Sometimes you throw a seven or eleven and sometimes it's craps. With so many restarts and parking lots in this year’s SSS Corinthian Race, the odds of winning were about the same as winning the lottery: it's the same odds whether you play or not.

The Corinthian takes you on a Bay tour with Little Harding, Blossom Rock, Blackaller Buoy and Southampton Shoals as the marks. The name comes from the start and finish at the Corinthian Yacht Club. This year’s big and mixed fleets started out fine in a nice light westerly, out of Belvedere Cove and into trouble.

The only real wind racers felt came on a tacking duel beat up the Cityfront in a flood. Ruth Suzuki and Gordie Nash on the turbo Santana 27 Arcadia sweated all the way around. Gordie says it all: “We were short-tacking up the Cityfront; Ruth and I were working really hard. We tacked as much as physically possible, but it was really tiring. At the end of it at all, after the finish, Ruth asked if I wanted a sandwich and a drink - we never had the time to eat while racing!” Arcadia won Doublehanded PHRF 3.

James Fryer, who singlehanded his Wylie 34 Cheyenne, explained the conditions for the day. "I knew the tack up the Cityfront was going to be difficult, and it was. I think the hardest part of the race was that there was never any consistency to the conditions. The winds never settled into a pattern. It was all over the place. Just when you think you could relax a little you had to keep working some more to stay alive.” James won Singlehanded PHRF 3. Not too shabby for a guy coming out of a 10-year sabbatical.

You can possibly pass a lot of boats on the Cityfront, but the reward for all that work is just ahead after the windward mark, the long fast run east.  But once they rounded Blackaller and turned downwind, the racers were treated to slowing wind all the way to Southampton. The planing boats were not thrilled.

There also was fun in the always challenging race up Raccoon Strait. Some boats went left, others right. Some stalled out on the left, some on the right. In the end the fleets squeaked out with good speed to the last mark before the finish, Little Harding. The problem was the finish in the dreaded Belvedere Triangle where races and calm Corinthian manners are lost.

At the final parking lot the pack re-assembled for a finish en-masse to the delight of competitors and race volunteers. Stephen Buckingham, PRO for the race explained: “The big CF at the end was very stressful. But we are happy to report that all the times were taken and we have no scoring problems so far. Steve Hill was shooting stills, and we have video to sort things out.” At one point as the boats drifted across the finish line, one sailor said to another, “All that work for this?” 

Jennifer McKenna took photos while crewing on Leah Pepe’s Santana 22 Kelly Shawn. You can see more of them at www.flickr.com/photos/jenmck/sets/72157616559514797/ More of Erik Simonson’s photos can be found at www.h2oshots.com.

Prelimary results are available at www.sfbaysss.org. Next up for SSS racers is the Singlehanded Farallones on May 16. Is this your year?