OYRA Farallones

May 9, 2010

If you were to stand at the Golden Gate Yacht Club start/finish line of this year's crewed Farallones race, you'd think it would be one of the fastest races around the rocks in many years. The Gate saw a 20-25 knot westerly all day, with gusts as high as 31, but offshore things were different.

William Helvestine's Santa Cruz 50 Deception picked a more southerly route out the Gate. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

Steen Moller's X-Dream took the bridge at mid-span. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

"Overall it was one of the driest days in the Gulf of the Farallones, while still making the loop in a reasonable time," remarked Greg Nelsen of Ocelot, Kevin Flanigan's Wylie/Kernan Fox 44. "It was a very interesting day starting with the #4 jib in 17-22 knots true. We swapped to the #3 after Pt. Bonita, and then to the #2 a bit further out, which we used until the Farallones. All with a very light swell out there." The Lightship Buoy read no more than 12 knots the whole day.

Greg Nelsen on Ocelot. These days you can navigate by iPhone, then put in a quick call to Mom. Photo Courtesy Ocelot

For Jim Quanci and crew on the Cal 40 Green Buffalo, the start out the Gate was the most tactical part of the race."The key was playing the tide, which was ebbing on the edges but flooding in the middle. Then an hour or so after the start it was ebbing everywhere. We had a messy beat across the Potato Patch in 18-20 knots of wind and lumpy seas. The wind faded as we approached the Lightbucket, where we changed to a bigger jib, and it was 10-13 knots all the way out to and around the rock at 1600."

Green Buffalo's GPS track of the race. Graphic Courtesy Green Buffalo

Although Green Buffalo did well on the way out to the islands they didn't have a trouble-free race. "We had a slight problem after hoisting the chute. The jib wouldn’t come down. We discovered the jib halyard was wrapped around the main halyard, so we sent our point man, John Paulling, to the top to sort the lines out. He remarked that it was a great view of the rock… best he’s had among a number of roundings." Good thing there wasn't a big swell running.

Sorting out halyards at the top of the mast. Photo Courtesy Green Buffalo

The first boat to finish, at 1540, was the Prosail 40 catamaran Shadow, more than an hour ahead of the first monohull, the R/P 45 Criminal Mischief, which arrived at 1658, followed within half an hour by the Santa Cruz 52 Kokopelli2 and Ocelot.

Shadow on the edge, flying a hull as she zips back in the Gate. ©2010 Erik Simonson/www.h2oshots.com

Chip Megeath's Criminal Mischief was the second boat to finish. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

Greg Nelsen wasn't as worried about second-place monohull Kokopelli2 as he was about Andy Costello's J/125 Double Trouble. "It looks like the front of our division finished in the PHRF order. Kokopelli2 was very strong upwind, and we could not shake the Double Trouble until we set the kite."

Ocelot finished fourth, around 1728. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

The rest of the fleets trickled in long after the fast boats. But the higher rated boats still put in some good finish times. A plentiful crew of 11 raced on Green Buffalo, with each driver getting his or her time on the wheel for thirty minutes on the way home. "We finished at 1930 in good company near several boats from the division in front of us, so we know we had a pretty good race," says Jim.

Ian Matthew's turn at the helm of Green Buffalo. Everyone else looks cold. Photo Courtesy Green Buffalo

Results should be posted on Monday at www.yra.org.