J Fest
A lack of wind truncated racing this weekend. The high pressure system that brought us all that lovely sunshine also interfered with the predicted northerly, and it wasn’t until afternoon that a moderate westerly filled in at the Gate. The OYRA’s Duxship race (to the Duxbury Reef buoy off Bolinas then to the Lightship) was cancelled after a long postponement. South Beach YC’s Spring Fever race was also cancelled, but due to lack of sign-ups, not wind.
Which brings us to J/Fest (finally), the subject of this story. The Slot may have been the only place on San Francisco Bay where a nice breeze did make an appearance, but not until after a two and a half hour wait on both days. This is when it’s good to have a full crew (hopefully including some good story-tellers), a full cooler, and a full picnic basket.
JP and Matt waiting for wind aboard Timo Bruck’s J/120 Twist. They must have run out of jokes already. © 2009 Rich Hudnut, Jr.
For the last hour of the postponement, the multi-boat St. Francis YC race committee checked breeze and set and re-set marks, in order to give the racers a square course. Using offset marks and gates requires a lot of marks. In the deep water east of the bridge, they don’t always hold the first time. At 1330 hours, racing finally got underway with the first J/120 start.
A demonstration of leeward rail weight in light wind racing, aboard Twist. Left to right: John, Matt, JP, Dave, Timo, Bill, Scott. © 2009 Rich Hudnut, Jr.
The good old reliable westerly - you can practically set your watch by it on a sunny day - built from mild to moderate as the afternoon progressed, topping out around 13-16 knots.
These J/24s all seem to want to occupy the same 24 feet of water just prior to their first start. © 2009 norcalsailing.com
Four divisions raced: J/120s, J/105s, J/24s, and PHRF.
Steve Harris’s new-to-him J/105, Frisky, got frisky in PHRF instead of one design. They won their second race, and came in third for the regatta. © 2009 norcalsailing.com
The windward gate was set close to the Golden Gate. Here the J/120s Chance (left) and Desdemona are setting their spinnakers after passing an offset mark. © 2009 Erik Simonson/www.h2oshots.com
Desdemona, Chance and Grace Dances demonstrate how close the boats were to each other in the J/120 fleet. © 2009 norcalsailing.com
Grace Dances (left) drops a bit ahead of Chance, which is leading. © 2009 norcalsailing.com
Jabberwocky, Brent Vaughan’s J/105, prepares to drop. © 2009 norcalsailing.com
Some drops didn’t go so well. Donkey Jack’s spinny got a twist, while One Trick Pony put on the pressure from behind. © 2009 norcalsailing.com
The race committee was able to get in two double-sausage races on Saturday (the PHRF fleet got the same course with a jibe mark), and just one race on Sunday, out of five scheduled races. On Sunday, a J/120 crew commented, “I showed up at the boat at 9:30 a.m., and for two and a half hours watched the light wind steer our battle flag from west, to east, then to NW.”
The 23 J/105s were topped by John Horsch’s Business Socks (aka Rhymenocerous), the seven J/120s by Barry Lewis’s Chance, the eight J/24s by Michael Whitfield’s TMC Racing, and eight J/Misc. by the Hoys’ J/109 Crazy Diamond. See www.stfyc.com for all the results.
Thanks to Erik Simonson and Rich Hudnut Jr. for photo contributions. See more of Erik’s work at www.h2oshots.com, and Rich’s J/Fest photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/rnutball/Jfest2009#
April 6, 2009
J/105s on their first upwind leg of the 2009 J/Fest. © 2009 norcalsailing.com