race report
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 Cats and Wabbits beat past the Brothers in an unusual Delta Ditch Run. ©2010 norcalsailing.com |
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Delta Ditch Run, a Play in Three Acts June 14 , 2010 Act I: The Beat
At the crowded Richmond YC docks the morning of Saturday's Delta Ditch Run, the weather was hot, hot, hot, punctuated by blasts of hot wind. The Cruising Division went off first at 0900. By the time the racing divisions went out to the start line, the blasts of hot air had gotten longer, stronger, and more frequent. Conservative sail plans and reshuffled starting strategies were the name of the game, as startline round-ups were common.
Off went the fleet, not on the promised run, but on a windy beat through the sloppy seas of the North Bay and San Pablo Bay. The chop built up by a southbound wind roughing up a northbound current made for a rocky ride. The wind whipped itself up to 25 knots or so, with gusts to 35, but with lulls that tricked some crews into shaking out reefs or changing up to bigger head sails, only to waste time putting the reefs back in or changing down again - or even blowing up gear. "This year's Ditch was BRUTAL!" said Marianne Armand, bowwoman on the Jeanneau Sun Fast 35 Mon Desir. "We were hanging with our division for a while, until we blew out our #3! We completely lost the pack at that point and I lost track of everyone. We switched to the #4. Should have had that up all along." Many entries gave up and headed for home during the first third of the race - this either wasn't what they'd signed up for, or they broke something. Act II: The Reach Once on a line to the Carquinez Bridge, the trimmers could get a bit of a break from the tacking. "Cold beverage, anyone?" and by the time they could crack off a bit in the Carquinez Strait, the wind moderated and the crews could really feel the heat. Those who'd chosen to wear foulies for Act I began to strip them off, those who'd had reefs in shook them out again, #2 jibs went up, and then #1s. Now the game became more tactical, and navigation came into play, because running aground is slow. It's at this point in the Ditch Run that navigators and tacticians begin to argue. Suisun Bay is even more shoaled up than it appears in the charts; the shipping channel is dredged, but it has steep sides. Using your depthsounder to follow the contours is one technique for staying out of trouble. The fleet exited Suisun Bay at the West Reach, which is followed by the East Reach, past Pittsburg and Antioch. On normal, windy years a lot of round-ups and round-downs happen here, as crews jibe their spinnakers in shifty wind and close quarters. (Last year a catamaran capsized and had to be towed into Antioch.) This year most of the boats were still on white sails.
Once past the Antioch Bridge, the anticipation builds for the spinnaker drop at the notorious Mark 19. This daymark has claimed more than one spinnaker in the past, and at least one rig. This year, um, did we mention that the racers were still on a white sail reach? At Mark 19 they hardened up and short-tacked up past the anchored barges and the entrance to False River, before turning right, to the southeast, following the San Joaquin River. Act III: On the Run, Finally Once headed in a southwesterly direction, the northerly fell reliably aft enough that everyone who had them could fly spinnakers. The wind continued to lighten up. As Marianne said, "The folks that got up in there earlier managed to keep the wind the whole way. The last two hours was a bit of a snail's pace, but we managed to eeeeeek out a finish. We were so exhausted, I had one drink at the club and headed back to the boat."
Generally, if you don't finish by sunset you get stuck in a drifter up the river to Stockton. Although this year's wind was different, it still died at sunset. Then you have to hope you make in before the ebb starts. Imagine snails with lights on racing on reflective glass in the dark, and you get an idea of how the late finishes appeared to the shoreside crowd enthusiastically cheering them on from the lawn of the Stockton Sailing Club.
Some crews, weary and running out of patience, dropped out during the final leg. Boats would motor past others that were inching along under spinnaker. They weren't all drop-outs though, as the Cruising Class gets a motoring allowance. A Merit 22 named Irrational Behavior (but behaving rationally), a plywood Thunderbird, and the Catalina 320 Sobrante were among this group. With their sails nicely put away they fooled the racers they passed. According to the Sailing Instructions, "Entrants may motor for three hours at a speed not greater than 6 knots through the water. Once an engine is engaged, it must remain in use for a minimum of 15 minutes."
The hospitality of Stockton Sailing Club, with Mount Gay Rum hats and drinks, a band, a barbecue, and a wonderfully warm evening, soothed some of the arrivals, while others went to work hauling out their boats, packing them onto trailers, lowering masts, and driving home. The trailer boats came from all over the West Coast and inland: SoCal, the Central Coast, Eureka, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and even British Columbia. This year's race in numbers: 174 entries, 129 finishers, 9 DNS (Did Not Start), 36 DNF (Did Not Finish). The Cruising Class had seven boats and the Multihulls numbered 31 in three divisions. The first boat to finish was Tuki, Richard Matthews' Prosail 40, at 15:43:28. The first monohull to finish was Pegasus 32, Philippe Kahn's Melges 32. Correcting out to first place overall (monohulls only), was Hank Easom's 8-Meter Yucca, followed by Dave Holscher's Cal 40 Henry Hannah, then Erik Menzel sailing the Wylie Wabbit Bad Hare Day, then Pegasus 32. Rounding out the top five was another Cal 40, Walter Smith's, Redhead (ex-Far Far). Complete results are available at www.stocktonsc.org.
The End.
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