SFYC Invitational

June 12, 2011

Corinna Stolp, racing on the J/120 Grace Dances, reports on the San Francisco YC Invitational for J/120s, J/105s, Express 37s and Melges 24s:

On June 4-5, it seems the weather was the news of the weekend... again... We kept asking ourselves, "Is it really June?" At the Berkeley Circle, it was more like a midwinter with light breezes, scattered showers and shortened courses. What a mixed bag! One minute we were roll-tacking and the next we were max hiking. Luckily, the doom and gloom of Saturday eventually cleared and for some tight one design racing under blue skies and perfect breezes. SFYC did their best to adjust for wind shifts and managed to get three races off both days. (Although, twice we found ourselves chasing a moving windward mark... Quite hilarious!)

The light and shifty breezes really caused us some problems on Grace Dances. Our brand new kite did not want to fly in less than five knots of breeze, and we were watching everyone around us pull away at different times. It was frustrating to drop from first to fourth in several races. But that's light wind racing. By the last race of the regatta, our tactician declared a new strategy: "We will no longer be the first boat to the windward mark. It is the third boat that wins." Who knew that this was the magic formula! It worked, and we won the last race by seconds. It ended up being some of the most fun we have had so far this season!

Grace Dances leading the J/120s to a first place finish in the last race of the regatta. ©2011Corinna Stolp

Check out the SFYC Invitational race #6 on the J/120 Kattack race tracking system. Pretty amazing!

- Corinna Stolp

Results can be found at www.sfyc.org. Next up in the J/120 Championship Series is the South Beach Regatta, July 16-17, at South Beach YC.