Nancy in the Doublehanded Farallones

April 4 , 2010

Pat Broderick, skipper of the Wyliecat 30 Nancy, sailed with Michael Andrews in BAMA's Doublehanded Farallones, as part of their preparation for the Pacific Cup this summer. He describes the race:

The morning started out light with just enough wind to keep on the correct side of the Golden Gate YC starting line. As we watched the divisions ahead of us start, it was clear that heading for the middle and the ebb was a good thing to do, since it was going to be the current that pushed us toward the bridge and not the wind. At the gun, Uno and Nancy, the two Wyliecat 30s in Division 6, were side by side, safely a few dozen yards from being over early (On Course Side, or OCS), with Plus Sixteen, an Olson 911, not far behind. It was not a good morning to be OCS!

We pointed the boat out toward the middle and worked our way ahead of Uno as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge, catching several of the boats that had started ahead of us. Plus Sixteen tacked back toward Fort Point, and we lost contact with them after that. At the bridge we tacked over to stay in the middle as the wind picked up to a steady 8-10 knots. We traded tacks with Steve Wonner's Uno until near Land's End when they tacked onto port and headed up toward Pt. Bonita. We thought the wind would clock further north, so we stayed on starboard, headed for the first set of approach buoys.

By this time boats were spread out, some further south and quite a few of the larger, first-starters ahead and further north. It looked like those directly ahead of us were being lifted and had more wind, so we stayed on a course for the approach buoys. It also looked like there were breaks on the Potato Patch, and we decided the channel looked good. We could see Uno still headed north.

We sailed up the north side of the deep water channel and once past the third set of buoys began edging north. It was lumpy, with an occasional 'square wave' to remind us that Wyliecats have a pretty flat bottom. Uno tacked over and, when we came together, demonstrated that going north was the thing to do since our several hundred yard lead had become Uno's several hundred yard lead. We spent the rest of the day trying to catch Steve and Peter, but failed to do so.

By the Light Bucket we'd been lifted nicely, passing it a mile to the north, and on a course that would take us around the Farallon Island without having to tack. The wind picked up to 14 knots or so and the swells began to level off. We sailed past several boats, but for the most part were pretty much alone. We could see sails further north and sails to the south and behind us, but we were sailing our own race with no one very close.

Sapphire dips into trough, as she follows the Centurion 40 Willow to the islands. ©2010 Rich Hudnut Jr.

As we approached the island, we stayed pretty far north of it. The Middle Farallon was breaking big time, and we could see the swells breaking high on the NW side of the Southeast Farallon. Our rounding was wide, and we made our 'Island jibe' at 1330.

Once past the Island, we beam-reached with quartering swells lifting us and were able to catch some waves and surf with 12.5 knots our highest GPS speed, but the average speed on the way back in was more like 7 knots. We watched Uno ahead, but were unable to close the gap. We passed north of the Lightbucket and sailed north of the shipping channel until we saw breaking waves ahead and began edging down toward Point Bonita.

Uno chose the southern route, sailing close to Mile Rocks. We chose the northern route, sailing past Point Bonita and close to the Marin Headlands to avoid some of the growing ebb. By this time it was apparent Uno was gaining again in the counter-current between Mile Rocks and Fort Point. Damn!

We were dealing with two container ships we'd seen come into the pilot area earlier. We thought they'd easily beat us to the Golden Gate Bridge, but as they came in the channel the first ship slowed, allowing the second ship to pass, an operation that took a long time. Close to the bridge the first ship slowed appreciably as it passed us, since there was a sailboat crossing in front of it: one Very Long Blast, one set of Five Long Blasts, a second set of Five Long Blasts. Not a happy pilot!

The second ship also slowed, but there was not room to cross in front of it, so we sailed under the bridge and continued toward Alcatraz until we could safely tack and sail behind the second ship. We jibed over and reached in toward Anita Rock before turning toward the Golden Gate YC finish line. We heard our finish whistle at 1740.

It was a very enjoyable day's sailing out and back. The gray overcast turned into sun and sparkling water. The lumpy seas turned into nice long swells. The wind stayed north enough so we could fetch the island without tacking once we passed Land's End. The SE Farallon Island was battered by very large swell, creating spectacular deep aqua-marine waves smashing high on the NW rocks and large ares were green where vegetation grew. The reach/run back in was fun, with enough surfing to make it interesting. All in all, it was a great day. Maybe next year we'll do better against Steve on Uno.

- Pat Broderick, Wyliecat 30 Nancy

For part one of our Doublehanded Farallones coverage and more photos, see the previous story. Our movie is now online. Results will be posted at www.sfbama.org.