History


“On (June 15, 1936) the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Association was formally organized at a meeting held at the San Diego Yacht Club.  Officers selected for the ensuing year are as follows: Frank Jewett, Cal Tech., president; Gordon Frost, Stanford, vice president, and Douglas Giddings, Arizona, secretary-treasurer.”

From the August 1936 Yachting Magazine

So began the formation of what is now known as the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference.

The following day, June 16, 1936, the first organized regatta of the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Sailing Association was hosted by the San Diego Yacht Club in PC Class sloops.  Five schools entered the event, University of Arizona, California Institute of Technology, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Southern California and the members of SDYC provided the boats.  Crews swapped boats after each race and by the end of the day Douglas Giddings sailing for Arizona won the day with 12 ¼ points; Frank Jewett, Cal Tech, 11 ¼ points; Jack Streeton, UCLA, 9 ¼ points; Milton Wegeforth, USC, 8 points; and Maurice Ginn, Stanford, 5 points.

Between 1936 and 1941 there were a few dual school meets, notably the UC Berkeley – Stanford Dual School Meet for the University of California Perpetual Trophy.  California won the 1938 and 1939 matches, Stanford the 1940-1942 matches and in 1946 when racing resumed after the war the event was re-deeded as the Pacific Coast Spring Championship.

In December 1941 Newport Harbor Yacht Club hosted the second Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Sailing Team Championship.  It was run as a series of team races held immediately after their annual Christmas Regatta.  This time twelve schools showed up, mostly consisting of local sailors home on break.  Only six are recorded in the books; The California Institute of Technology, Pomona College, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Oregon, and Stanford University.  At this time the PCIYRA stretched from San Diego to the Canadian border.

The event was sailed in Dyer Dinks provided by Newport Harbor Yacht Club members.  Provided is a loosely used term, "We had to go around the harbor borrowing them," Allan recalled, "some without the owners knowing it."  Caltech won the event with the helmsmen of Skid McKibben, Bill Cutler and Barton Beek.  Bob Allen, who would later go on to be a long time advisor of the PCIYRA sailed for Stanford and won the individual honors “collecting 72 ½ points”.  The final score was Caltech with 181 ¾ points, Oregon with 144 points, Stanford with 142 ½ point, UCLA with 114, Pomona with 108 points and USC with 72 points.

This was to be the last organized collegiate event on the west coast for several years.  Less than three weeks previously Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and the US had declared war on the Empire of Japan and less than two weeks previously on Germany and Italy.  All of the sailors and their families were occupied in the war effort and recreation sailing went on hiatus.  Racing resumed again in the fall of 1945 and by 1946 everything was back to normal with more events being added every year.

In 1949 Bob Allen and the other leaders of the PCIYRA decided it was time for the ladies to have their own event and they added the first “Betty Coed Championship” with the ladies skippering and the men crewing where needed.  Humphrey Bogart, yes that Humphrey Bogart of Hollywood movie fame, donated a perpetual for the event and was on hand to present it during the first year.

More to come…