(San Francisco, CA)- Seventy-seven boats in seven one-design classes,
including twenty-one J-105's and six J-24s registered for the San
Francisco YC’s “Resin Regatta”- the YC's annual invitational to resin
aficionados and converts! Crazy, eh?? Perhaps an homage to those
inhaling styrene for too long!With just a few AWOL boats, the participants enjoyed a spectacular weekend on the bay with wall-to-wall sunshine, warm temps and breezes in the mid to high teens. An ongoing mountain runoff continues to influence the currents in the SF Bay, with the Berkeley Flats being no exception. With a westerly blowing and a flood tide running throughout the day, water entering into SF Bay from the Delta seems to get shunted south towards the South Bay, messing with conventional wisdom of local knowledge. Those aware of the 1-5 to 2 knot southerly flow benefited greatly when seeking passing lanes and rang up low scores on the tally sheet. With race 3 abandoned the crews settled for 4 races and great close racing in all classes.
In
the J/105 class, Bruce Stone & Nicole Breault and their team on
ARBITRAGE posted their third regatta win of the 2017 SF Bay season by
topping the 21 boat J/105 fleet sailed on the Berkeley Olympic Circle.
The Race Committee waited out the light early northerlies for the
westerlies that kicked in almost on schedule around noon, providing
great racing in flat water. Competitors enjoyed warm winds generally in
the 13-16 kt range each day with gusts to 27 kt late Saturday and 18 kt
on Sunday. Starting Sunday in third place, ARBITRAGE posted two
bullets to wrest the lead away from Rolf Kaiser/Shannon Ryan’s team on
DONKEY JACK, with Phil Laby’s GODOT taking third, Adam Spiegel’s JAM
SESSION in fourth, and Ryan Simmons BLACKHAWK in fifth.Major drama for several J/105 teams on Saturday was trying to get out of the city-front marina near the St. Francis YC in San Francisco, as the tides were at record lows and ARBITRAGE was fully stuck in the mud at its slip, while JAM SESSION ran aground at the exit to the harbor. Along with PERSEVERANCE, they waited for the water to rise and were then able to leave, just making it to the starting area across the Bay in time to sail the race! Note to self- “drama” easy to avoid- check tides- move boat earlier!
Meanwhile, the half-dozen J/24s had a rip-roaring good time. Don’t they often do that anyhow?? This time, it was “girl power” that fueled Val Lulevich’s SHUT UP & DRIVE team to the front of the fleet with lotsa bullets in her scoreline! Second was Jasper Van Vliet’s EVIL OCTOPUS with lots of seconds in his tally. Third was Randy Rasicot’s FLIGHT a few points back. Sailing photo credits- Erik Simonson/ www.h2oshots.com For more Resin Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
|