Dickson wins sail-off and advances to Ficker Cup

Scott Dickson won the 2016 LBYC Match Race Sail-Off Sunday in this two-day Grade 4 match race regatta hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club to determine which LBYC match racing skipper will get the invitation to compete in the 2016 Grade 2 Ficker Cup, April 1-3, a 2016 World Match Racing Tour qualifying event.

Five teams; Dickson, Dave Hood (Commodore), Will Durant (Rear Commodore) Wendy Corzine and Lisa Meier competed on the Long Beach Sailing Foundation’s fleet of Catalina 37s and were motivated to enter the regatta with the hopes of making it to the Ficker Cup.
 
You see, the top two finishers in this year’s Ficker Cup are invited to this year’s WMRT World Sailing Grade 1 Congressional Cup, April 5-10.
 
Although Meier was unable to compete this weekend, she was able to hand over her helm duties to crewperson Ian Paice who has competed match races for several years.
 
When congratulated for his win, Dickson was a bit reluctant to take all of the praise.
 
“This is Alex Jacobs [San Diego Yacht Club] team,” said Dickson. “He’s the skipper. I was just the helmsman.”
 
Jacobs and his team, including Dickson, are competing in the 2016 California Dreamin’ Series. This West Coast World Sailing Grade 3 match racing series is held at three venues; San Diego Yacht Club, Jan. 9-10; Long Beach Yacht Club, Feb. 20-21 and then at St. Francis Yacht Club, March 12-13.   
 
“Next weekend we all sail together again,” said Dickson, “except that A.J and I will switch tactician and helmsman positions.”
 
The Southern California winter weather could not have been better, with sunny skies, temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s and consistent breezes between 7-13 knots.
 
“It was stupendous that we had such perfect conditions at this time of year,” said Dickson, “which let us get in 13 races in two days.”
 
Finishing in second place was LBYC Commodore, Dave Hood, who fought hard with Dickson in the best-of-three finals beating Dickson in the second match, but losing in the third race by no more than a couple of boat lengths.
 
When asked about any special event during the regatta that stood out in his mind, Dickson responded, “The biggest thing was that the team hadn’t even met each other until Saturday morning.”
 
Dickson followed up by saying that, “Everyone should experience sailing with as great a group of people as this team is.”
 
Final Results
1. Scott Dickson, LBYC
2. Dave Hood, LBYC
3. Will Durant, LBYC
3. Wendy Corzine, LBYC
5. Lisa Meier, LBYC
 
Complete results are available at www.lbyc.org