April 28, 2013

"Like a sharp stick in the eye," was how one sailor described the finish of the Singlehanded Sailing Society's Round the Rocks Race yesterday. The finish represented the "all" in the story title. But, it would be a long time to get there.

All was a bit strange for the SSS racers at the start on the Olympic Circle. They're used to radio check-ins, and the rules were changed for this race. Radio silence from the race committee was broken just a few minutes before the first warning by Berkeley YC's Bobbi Tosse, who said, "We're running late, but we're going to start on time." The BYC race committee ran the starting sequence with their usual efficiency.

The second start. Note mark E, the pin end, and how the boats are slipping sideways at it. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

What would become a 4+ knot flood had already begun, and the first start went off with a collision between the singlehanded Cal 2-27 Dura Mater and the doublehanded Hunter 34 Itinerant. In the third start, one boat was fouled by two others and hit the pin end of the line, the permanent mark EOC. Shortly after the start, the Olson 34 Red Sky and the Wilderness 21 Tinker collided. They discussed the incident amicably on the race's VHF frequency and both retired.

Mike Holden sailed with his young son Nathaniel aboard the Laser 28 Firebolt. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

A ship, the MSC Fabienne emerged from beneath the Bay Bridge, just in time to encounter the bulk of the fleet. They blew five warning blasts twice in short order.

Most smart racers headed over to Angel Island to escape the worst of the flood. Those who chose to try for relief at Treasure Island found themselves on a conveyor belt moving the wrong way. Eventually, most of both groups crossed over to toward the Cityfront and the current cone of Alcatraz. The morning fog cleared, allowing the Golden Gate westerly perked up.

This was where the next collision happened. The Yankee 30 Emerald found itself between the amas of the Corsair 750 trimaran White Knuckles. When a fellow racer asked if they needed help, the singlehanders declined the offer and proceded to sort out the mess themselves. They both retired.

The trimaran White Knuckles and monohull Emerald became intimately acquainted. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Wolfgang Stehr and Ritchie Rayrao aboard the Express 27 Summer Palace. The Expresses had a five-boat doublehanded one design class. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Alcatraz turned out to be not so much a rounding mark as a limiting mark. In order to get to the next mark, Harding Rock, the best course was to stay high and as far south as possible. Talk about a conveyor belt! Harding Rock lies at a convergence of three bodies of water and the current there runs like a river. It lies just outside the north edge of the Slot, so the wind tends to be a little softer there.

Complicating the already-problematic rounding of Harding to starboard for the 100-boat SSS fleet were a smaller bunch of racers coming in from the Cityfront and rounding the buoy to port in San Francisco YC's Staff Commodores' Cup.

The kerflufel at Harding Rock. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

From Harding Rock, it was a spinnaker run through Raccoon Strait and up the North Bay to Red Rock (another limiting mark), under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and on to the Brother Islands, a rounding mark.

The all-too-brief run up the North Bay, with Stephen Buckingham's Black Soo Starbuck, and Richard Egan and Trevor Egan on the non-spinnaker Islander 36 Kapai. ©2013 Jennifer McKenna

The run was over too quickly and it was back to beating into current. The wind lightened up considerably (the "nothing" part of the story title) from the Brothers to Richmond, and some of the fleet found themselves getting reeled in by Red Rock (now a limiting mark to port). Some had to start their engines, while others were able to escape and continue racing.

Walter George aboard Wahoo. Ducking in close into the wharves north of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was one strategy to avoid the worst of the flood. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The Wilderness 30 Rascal, formerly owned by the late sailmaker Rui Luis, was raced by Christopher and Kathy Jackson, who found some fresh breeze south of the Brothers. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Unit 63, aboard a tanker tied to the Richmond Long Wharf, courteously hailed the race committee on the race frequency to let them know that they'd be casting off docklines and steaming south to Southampton Shoals in 20 minutes. No five blasts were needed.

Finally, the wind in the Slot made it up to Southampton Shoals, and the beat to Berkeley turned into a screaming reach. The tide finally turned and wind waves broke abeam on the long, shallow fetch to the finish line on the Olympic Circle. The wind gusted up to 30 knots, catching many racers still with their #1 jibs up. The most popular choice was to flog the sails and hang on, way overpowered. Some reefed the main. The Humboldt 30 Gig dropped the jib and finished on main only.

Jennifer McKenna and Suzanne Lee on the Santana 22 Zingaro blast through the wind and the waves to the finish. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Darren Doud and Chris Lewis, last year's winners, finished first again on the Corsair 31r Roshambo. They ate up the course, flood be damned, in an amazing three hours and 27 minutes.

The trophy meeting for the Round the Rocks will coincide with the skippers meeting for the Singlehanded Farallones Race on May 8 at Oakland YC. For more info and results, see www.sfbaysss.org.