race report
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 Normally blessed with godspeed, the Prosail 40 catamaran Shadow apparently needs wind to go fast. Without it, mere mortals were able to creep up on her. ©2011 norcalsailing.com |
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Corinthian Midwinters January 17, 2011 When the Corinthian Midwinters roll around it usually means big currents, too little or too much wind, and plenty of post-mortem stories of victory and defeat back at the club. This year's first weekend of the series started off with light winds and a big ebb.
Jim Snow on the Cal 20 Raccoon described his race on Saturday: "At 3:30 the wind shut down. I was at Pt. Stuart [less than a mile from the finish], but there was no way to finish by the 5:00 deadline. My son Tyler got an outboard for Christmas. He got his wish to start it. He sails whenever possible." Tyler turned six on Sunday, and missed the race for a birthday party. His dad got a second in division.
By contrast, Lon and Susie Woodrum sailed their Moore 24 Frenzy, and were the second boat to cross the finish line on Saturday. "I don't know how we did that," said Lon. Crew Steve Nimz enthused, "That was the race of a lifetime!" Frenzy is in second place in their division, after fellow Tiburon YC member Ian Matthew's the C&C 29 Siento el Viento.
"The wind changed from a northeasterly to a westerly around 2:00," said Ian of Saturday's race, "and took us around to the south side of Alcatraz. We could fly the spinnaker all along the shore to get out of the strong ebb. The depth gauge went to 0 as we were skirting the rocks at the east end. The Catalina 30 Starkite got too close - they didn't hit but got worried and fired up their engine. We finished at 3:20."
Toward the end of Sunday's starting sequence, the RC had to postpone, due to a 'situation'. PRO Michael Moradzadeh explains: "We tried to set the start close enough to Angel Island to get out of the current, but by the later starts it snuck up on us. Shearwater snagged our anchor chain and got stuck. There was no yelling or panic and everyone got fenders down quickly. Both boats survived and Shearwater will be back."
The conjoined boats didn't supply the only drama at the start on Sunday. On the 'new' Bodacious+, a 1D48 purchased from Cal Maritime, out for her first race after a makeover, a crew member fell overboard. Actually she got swept off the boat when a gust of wind blew the jib right into her. She was in the water for three minutes. Five crewmembers tracked her - and her bright pink jacket helped. They got the sails down, started the motor, backed up and scooped her up on the open transom. A lifeguard, she came up with a smile, got changed into dry clothes, and is fine thanks. About the famous old Bodacious Farr 1-Ton, Bobbi Tosse told us that they're not selling her right now. "It's a good time to buy a boat; it's a bad time to sell a boat."
Paul Harris, crewing on the Olson 34 Temerity (ex-Ozone) told us after the racing on Sunday, "Yesterday it died at Alcatraz. It took us 15 minutes to go ten boatlengths. Today the boat did really well. We were the first of four Olson 34s to finish."
Jan Borjeson told of his race on Sunday with the Schumacher 40 Q in the non-spinnaker division aboard the Elliott 1050 Basic Instinct: "Q has more waterline (we're only 34 feet), and is slightly faster than Basic Instinct. But we held them off for two and a half legs. Then they overtook and luffed us." Q was the first boat to finish on Sunday; Basic Instinct finished third. "On Saturday we sailed the wrong course - three to four miles extra. Even so, at the last mark we were still fifth - about three minutes behind Q. At the finish we were an hour behind."
The series has two more races yet to come on February 19-20, plus a bonus race on March 19. For results and more, see www.cyc.org. Be sure to see our next story, a first-person tale of defeat and victory in the midwinters. A photo gallery is now available too.
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