New Regattas, Part 1: The BAMA Racetrack Is Open

April 24, 2010

I am pleased to announce the BAMA Racetrack, a scenic 10-nm Central Bay course for all Bay boats. Do it any time you want, as many times as you want. You just turn on your GPS receiver, choose any buoy but Alcatraz to start/finish, and take a lap - or several laps. Upload your GPX file to BAMA, get scored, and you can replay your race against others (or yourself, if you do it more than once) in GPS Action Replay. The Racetrack is open from this weekend through October 30, and only your best lap will count in season scoring for barn door and corrected honors.

BAMA is the Bay Area Multihull Association, but you don't need to be a member of BAMA or a multihull to participate.

In typical southwesterlies, if you started at the leeward pin, the course would be a beat, a close reach, a beat, a run, and a beam reach (YRA8-p, Alcatraz-s, Big Harding-p, Blackaller-p, Blossom Rock-p, YRA8-p). We are looking forward to the fast cats - Tuki, Shadow, Adrenaline, and Beowulf - establishing and then eating away at the course record.

The goal of the Racetrack is two-fold:

First, we want to encourage people who haven't raced or do so rarely to give racing a try. There is no start-line pack of boats to worry about and you do not need to be a rules maven, so you can focus on sail handling, mark rounding, and boat speed. If you blow a tack or a spinnaker drop, just sail to the closest mark and 'restart.' And everyone enjoys sailing past the islands, near the Gate and along the Cityfront. If you want a mellow ride, do it in the morning or mid-day. After building confidence, try an afternoon lap in more breeze. The Sailing Instructions spell out everything in plan English.

Second, we want to give experienced racers an exciting course to hone their skills and train crew. If you do it singlehanded or doublehanded, tell us. Origami sailed it last weekend: With its short legs and sail changes, it's perfect for crew training, and it was a blast to sail. The real challenge will be to choose the right winds and currents for your vessel to maximize speed, and that will take some thought and planning.

So, we think the Racetrack will have something for everyone. On top of that, there will be no entry fee in 2010. To download the Notice of Race/Sailing Instructions/Race chart, just go to: www.sfbama.org/racetrack.

- Fair winds, Ross Stein, BAMA Race Chair
Racetrack Pit Crew: Commodore Richard Keller, Urs Rothacher, Thom Davis