The Lloyd Phoenix Trophy - US Sailing's alleged "U.S. Offshore Championship" - was sailed for this past weekend. Run by Long Beach Yacht Club and sailed in Catalina 37's, this event was previously by invitation only, but since has been opened up to a "team" that qualifies from a US Sailing area. The qualifications are fairly clear with a crew of seven, four of whom must have sailed at least 5 regattas together during the past season.

Scott Sonnier from Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans won the regatta after a somewhat controversial protest involving the Area G team. Area G got thrown out on a port/starboard violation, and their DSQ allowed Sonnier to move up one place in that race, and win the event on a tiebreaker from Claudia Wainer. Area G, representing San Diego yacht Club sailed an average regatta to finish 6th out of 10. Not exactly the stuff SDYC legends are made of.

That protest aside, the "skipper" of the Area G team is named Ross Ritto. A look at the Notice of Race for the regatta has very specific rules about skippers and their role. Under Eligibility, Rule 5.5, the following is stated: "Each team's skipper must have been the regular helmsman for the 5 qualifying regattas must start and sail all windward legs in Champion event 6."

How interesting then to know that the listed skipper Ritto did not steer any of the 5 qualifying races, nor did he start nor steer any of the races in the Champion event. Somebody named Jeff Pape steered, yet he most clearly is not listed as skipper.

So if Ritto does not qualify as skipper, and certainly does not as defined by the rules spelled out in the NOR, and Pape is not listed as the skipper, then what do you have? Hmmm. This would appear to be a rule violation. So we contacted Conrad Banks, the Regatta Chairman. While he did furnish us with a crew list, on this subject of eligibility three emails to him netted not one response. Perhaps there was a problem with his mail server? So I attempted to call Mr. Banks Wednesday afternoon. Here's how the conversation went:

SA: "Hey Conrad, it's Scot Tempesta from Sailing Anarchy."

Banks: "Yeah?"

SA: "I'm calling to follow up on the emails that I sent you. Did you get them?"

Banks: "Yeah, I got them, I should have never responded to you in the first place. You're just looking for trouble. I'm not talking to you." Click.

Click? What in the hell? He fucking hung up on me? This is how the Regatta Chairman from one of the more prestigious yacht clubs on the West Coast for one of the big US Sailing regattas in the country responds to an inquiry about a regatta that he chaired?

Certainly, if there was a good explanation of how the Area G team was apparently not able to adhere to a very basic eligibility rule, Mr. Banks would have offered it, right? Let's say you are Conrad Banks, and you get a query from us on this subject, and you have information that easily explains it, wouldn't you just offer it up? Or wouldn't you say that you would look into it and get back to us? Unless of course, you have nothing to explain this rules violation. Then I guess you just get angry, defensive, and hang up.

He sounds guiltier than O.J.

I'll be honest; I do not much care for Ritto or certain members of his team. And their getting a DSQ and a final result of 6th out 10 did bring a smile to my face. But it quickly turned to a frown when I learned of their sketchy entry. Understand something about SA: we are equal-opportunity muckrakers, but if you've been guilty of some bullshit behavior in the past, you're going to come under just a little extra scrutiny. And when you pull what appears to be bullshit again - well I'm calling it.

Perhaps some sort of exemption was issued. If so, nobody has told us about it and we've asked a number of people, not the least of who was Banks, and his explanation was hanging up on me. I'd call that something less than satisfactory. Maybe it's okay for the non-skipper to steer, but not according to the rules of this regatta. To me, it seems something less than above board.