The SCYYRA Perry Series is a four event regatta series raced in the Club 420. Top sailors from up and down California test their skills at the Perry Series in hopes to achieving great results at the national level. Many sailors from the Perry go onto top finishes at the Orange Bowl, C420 National Championship, and C420 Midwinters.
The Club 420 sailboat is a youth high-performance dinghy that is raced at the regional, national, and college levels. In opposition to the CFJ which is sailed in High School racing, the C420 adds a spinnaker and trapeze wire to the sailing equation. (A trapeze wire allows the crew to hook in with a harness, stand on the rail of the boat, and maintain heel angle in heavier breeze). These added elements, plus a wider hull shape, allow the boat to plane upwind and off the breeze. Sailors benefit from learning important boatspeed and tactical lessons in the massive fleets. Some Summer C420 regattas draw close to two-hundred boats from around the country.
Team SBYSF sailors have been working in the C420 for the past year and beginning to see some great results. Zoey Ziskind finished second at the Perry Series #2 in Coronado. A few weeks later, Blake Behrens and Hope Campbell placed an impressive 5th overall at the Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami, FL. The Orange Bowl is one of the largest youth sailing events in the United States.
For the Perry 3, we had four sailors in attendance: Blake Behrens with crew Hope Campbell, Zoey Ziskind, and Ryan Satterberg. On day one of the event, sailors saw an incredibly unstable gradient breeze with small “teaser” puffs from almost every direction on the compass. After nearly four hours of postponement, one race was started in a light and shifty northerly breeze. Day two brought much better conditions. Although the breeze was shift and variable in direction, race committee squeezed in five more races, bringing the race count to six.
Congrats to Blake/Hope (5th/43), Ryan (6th/43), and Zoey (14th/43)! We will be wishing all of them the best of luck at the C420 Midwinters in Jensen Beach, FL at the end of February.
