. The regatta drew 5 boats from Southern California, 4 boats from Central California and 7 from the Northern Fleet. We also had 1 racer down from Seattle for the regatta. All and all, a great turn out during what is a difficult year for sailboat racing. Special thanks to Adam and Renee Corpuz-Lanne for the excellent job as race committee for the weekend.

More pics from 2020 Huntington Lake Regatts, click here!