Unlike all the drift fests going on during Saturday’s racing in the Bay, Island Yacht Club’s Doublehanded Lightship race proved once again that all you have to do is go out the Gate for a little excitement. Lucie Mewes, sailing with husband Ben on the Black Soo Mirage, was still full of adrenaline back at the dock. ”The race was exhilarating! Roland Brun screamed by on the Moore 24 [Half Fun], starting 45 minutes late and finishing well ahead on corrected time! OMIGAWDD.”

With Friday night’s Weather Service report calling for big seas and a northwest wind of 25 knots, many were reluctant to go out. Stephen Buckingham on the Santana 22 Tchoupitoulas with Nicolas Odlum remarked about the decision to go: “The forecast the night before was bad, and I was planning on not going. It was calling for 15-16 foot seas at the bar, but it ended up being less.” We’ve been told by other racers that it was 10-12 feet at the most. “The swell was at wide intervals, so it seemed manageable. If you picked your wave and figured out how to go over the top everything was fine.

“When we got out to the Lightship, we could still see the big boats rounding it. We rounded ahead of a Moore, an Express 27 and a Hobie 33. Once you take off your salt-encrusted sunglasses you realize, hey it’s a nice sunny day!”

But the ride back had its problems. “There were big ass following seas. Nick was driving. I was down below and all of a sudden it was like someone was pouring a 20 gallon bucket of water down the hatch. I looked into the cockpit and it was swamped. Except for the one wave that pooped us, which neither of us saw coming, it was okay. If you went down the channel it was fine.” Tchoupitoulas went on to win Division D.

Jan Grant on the Santa Cruz 27 1st Impression also had a scare coming back in. “Rick [Gio] had to pull me out of the water after a rogue wave knocked us down coming back from the Bucket, and over the lifeline I went with main sheet in hand. He got the boat slowed up, and I grabbed a stanchion, and got my foot over the side aft of the lifelines. He hefted me onto the boat, and off we went. Quite the day, to be sure!”

And even while surfing down the waves just off the Gate it all slowed down inside the Bay, to a slow finish off the club and maybe a drink to calm down. The annual IYC Doublehanded Lightship has had its ups and downs in the swells and challenging conditions throughout its 27 years, and, with its benefits to United Cerebral Palsy, is becoming one of the classic races for stories and ‘bench racing’ when it’s all done. This year was no exception.

Only a few boats that had signed up chose not to race, most of them multihulls. Dave Austin’s Lil Bear, a Corsair 31R sailed the course alone in 3 hours and 19 minutes. Besides the tragic loss of Daisy, only one boat didn’t finish, the Nonsuch 22 Blueberry, which was rated slowest in the race.

For our coverage of the loss of Daisy and her crew, see yesterday’s Special Report. The Coast Guard will continue to investigate the incident and try to find out just what happened. The last that the Offshore 31 was seen by fellow competitors, all boats were in the channel. This coming Saturday, racers in the OYRA Crewed Lightship can pick up daisies at St. Francis, Golden Gate or Richmond YC and toss one on the ocean in remembrance of Daisy as they round the Lightship buoy.