Singlehanded Farallones Winners

May 23, 2010

The preliminary overall results are in for Saturday's solo spin around the Farallones. The top positions fail to show any kind of trend, except that their skippers are all good sailors. First place Green Buffalo, a Cal 40, corrected out ahead of Trunk Monkey*, a Farr 30 (ex-Mumm 30) by over ten minutes.

Green Buffalo wears dress black headed out the Gate. ©2010 Erik Simonson/www.h2oshots.com

The overall results were spread out except for those fightin' Wyliecat 30s Uno and Dazzler. A mere thirty three seconds separated them after 56 miles of racing. And Robert Boynton on the Yankee 30 Sea Witch couldn't make up the 57 seconds to beat Greg Nelsen on the Azzura 310 Outsider for fifth.

Steve Wonner on the Wyliecat 30 Uno was third overall. ©2010 norcalsailng.com

Brian Boschma, on the Olson 34 Red Sky (racing unofficially), shot this short video of Synthia Petroka's Hawkfarm Eyrie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5k5bJVNa4

"Fifteen miles after that video, the kite exploded, right at the Lightship. I was happily sailing along, surfing down the moderate waves and hitting nines, when my GPS went bonkers and shut down. I engaged Leona Helms-a-ley to drive while I went below to reboot and grab a bite of chocolate.

"I returned to the cockpit and was enjoying my chocolate, when a wave came along and pushed my stern, causing us to reach up. This had been happening all day, so I wasn't too surprised, but I thought it was taking Leona a long time to correct so I told her, 'Come on Leona, get it together already!' And that's when my faithful Singlehanded TransPac kite lost her head (for a second time).

"I considered hoisting my faithful Doublehanded PacCup kite (that's had her head reattached three times), but she wasn't socked and the latest wind reports that I got indicated mid 20s in the Bay so I knew I'd probably decapitate that one too. I also considered hoisting my shy kite from a J/24, but with three ships lining up to enter the Bay and two ships leaving, I opted for the conservative approach and hoisted the jib instead.

"I was elated to hear the gun as I crossed the finish line, but monitoring the radio I heard the Yankee 30 (Sea Witch) finish about 15 minutes behind and guessed that he'd probably correct out over me. Now with the preliminary results posted I see the Yankee 30 got me by a mere 3:20, which I easily could have made up with the shy kite. But then again I might have also been a squashed bug on the bow of one of five ships that I had to maneuver through.

"All and all a fabulous day on the ocean and sure beats mowing the lawn."

Synthia Petroka aboard the Hawkfarm Eyrie crosses the startline. She finished seventh overall. ©2010 norcalsailng.com

Greg Nelsen has sent another video, this one shot on the return leg, with narration.

Greg Nelsen and Outsider at the finish. ©2010 norcalsailng.com

For our previous report on this event, please see SSS Farallones Race. For complete results, see www.sfbaysss.org.

*Delving deeper into the meaning of 'Trunk Monkey', Steve Katzman of the Express 27 Dianne sent us this link: www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trunkmonkey
So on a singlehanded boat, the skipper must be the trunk monkey?