March 23, 2015

'Kind of blue' describes the Singlehanded Sailing Society's Corinthian Race held on Saturday. Not for sadness, but for the feeling of the semi-blue skies just before the rain and the mixed conditions of calm and wind throughout the day. One hundred and fifteen boats competed in the often tricky, long tour of the Bay from the Corinthian Yacht Club past the Point Stuart buoy off Angel Island, Blossom Rock, Blackaller Buoy, Southampton Shoals platform, Little Harding Buoy and back to the finish at the club. It's only 18 miles according to the Sailing Instructions, but with many options for negotiating the currents and breeze along the way.

An assortment of boats coming off the starting line and headed for Belvedere. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

Arcadia and others short-tacked up the Belvedere shoreline. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

The first challenge was right off the start line, bucking a 4-knot flood tide in only a 5-knot breeze to try to make it to Blossom Rock. The smart ones headed up toward Sausalito before making the left turn in the current. They were able to set spinnakers and ride the tide above Alcatraz on a faster eastbound trajectory than those who peeled off early and got stuck in a hole behind the old prison.

Red Sky, Lightspeed, and Rock On in Richardson Bay. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

Kelika on the approach to Blossom Rock. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

On the Thompson 650 Flight Risk, this was Ben Landon's son Jack's first time helming a race. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

At Blossom Rock, the fleets compressed. In fact it looked rather dire at the buoy, as boats were being pushed backward by the tide, but a nice westerly filled in just in time for a short-tacking duel up the Cityfront.

Rounding Blossom. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

Oscar, a Santa Cruz 33 on the beat past Pier 39. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

After exhaustive tacking for current relief along the shore, Blackaller beckoned with the first break for sandwiches on a nice run in 10-12 knots of breeze and a following flood tide all the way to Southampton.

Once around, the majority of the boats opted to go clockwise around Angel Island in more breeze, while some of the stragglers saw building wind in Raccoon Strait and headed that way. With more breeze at Little Harding and the usual light and shifty wind at the clubhouse finish, the day was complete.

How do you set a spinnaker when you're sailing singlehanded? Synthia Petroka on the Hawkfarm Eyrie shows us. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

If you could negotiate the conditions and change gears accordingly you were rewarded with victory. Those who ran a little wide in the turns or ground the gearbox a few times still had a good time. In the end a remarkable 97 boats finished in which could be regarded as one of more challenging Bay courses the SSS has to offer. The kind of blue skies turned a little dark in the evening as a cold front moved in, but it couldn't darken the spirits of the racers in what turned out to be a very nice, though long, day.

The Yankee 30 Emerald had a spinnaker wrap from hell and had to drop out of the race. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

Prizes will be handed out at Oakland YC in Alameda on Wednesday, April 1, at 1930 hours. For results and more info, see www.sfbaysss.org.