December 16, 2014

The weekend of December 13-14 was blessed with no rain and some sun. Since we know that California needs the rain but racers prefer the sun, special arrangements were made to produce rain on Friday before the weekend and Monday after the weekend. Wind, however, was not as all would like on the Berkeley Circle. It seems that the 'special arrangements' still need some work.

The Flying Tiger Centomiglia and Henderson 30 Family Hour in pre-start maneuvers on Saturday. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

On Saturday, we saw light breeze (2-8 knots) from around 325 degrees, and we were able to start on time at 12:00. Fifty-two starters in seven divisions were sent on the 8-mile windward/leeward course.

The Cal 39 Sea Star in PHRF 3, and X-102 GravlaX and Soverel 33 Flexi-Flyer in PHRF 2. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

All went well until around 14:30. Then the wind almost died. Some chose to DNF. The Cal 20s, however, chose to hang in for the duration and the last three finished within 26 seconds of each other in a new special breeze that arrived prior to the 17:00 stated deadline.

While slower boats were still trying to finish the race, this Express 27, having finished, gave up on the sail got out the oars to paddle back to Berkeley. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

One of the DNFs was Bill Connor’s Islander 36 Vivace. A startline incident resulted in an injured crew. After going immediately to Richmond YC where an ambulance was already on hand, the crew was transferred to John Muir in Walnut Creek. The latest report is that he is on the mend after having his toe re-attached.

After two races some of the usual suspects prevail with two first place finishes:

• Hoot – the Macfies' Olson 30 racing handicap because there weren’t enough Olson 30s.
• Motorcycle Irene – Zachery Anderson and Will Paxton’s Express 27 leads their 17-boat group.
• Can O’Whoopass – Richard vonEhrenkrook’s Cal 20.
• Others with double bulltets are Phantom, John Gulliford’s J/24, and Ypso, Tim Stapleton’s Cal 2-27.

A few protests are pending, but preliminary results can be found at www.berkeleyyc.org.

The race committee aboard Wind Dance didn't have too much confidence that the wind would cooperate in time for the scheduled starts. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

On Sunday the wind was variable and shifty and light and came from many directions. At the appointed start time, the wind was zero. The 37 craft that showed up to race drifted around and enjoyed the warms. 

Greg Nelsen and Dan Alvarez doublehanded the Azzura 310 Outsider. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

Amazingly, after two hours and 15 minutes, a breeze with what appeared to have enough oomph to stick around showed up, all 37 boats were still around, and away the five divisions went.

Megan Dwyer's Santana 22 Mad Max. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

The course chosen turned out to be a less than four-mile beat-run-reachy thing that took the lead boats only 35 to 40 minutes to finish. Daydreamer, Gregory Ashby’s singlehanded O'Day 22 with a rating of 282 accomplished the course in just under 53 minutes.

The pretty little Daydreamer. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

Along with all this excitement, we got a tie! Tony Chargin’s Moore 24 Two Irrational shared a first with Evil Octopus, Jasper Van Vliet’s J/24. And in the Sunday series, we see again Hoot and Motorcycle Irene with double bullets. 

– Bobbi Tosse, BYC Race Person