Mercury Championship, Huntington Lake Regatta, July 26-28 (21 boats)
Huntington Lake once again proved to be an ideal place for the 2024 Championship Regatta. Following two weeks of stormy High Sierra weather, the skies cleared and the wind came down the lake in its normal manner for an excellent 5 race series. The first two races on Friday were run-away wins by Cabrillo Beach sailor Mike Burch with daughter Kristin crewing. They led at every turning mark, and after Mike’s win in the 2023 Championships in SF Bay, the class was on notice that Mike and Kristin were a force to be dealt with. However, Chris Raab and Kenny Dair were not far back with a second and third for the day. The racing was followed by a Mai Tai beach party on Lakeshore Beach organized by Tom Priest.

Day two saw the wind kick up a bit enabling some of the bigger crews to move to the leader spots. John Ravizza with Brendan Bradley crewing won a hard-fought battle with Shaum Sinawi with crew Gerard Sheridan for first and second. Jim and Kathy Bradley were third. Burch and Raab dropped to fourth and fifth respectively. Burch was still leading the regatta but by only one point over Ravazza. The second race of the day saw Raab taking his first win of the series while Ravizza had his worst race of the series at seventh. Dave West with crew Chris Krueger was second and Randy Hecht with crew Will Patton had their best race of the series finishing third. A planned third race of the day was rescheduled for the next day, leaving the standings at Raab with 11, Burch with 12, and Ravizza with 14 points. The annual MCYRA dinner, wonderfully planned by Lynn Baldwin, was held that evening at China Peak Landing along the lake’s shoreline.

On day three, the wind shifted just enough to the West to favor Starboard tack which took the boats up the lake, whereas Port tack meant crossing. This made for epic tacking battles along the south side of the lake all the way to the windward mark. PRO Matt Jones choose one of the longer courses for this last race, just to make sure the fleet sorted out the best of the best to be the 2024 Champion. Chris Raab and Kenny Dair proved to be the best that day with another second-place finish to win the Championship by 4 points. Dave West had his best race of the series with a win in the final race and John Ravizza secured second overall with a third-place race finish.

Full results 2024 Mercury Championship	Full results 2024 Huntington Lake Regatta