BADFISH Wins J/24s, J/80 PAINKILLER 10th Overall!
(San Francisco, CA)- The name is appropriate. For starters, you have to know who the "Singlehanded Sailing Society" is on San Francisco Bay. Next, you have two choices on the type of course you want to sail, go clock-wise around the Bay or counter-clockwise. Your choice. Then, since it's a "pursuit" style race, the little boats get going early in the morning while the bigger boats get rolling later in the day. Next, you can sail single-handed or double-handed, no more-- for many that decision in and of itself is one of the more challenging ones to make based on weather and other unknown factors that cross the psyche of short-handed sailors. Finally, toss in that other thing called "the wind" and, most importantly, the "capricious currents" on San Francisco Bay and you have-- voila-- a recipe for a "fiasco". Despite its name, the event continues to mushroom in popularity just because it is almost complete and utter chaos. Half or more of the fun is just participating. And, you literally see an entire cross-section of the history of yachting as you sail around the course-- from Knarrs and Cal 20s to the most modern sportsboats. It's also one of the most utterly entertaining regattas held anywhere as some of the most bizarre scenarios unfold in some of the most beautiful, and sometimes dangerous, sections of the course (e.g. the marks).
For the most part, dozens of J sailors participate spread across all the divisions (there are many to choose from). The J/105s and J/24s generally have a class since so many come from all four corners of San Francisco Bay to partake in the fun.
More often than not, conditions for the annual Three Bridge Fiasco are cold, wet and nasty — the sort of weather that would inspire fair-weather sailors to turn up the thermostat, slip on their Uggs and linger over a long, drawn-out breakfast. But on Saturday this much-anticipated annual contest saw splendid conditions: clear, sunny skies, mild temperatures, and even a bit of breeze.
Not that it really mattered, though. For decades hundreds of diehard single- and doublehanders have turned out to compete, regardless of freezing temperatures, driving rain, lack of wind, or whatever. You could argue that the race, which allows entrants to navigate the course in either direction, passing near the Golden Gate, the San Rafael Bridge, and the Bay Bridge in whatever order they wish, is as much a rite of passage as it is pure competition. And with 334 entries this year, it's appeal is obvious.
With
an ebb running in the morning, the most popular course strategy was to
knock off Blackaller Buoy first (near the Golden Gate), then beat up to
Red Rock (near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge), then run down past
Treasure Island and on to the finish. But Three Bridge fleets are
renowned for their contrarian thinking, so even with the ebb, many boats
were seen crossing the starting line heading 'upstream' (east). Up at
Red Rock, the armada split in two, half leaving the island to port, half
leaving it to starboard. And back behind Yerba Buena Island the light
air traffic jam lived up to the event's name. For those headed to the
Gate, a half hour after the start of the smaller boats, the breeze
clocked a bit, allowing a rare spinnaker reach to the Gate. Even later
in the day, although there were holes in the North Bay wind, most boats
had a pleasant, sunny ride down to Treasure Island, occasionally
interrupted by upwind traffic.For the fourteen boat J/105 class, it was Adam Spiegel and Matt Clark on JAM SESSION that took all the marbles, winning by just 1:57 over Peter Wagner and Al Sargent sailing SLEIGHRIDE. After their start at 10:00 am, the J/105 floated along with the ebb in a westerly direction towards Blackaller Buoy in lightish winds before turning back east to fight the ebb and the dozens of other boats already in front of them. After the fiasco of clearing their air, the J/105s saw Stephen Kleha and Shannon Ryan on DONKEY JACK finish third in class another five minutes back. Fourth was Doug Bailey and Caspian Bailey on AKULA and rounding out the top five as Phi Laby and Garth on GODOT. Out of the 334 boats, JAM SESSION got a credible 38th overall.
In the J/24 class, Scott Lynch and Tommy Pastalka on BADFISH won their race by 2:17 over Val Lulevich and Zane Starke racing SHUT UP AND DRIVE ( who was driving?). Third was Darren Cumming and Alex Symes on DOWNTOWN UPROAR just 45 seconds back.
IN the SF Bay 30 class, the team of Peter Jermyn and Curt Brown on their J/30 IONE fought hard to get a second in class, followed by the J/29 AUDACIOUS sailed by Scott Christensen and Kevin McCurdy.
In the PHRF 108 Spinnaker class, the J/130 RAM sailed by Bob Milligan and Tom Thayer managed to get a sixth in class and 39th overall in the fleet of 334 boats. Just behind them on 2:10 off was the famous PEGASUS- MOTION-X team of Phillipe Kahn and Mark Christensen on their J/100 modified with a bowsprit. Not far behind them was the J/120 TWIST sailed by Timo Bruck and Ryan West.
Perhaps the hero of the day was the J/80 PAINKILLER sailed by Eric Patterson singlehanded in the PHRF 111-150 Division. Eric started at 9:00am and finished by 15:39:51 in the afternoon, not only getting a podium finish by getting 3rd in class, but also getting 10th Overall out of all 334 boats!! Wow, amazing performance in such challenging conditions! For more Three Bridge Fiasco sailing information
