Spring One Design

Saturday’s breezes on the Bay were so light and shifty that St. Francis Yacht Club’s race committee abandoned the first race of the Spring One Design Regatta on the Cityfront and moved the whole kit and caboodle over to the western edge of the Berkeley Circle, hoping the wind would be more consistent there. It wasn’t. However, the J/120s and the Express 37s were able to complete a race, despite 60-degree wind shifts. The J/105s had to wait until Sunday, which was much better.

The Race Committee started the action an hour early on Sunday (1000 hours instead of 1100), just to be sure they would get in enough races (three) to constitute a regatta. It’s a good thing they started early, because the good strong breeze of the morning lightened up instead of building in the afternoon. In the end, the J/105s got in three races, and the other two fleets got four. (The 1D35s had backed out previously, as they had too many boats hauled out in boat yards to qualify for a one design fleet.)

Warm and cozy embroidered navy blue boat blankets were given out to the top finishers in the Express 37 fleet (Kame Richards’ Golden Moon got first) and J/120 fleet (Steve Madeira’s Mr. Magoo got first), followed by a long break while the inevitable J/105 protests were heard, none of which affected the first place finisher, Rolf Kaiser’s Donkey Jack. The Spring One Design wraps up a trio of spring kick-off regattas for St. Francis. See www.stfyc.com for complete results and more.

Island Fever

On Saturday, while the One Design racers were watching their Windexes do three-sixties, the more casual PHRF Island Fever race at South Beach YC had much the same experience. The fastest division was sent around Treasure Island (in either direction, and the fleet split). Those going counter-clockwise found that they had a beat most of the way, with only a brief spinnaker run near the Bay Bridge. Trepidation about crossing the ebb from TI to SF proved needless, as the ebb narrowed to a weak trickle.

Once back near McCovey Cove, where the race starts and finishes, competitors got the typical summer South Beach blasts of wind, preceding a brief rain shower. The Race Committee wrapped up their operations just in time to beat the rain and head into the clubhouse, where they gave pink flamingo light strings to division winners Fancy, Double Play, Goose, and Popeye & I.

The Island Fever series will wrap up next Saturday with a make-up race. Go to www.southbeachyc.org/racing/index.htm for details, results, and standings.