49er Men’s, 49erFX Women’s, and Nacra 17 Mixed Olympic Fleets Bring High-Performance Racing to the Regatta’s Second Week at the Site of the 2028 Games
SAN PEDRO, CA – The second half of the San Pedro Olympic Class Regatta gets underway this afternoon as some of the world’s fastest Olympic sailing classes launch from the beach at the future home of the L.A. 2028 Olympics. In this second week of racing, another 140 competitors from 20 countries will compete, including 27 Olympians. Among them are the 7 Olympic medal winners of 1 gold, 5 silver, and 1 bronze, who will spend the week racing in the Port of Los Angeles gathering critical knowledge of the Olympic venue less than 2 years before the Games.
Unlike the single-handed ILCA dinghies that raced during Week 1, the 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 are sailed by 2-person crews and are the largest and fastest boats in the Olympic program, featuring bigger sail plans, more powerful rigs, and greater acceleration. The 49er and FX are lightweight skiffs, designed to plane across the water at high speeds. The Nacra 17 has 2 hulls, each with hydrofoils that lift the boat out of the water. Nacras appear to fly or glide over the water, similar to Sail GP’s F50 catamarans.
While podium finishes remain the goal of this week’s racing, many sailors say that, like their fellow racers in the ILCA and 470 classes, one of the ancillary objectives is to walk away with as much information as possible on the future Olympic race area.
“We are really excited to sail on the Olympic venue,” said Germany’s Jakob Meggendorfer, who competed with crewmate Andreas Spranger in the 49er at the Paris Games. “We’ve been training here for a week and really like the conditions.”
As the athletes begin building their Olympic playbooks in the L.A. Harbor, officials say getting the venue ready for world-class competition has been years in the making.
“When we all decided that this was where the Olympics were going to be for these classes, everyone stepped up and partnered together to make sure this site was as good as it could be,” said Port of L.A. Waterfront Director Mike Galvin during last night’s Week 2 Opening Ceremony.
For American sailors, who hail from all across the host country and train on their own local waters, the regatta is a chance to revisit and re-learn coastal L.A.’s weather patterns, including the famous sea breeze that fills from the Pacific every afternoon.
“We’ve only been out a couple days so far, but it looks pretty good here,” said Andrew Mollerus, who came up sailing on the Long Island Sound and has launched an Olympic campaign in the 49er with crewmate Trevor Bornath. “It’s my first time back in about 10 years, so we’re just trying to figure everything out.”
In the Nacra 17 fleet, Sweden’s Emil Järudd and Hanna Jonsson have already spent nearly 2 weeks training in San Pedro ahead of this week’s racing.
“We’ve been here since July 20th and it’s been perfect every day,” said Järudd. “Beautiful sailing, good racing, and hopefully some winning to come.”
The Nacra fleet also arrives with an appreciation for the venue’s variable sea state and ocean swell.
“We’ve seen a lot of flat water this year, so we like these waves,” Järudd added. “Every venue has its own character.”
Some of that character extends to the surfline where sailors launch from and return to every afternoon. As the world’s top competitors share the beach with local marine life, San Pedro’s resident stingrays have become one of the regatta’s most surprising hosts.
Puerto Rico’s Isabella Calzadilla became 1 of 2 competitors ahead of the racing to be stung after stepping into the shallow water near the beach, where rays rest beneath the sand. During Sunday evening’s competitors’ briefing, race officials reminded sailors to shuffle their feet while walking in the shallows, allowing the rays to swim away or else risk being struck by a barbed tail.
Despite her injury, Calzadilla still intends to race.
“She’s tough,” said her 49erFX crewmate Mercedes Delgado. “It’s going to be uncomfortable because it’s right where the footstrap goes, but she’s really tough.”
The field across all 3 fleets is expected to be fiercely competitive throughout the week, with the world’s best teams using the regatta as an early marker on the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“It’s great that we have the top boats here,” said Germany’s Richard Schultheis, who is racing in the 49er fleet with crewmate Fabian Rieger. “The competition should be really strong, and that’s what makes it fun.”
In the 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 classes, sailors will compete together as a fleet in 3 races per day for the first 5 days. Medal races will take place on the 6th and final day, when only the top 10 in each class will compete in a 2-race sail-off Final series for the podium.
Racing in the second week of San Pedro OCR begins Today, Monday, August 3 and continues through Saturday, August 8. Event details, entry lists, results, and schedules can be found at sanpedroocr.org and you can follow the regatta on instagram at @SanPedroOCR.
Generous support for the regatta is provided by Capstan, BP Home, American Marine, and the Pacific Environmental Corporation (PENCO). Race Committee and volunteer support is made possible with the help of World Sailing, Los Angeles Yacht Club, Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, Balboa Yacht Club, California Yacht Club, Long Beach Yacht Club, and Newport Harbor Yacht Club.
San Pedro OCR is 1 of only 2 major Olympic Class events that take place in the United States.
Media Contact: Meredith Glacken
Phone: 415-515-2084
