(San Francisco, California)– “Midwinter racing is like a box of
chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get!” So says Forrest
Gump, so-called skipper of the “SS Jenny.”Okay, maybe it didn't really go down that way, but Forrest would have acknowledged midwinter sailing as a crapshoot on average and forecasting can be, well, less of a science and more of a Ouija Board guestimate as to what may transpire. That being said, the Corinthian Yacht Club of Belvedere Midwinter’s weekend of fun did not live down (or up) to the official weather prognosticators drab variable winds, and a roll around Angel Island was not in the cards.
Going on the hunch that the light northerlies would give way to more substantial westerlies, the RC raised the postponement flag before the 11:55 first gun and let it ride. And ride it did. The wind filled with a mid spring like blast from outside the Gate and filled in nicely across the course allowing the RC time to square things up to the freshening breeze with a Yellow Bluff weather mark and a Knox leeward rounding. While the start was delayed the flood in the start area began to transition to the early phases of ebb and the ever changing strategy of favorable current vs. wind strength played into the tacticians minds. Many chose a more direct line and others swung wide seeking more favorable wind direction on the downhill runs.
Michael O'Callaghan of the J/120 PEREGRINE offered a nice report on their weekend and some insight into their decision-making and what worked for their team on the always-challenging San Francisco Bay!
“The
Saturday light wind predictions were off and a summer like wind line
filled in from the Gate and across the race course with breeze showing
14-16 kts for our start. We opted for our class genny, which is about
130%. John Verdoia, our tactician for the weekend called for a committee
boat start so we had the freedom to tack quickly to get out of the
flood. We hit the line at the gun with good speed at the committee boat,
in front and tacked after several boat lengths. Much of the fleet was
further down the line and that cost them traveling the extra distance
for relief. We sailed to the Marin shore, keeping a loose cover on
ENCORE and the J/111 SWIFT NESS (skippered by Nesrin Basoz). When it
seemed we had way over stood the weather mark, we tacked, and through
the puffs, lulls and persistent starboard tack header, we approached the
weather mark only over standing by a boat length or two and rounded it
going about 9 kts. Kite went up and we reached out into the flood with
good speed and watched the J/111 SWIFT NESS blow over us to the south by
a couple boat lengths and Encore in our wake, dropping behind. We
overstood our gybe angle a little as the crew stripped the 130% off the
deck and gybed poorly, resulting in a wrapped kite that required it to
be lowered a few feet to clear. The hard part is grinding the halyard
back up while the kite is fully loaded. During this Encore creeped up as
we lost seconds.We rounded Knox half a boat length behind the Nesrin’s J/111 SWIFT NESS and did clearing tacks and covered the fleet to the Marin shore and did another lap.
Encore closed enough on us during our first down wind leg to finish close behind us boat for boat, which corrected on us by about half a minute. They sailed a great race as did the J/111, who crossed the line just behind us by feet as we shot the finish at the favored pin. As a result, we got second in class followed by the J/111.
Sunday
brought 20 plus of northerly. No questions, that it was the class #3
for our J/120! We adjusted the rig tension for the breeze and braced
ourselves for the unusual conditions and the possible surprises. The RC
provided us a reaching start off the Corinthian club house. We reached
into the pin at the outside of the line on starboard and hit the line
about 5 seconds after the gun with the J/111 in front of us and we both
gybed to port and set, reaching to the southeast into better breeze to
Blackaller Buoy, our first mark. The balance of the fleet stayed to the
north to avoid the flood. We beat the fleet to the end of Belvedere
after gybing with the J/111. Other than a brief attack on our breeze by
Quiver, the N/M 35, we had clear wind and opened the distance on the
fleet behind and to weather of us as we watched the J/111 accelerate
ahead of us in the big breeze, clearly enjoying their favored
conditions. The wind was very puffy and shifty throughout the leg making
it a lot of fun and keeping the trimmer busy. We crabbed across the Bay
in the flood but there was lots of building ebb as we approached
Blackaller Buoy. We came in on starboard and did a perfect gybe take
down.The weather leg in cross current is not our typical conditions so we had to rethink our lay lines. We tacked on the first shift and sailed on starboard for a while to get out of any lee of Angel Island and then tacked back to port. Much of the fleet behind did not do this. Our weather mark was Harding Rock and we tacked early, anticipating the lee bow of the flood but not early enough and we rounded the mark after beam reaching for a painful 30 seconds. We had closed most of the J/111’s lead at this point but with the kites up again, the 111 sprinted ahead again (christ that thing’s fast off the wind when it steps onto a plane!). One more lap then the final beat to Elephant Rock in shifty, puffy conditions, requiring changing gears quickly with great crew work. We set at Elephant Rock and beam reached to the finish, with the J/111 seconds in front of us and the balance of the fleet several minutes behind; good enough for the handicap win!
Our tactician was John Verdoia, mainsheet- Alex Kent, jib trim- Kurt Hemmingsen, Pit man- EJ Rowland, Sewer boss- Kristen McCulloch, Spin trim- Casey Grey, Mast Mongoose- Michael Thorton, Mid Bow God- Victor Pitch, Bow Superman- Wilson Willkom. All excellent sailors and an pleasure to drive for!” As a result of their 1-2 results, they won PHRF 2 followed by the J/111 SWIFTNESS record of 2-3. Both boats managed to beat several famous, and very well-sailed San Francisco Bay boats in the varied conditions, including the Sydney 36 Encore, the 1D35 Alpha Puppy, and the Beneteau 40.7 Argo.
The
burgeoning sportboat divisions on the West Coast continue to grow and
prosper. With more designers seeking the high performance, low operation
equation, the fleets continue to expand. For this weekend three of the
most recent inductees to the SF Bay sportboat fleet, the J/88, the Soto
30 and the C&C 30 engaged with more established 30 foot sportboats
like the Melges 30, J/90, and a Synergy 1000 for some hooting and
hollering in conditions one would expect to see much later in the
season.The eight boat Sportboat 30 fleet is “a good barometer of a positive move in the industry,” says Patrick Whitmarsh from Quantum Sails. “We are seeing a nice influx of new owners and sailors, many coming from the tech industry that are inspired by the ease of operation and intense performance one finds with these boats. When surround by a few well seasoned sailors, they can jump in and have a great time, and even be very competitive.”
Which boat managed to overcome that group of hotly contested racers?? None other than the J/88 family speedster! Paul Recktenwald’s crew on LAZY DAWG pulled off a 1-3 to take class honors against this group of rabid dogs. Taking third in class, notably, was a 15-year-old J/Design, the J/90 RAGTIME sailed by Trig Liljestrand!
In the J/105 class, the clear winner was Charles James’ ROXANNE with two bullets followed by Neil Gibbs’ NIMBUS with two seconds. Third was Dick Maclay’s YELLOWFIN.
Tim Russell’s J/80 PAIN KILLER took second in PHRF 3 followed by Bob George’s classic J/35 KIRI in third. Finally, Chris Boome’s J/32 RHAPSODY took third in PHRF 4 Class against an extraordinary range of boats from an Open 5.7 to an Olson 911 ULDB! Sailing photo credits- Pressure-drop.us. For more Corinthian YC Midwinters sailing information
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