Despite a wind-shift from northwesterly to westerly, an easing of breeze to almost nothing, and a strong ebb, Encinal Yacht Club managed to run two races in the Jack Frost Midwinters on Saturday. These were the first two races in the series, as November’s racing was cancelled after the oil spill. The race committee sets up inflatable windward and leeward marks north of Treasure Island and west of the Berkeley Circle.

The first leg of the first race was a one-tack beat to the misplaced windward mark, one lap or two depending on fleet and a downwind finish. In between races a brief postponement ensued while the windward mark was moved to the west, and competitors were off again at a crawl, with more fleets doing one lap than two this time. The lead switched in most fleets, except in Santana 22s, which saw only one boat on the line (Tom Montoya’s Meliki), and in Melges 24s, Kevin Clark’s Smokin’ won both races.

SF 30s had the biggest fleet, with 12 boats signed up and nine on the line. ©2007 norcalsailing.com

An interesting match race shaped up between the two WylieCat 30s which sailed in PHRF B. Steve Wonner’s Uno was flying her see-through fathead main, while Andy Hall’s Life Is Good carried a regular WylieCat Dacron sail. Uno rated 135, while Life Is Good rated 132. In race 1, Uno won on elapsed and corrected time, by several seconds. But in race 2, Life finished three seconds ahead of Uno, but corrected out behind her.

The next installment of this series comes up on January 12.