The sun was hot - the racing not so much. In one of the oddities that is San Francisco weather, Indian summer hit the Bay right on time - a mixed blessing for those attempting to sail. On Saturday, the race deck at South Beach YC called it pretty typical for the November opener of their Island Fever midwinter series. One year they even tried out a motoring allowance.

A tantalizing breeze at the 12:30 first warning soon petered out, while a raging ebb ramped up ahead of schedule. As a result only three boats finished, all in the first and fastest division (more on them below).

The RC really tried. They picked shorter and shorter courses for each start, until they’d hit bottom with a 1.9 mile jaunt out to SC1 (the separation buoy for the South Bay shipping anchorage) and back to the start/finish line off the breakwater at the entrance to McCovey Cove.

Crew onboard the second-place boat, Savage Beauty, observed that fellow Flying Tiger Centomiglia executed a perfect a 360-degree penalty turn, very quickly considering the conditions. That put Savage Beauty ahead of Centomiglia. "We noticed that the current was really taking us north on the ebb,” said Bill Gutoff, “so we started pointing up for a better range on the finish line. Then we started slowing down 200 yards to the finish. Centomiglia kept moving and passed us to leeward with 100 feet to go. It's frustrating, but that’s winter racing."

The race committee gave out pink flamingoes to the winners in each division. Since they had no winners in three of the four divisions, they gave the prizes to the crews that made it to the clubhouse first and cheered the loudest. Not surprisingly, Pete Hamm and the Seaview crew were among those gifted with bright pink plastic.

To see the results from Saturday’s race - such as they are - and more, go to www.southbeachyachtclub.org. SBYC is in a transition mode between their old website and a new one - this is the new one. The Island Fever series continues on December 20, when it will certainly be colder, and hopefully windier.