(San Francisco, CA)- Here’s a great story from Martha Blanchfield- profiling cool stuff for yacht racing, sailing, cruising and water sports at RenegadeSailing.com. This one is about J/24s on the famous San Francisco Bay!After a long season of racing on San Francisco Bay it can be fun to just goof off a bit, which is exactly what happened at the fourth annual OPBYC Crew You Regatta for J/24 and small boats held back in December. Hallmarks of the day: no wind, lots of whiskey, several pranks and concern over seagulls befriending rubber ducky marks. This competition, traditionally scheduled in late fall, differentiates itself from by focusing on multiple short-course races run back-to-back on a single day.
Volunteers Flock to a Fun Regatta
Jasper Van Vliet is a San Francisco area sail instructor, owner of J/24 “Evil Octopus” and race director of the Crew You Regatta. Instrumental in launching a local sailing group which he calls OPBYC, he shares, “That name initially represented what we called ourselves when we were all crewing on J/24s and other boats. We figured we were the smart ones: sail for free any time on almost any boat, you just don't get to drive much.”
In
2009 Van Vliet got it into his head to create a company that would sell
sailing gloves—a product he found to be drastically overpriced. He
decided to name the company OPBYC, and soon thereafter stylized a ducky
logo and Web site. “The gloves thing didn't really take off, but the
ducky was a hit and we stayed with it,” he smiles. “In 2013 we organized
a regatta based on the concept that OPBYCers are better drivers than
boat owners. Ok turns out not to be true, but the concept of a single
day competition whereby the crew drives (unless the owner deems it
unsafe) was definitely a winner. Crew You racers honor a no-genoa rule
if the wind hits 12 knots or higher, and the race committee will shorten
or halt a race if conditions get too dicey.”Crew You Regatta volunteers started flocking round. One fleet racer stitched a ducky around an inner tube, and one skipper began collecting inflatable palm trees and duckies that he glued onto bigger floating objects. A salvage yard was raided in order to locate weighty objects that could double as anchors and marks ballast. And key to course-setting success, a local sailor offered to zip about in his Bertram 30 slinging tropical and fowl rubber marks on the course.
Recounts
Van Vliet, “Year one was a proof of concept and it was a blast. We did
not exclude any boats, but since we know mostly J/24 sailors that's what
we got.” The second year he put more muscle into marketing. “The
result: same number of boats showed up. We still had a hoot. The third
year I did no marketing whatsoever and the same amount of boats showed
up again.” He smiles, thinking about race conditions in 2015. “We did
not have balmy fall weather. In fact it was downright windy. There were
some MOBs, and even a mild collision, but thankfully nobody got hurt—and
as a result, I got to practice my fiber glassing skills.”Ducking Around on the Water
Marks boat driver Bill Helvestine has supported the fun from the get-go. He recalls the December action: “It was an exciting start at 35 seconds away from the line on race one. In half knot winds “Downtown Uproar” took up “Evil Octopus,” which resulted in a little pushing off. Just behind was boat three, “Shut up and Drive,” a bit late to the line but with excellent s-p-e-e-d. We’re not sure what happened on the course to entrants four and five, but one of the boats did show at the post-race awards ceremony.” Uncharacteristically, the winds were not present on Frisco Bay that afternoon so after a first (and additional) retirement call-in, organizers deemed that just one race on a shortened course was ample for the day.
Third
place accolades went to “Downtown Uproar” with Robin Van Vliet at the
tiller.” Boat owner Darren Cumming joked, “It’s really all me. These
guys were just riding with me.” In second place was “Evil Octopus” with
Jessica Ludy controlling boat direction. According to regatta PRO Hans
Opsahl, the crew earned this achievement via “creative interpretation of
no rule 42.” Rule 42 relates to propulsion, and how a boat shall
compete by using only wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease
speed. Taking line honors on an (extremely) shortened course was
Valentin Lulevitch’s “Shut Up and Drive.” Either superior boat handling,
or the lean all-male crew of only three, had propelled the crew to
victory. Bestowed as first prize was a mildly tarnished silver ice
bucket--quickly deemed “the perpetual pee bucket” by an envious
competitor.According to Van Vliet, an event like this works in San Francisco because the J/24 fleet is so interwoven. “We have all sailed on each other’s boat. We have often travelled together to race venues (Mexico, Argentina, Seattle, for example). The San Francisco Bay sailing community is a tight, but open, bunch of people. We cross-pollinate onto other boats also.”
The OPBYC Crew Your Regatta is meant to be fun. Protests are non-existent, courses are not square and sometimes there are prizes. If this appeals to you, and you find yourself in the San Francisco area next November 4, 2017, be sure to look up OPBYC. There’s always room for one more, just check the schedule here on Facebook.
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