You may recall that last month’s first installment of Golden Gate YC’s Seaweed Soup midwinters was a stormy affair, with many no-shows and a thorough soaking for those who did show. This month’s second installment featured a steady northerly wind instead of a gusty, squally westerly - topped off with sunshine instead of gloom. Because of the northerly wind direction, the first leg for each division was a tight-reach drag race to Blackaller Buoy, followed by various combinations of reaching and running depending on your course - not too much of a workout for tacking teams.

The wind, reported by the race committee as 22 knots, made for some welcome excitement, including exhilarating mark roundings, plus some unwelcome excitement, including collisions, protests, crew errors and gear failures. The Beneteau 36.7 Bufflehead had to drop out when they got their spinnaker halyard jammed, resulting in a wrap from hell.

Will the excitement continue in January? Find out for yourself by racing. The next installment in this series is coming up on January 3. See www.ggyc.com for complete results, series standings and more.