YRA Second Half Opener: Escape from Alcatraz

July 26, 2010

Continued from Saturday's Point Bonita Race story.

Sunday's conditions were more of the same, but on Sunday the whole race was in the Slot. The Encinal YC Race Committee opted for a short course around Alcatraz Island. By the final short upwind leg, the ebb chop had built and so had the wind gusts.

This is the neighborhood where Shadow got into trouble - after finishing the 8.5 nm race in 17 minutes, averaging 26 knots! (See yesterday's report on the catamaran's capsize in 34 feet of water and the subsequent recovery efforts.) Shadow was finally righted, a few hours later, with the help of three Protectors and assorted anchors.

Notable among the competitors this year was the Cal 20 Can O'Whoopass. Skipper Richard Von Ehrenkrook and crew Paul Sutchek decided to make the weekend a triathlon, racing in the Second Half Opener on Saturday, San Francisco YC's Midnight Moonlight Maritime Marathon Saturday evening, and the Second Half Opener on Sunday. On Saturday, they had to break off at Golden Gate Bridge to make their start in Raccoon Strait for the evening pursuit race (their high PHRF number meant they started first, at 1500 hours).

Paul said, "I'm beat, sore, tired and achy! We started and were winning the race on Saturday, but then had to bail for the big night race. First off the start line was outside the wind line. So it took us a full 15 minutes to start. Then we hit a wind hole at Red Rock - that first hole took 45 minutes. We dropped and raised the jib heading toward San Quentin prison, and set again at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

"Now our job is the maximize boat speed and try not to get too bored. The tanker by the Carquinez bridge waited for us to go by and then got pulled away from the dock. By now we are looking for wolves, and after we round [the turning mark is the Carquinez Bridge], there they are! The next boat rounded about 25 minutes behind us and it turns out to be Bloom County.
When they passed us, my decision struck the fatal blow and twisted the knife. We didn't follow the lead boat and instead went west looking for tide relief, straight into ANOTHER HOLE! This one a full hour long inside of the Sisters.

"At eleven o'clock Richard was ready to start motoring, and I pointed our light up at the mast head fly - 'HEY! Look we can fly the kite,' and we start to move again, get about a mile and have to drop and start beating again headed SE to Richmond, pass Red Rock to starboard and it just turns into the most beautiful night.

The moon through the spinnaker at midnight. ©2010 Paul Sutchek

"Vessel Traffic called the race committee, and we heard that only 60% of the boats have finished, but looking around we were pretty sure we were DFL. We called the race committee around midnight and let them know that they didn't have to wait around for us, but they do and around 0100 we got our whistle for 10 hours of racing."

On Sunday, they fared better, never slowing down, calling each tack just right, managing the big wind without incident, getting the gun and winning their division.

Another interesting small boat in the regatta was the Ranger Fun 23 Boondoggle. When you say Ranger 23, the first thing that comes to mind is, "That's a Gary Mull design from the 1970s, and a lot were built in the USA." But there is also the Ranger 23 FUN, Built in the USA by Ranger Boats in the '70s, it's not your typical Mull designed Bay basher. In fact it's a French boat from the pen of Alain Forgeot and is quite the little sled with IOR roots. With a displacement of less than 2,000 pounds, and a cheap yet efficient Soling rig it is still a popular class in Europe. But here we only have one FUN on the Bay and it belongs to Kris Jensen.

"The boat goes better then it looks," he told a curious group on the docks at the Encinal YC Med-tie. "Coming in the Gate during the Second Half Opener we saw 11 and 12 knots on the GPS. It will get up on a plane with a lot of wind and surfs well."

Havin' some fun on the Fun 23 Boondoggle. ©2010 Erik Simonson/www.pressure-drop.us

Despite its IOR roots, with a wide body and pinched ends, the bottom back end is quite flat and made for surfing. And it is a very wet ride. Kris continued with the sales pitch, "Ranger went out of business before they could really promote them. They wanted it to be the next J/24. Jeanneau built about 100 of them and you can order a brand new one from Lillia in Italy."

Building a new one and shipping it over doesn't seem very cost effective given all the new designs these days. But it might be fun.

See www.yra.org for results of the Second Half Opener. Go here for a gallery of photos from the mouth of the Estuary. See www.sfyc.org for more on the Midnight Moonlight Maritime Marathon. To learn about the Fun 23, see www.funclass.org.