Well that’s a wrap on the 2026 IOM Coastal Cup Circuit!
What a year it was, 8 very different BC locations offered up a full suite of weather, wind, and water challenges to the 32 registrants for the Coastal Cup this year (up from 26).
All told, when the waters calmed, we managed to run 140 races this year for a very competitive fleet with skippers from Vancouver Island, the BC Interior, the BC Lower Mainland, and even entries from Alberta and Washington State.
Extrapolated out -> our program provided for approximately 140+ starts, 560+ windward legs, 560+ downwind legs, and well over 980+ mark rounding events…! There are not many fleets large or small that provide that much exciting racing in one season for $40 !!
A huge thank you goes out to everyone that came out to participate, and special thanks to our Custom Prize maker extraordinaire Art Prufer, our Treasurer John Ball, all our event PRO’s and volunteers, and the CC organizing Committee Brian Woodward, Don Martin and Steve Kinsey.
The overall winner for the whole series was Jason Rhodes who came out on top with an impressive score of 4 points out of 8 events with his very well sailed Can2 Woodie, followed closely only 2 points behind by Steve Kinsey in his sleek blue V11. Next up came Bob Lewis in his always steady green Britpop tied with Peter Grimm in his red/white K2 with 14 points each. Bob and Peter barely narrowed out Mike Kidd in his new charging purple K2 by 1 point, and Jerry Brower followed another 1 point behind in his new shiny silver Viss. WOW !! !!
What great competition all year, and see the full Series results follow below for a complete view. Thanks again to Art Prufer and Steve Kibble for organizing a season ending prize giving at Royal Victoria YC.
Now is the time to start thinking about Coastal Cup 2027, and making sure you are letting Santa know what parts you broke and need replacing, or would like to try new. For some of you yet to get in this fantastic series, maybe a whole new/used boat ?? We have several great used boats available from fleet members with several boats. If you are interested, let us know.
A few other thoughts and items to clear up for next year;
1.) more hands make less work for everyone, volunteers for everything from prizes to event help, to lunches, to PR, etc etc, are very helpful and needed. It’s a surprisingly large effort to run this series.
2.) we are going to discuss ongoing things to continually evolve and enhance our scoring and NOR and SI’s to encourage all levels of sailors to join in and have fun. Nothing concrete, we are always looking to improve the event experiences.
3.) the Port Alberni, Kelowna, and Steveston events really showed that having the City, Municipality, and even local business engaged in our event brings a lot of interest to the event itself. More of that style of working with those groups would be great. It does take effort, so again volunteers would be amazing!
4.) some other interesting items we are exploring for next year include a variety Mark options for better and quicker deployment of race marks, the provision of a good IOM boat for any guest skippers from other fleets (including big boats) to have a chance to participate and feel the addiction of IOM racing personally. Also other thoughts about how to bring in new skippers and perhaps junior/youth type involvement.
So that is it for 2026. Thanks again everyone for making it such a great season.
Wishing everyone great health and happiness through the upcoming festive seasons.
See you out there practicing…..
Your 2026 Coastal Cup Committee
