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Rowan Fennell, and his crew of Uncle Justis, Brother Nathaniel, and Wife Vikki took the top honors of the Moore 24 fleet at Huntington Lake over the weekend to win its first ever High Sierra Regatta. Team Fennell outpaced Stephen Bourdow & Dave Josselyn’s Moorgasm, and Bart Hackworth & Simon Winer’s Gruntled, in the 13 boat fleet.
Rowan was first introduced to Huntington Lake as a walk on crew for David Hodges’ Fatuity in the 1995 Moore 24 Nationals. Since then he sailed aboard Joel Verutti’s Mercedes, and George Wheeler’s Kamikaze. In 2001 Rowan committed to putting his own Family’s Moore 24 on the starting line - scraping off bottom paint, upgrading rigging, buying sails - finally putting it all together in time for the 2002 High Sierra Regatta. Paramour has come close to winning a few times, but never quite able to pull it out - making this win very special.
all pics © Slack Water
The fleet memorialized one of its most exceptional sailors and fleet historian - Joel Verutti, who passed away in 2011 - by naming one of the 5 perpetual trophies awarded during the season’s Roadmaster Series in his honor. The Joel Verutti Perpetual trophy is a large wooden chest and has been awarded since 1995.
Huntington Lake is a special place, winds reliably blow 12-18 knots of “thin air” allowing for genoas to be utilized exclusively. Winds are quite shifty, and there are traditional strategies that mostly work - except when they don’t. Massive gains can be made upwind by connecting the puffs and watching the boats upwind of you as wind indicators. Similar gains can be made downwind by paying close attention to the mental compass and the wind indicator. Tight reaches, douses and re-sets are common, putting a premium on crew work. Paramour sailed clean, and benefitted from some good luck, (and a little competitor’s misfortune) to pull out the victory after 15 years of trying.
Winning the HSR trophy completes a career grand slam for Team Paramour - having won all the fleet’s perpetual trophies awarded during the fleet’s seasonal Roadmaster Series. There is one other perpetual trophy which we dedicated in 2016 to commemorate the top Moore 24 performance in the biannual Pacific Cup, which Mark English and Ian Rogers aboard MAS! greatly deserved after winning it all. Rowan has sailed to Hawaii on a Moore, so that bucket list item is checked off, and Paramour is unlikely to compete for that trophy anytime soon since the Fennells are planning to cruise extensively aboard their Bavaria 46E beginning this fall.
Cheers!
Rowan Fennell
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