Northern Star

August 15, 2010

The secret to connecting with others to go sailing is that you need owners and skippers who want to share their love of sailing. That's half the equation. The other half is that you need a way to connect with them. That's what the Got Wind and Water site does. It provides the connection.

We are fortunate to have owners and skippers in our midst. Aaron Kennedy of the Beneteau First 36.7 Ay Caliente! is one such individual. He's invited some Got Wind and Water members to do the 2010 OYRA Northern Star race with him.

Crew work aboard Ay Caliente!. ©2010 Tracy O'Neill

You spend 10 hours, traveling from Richmond Yacht Club to Golden Gate Yacht Club, out to the Northern Approach Buoy and back. It's a relatively slow ride with a calm ocean, deary overcast skies. As you leave the Bay and enter the ocean, the fog burns back to the coast, but doesn't make it out to where you are. Outside you are scanning the water for every hint of pressure and direction. Five knots here, 10 knots there - you're searching for the shifts, with the fleet spread out over miles of ocean. Looking back, sunny skies light up the Marin Headlands and provide a glimpse of what you'll experience on your return.

The Ay Caliente! crew check on their competition. ©2010 Got Wind and Water

Five boats are racing in your division, but you know there is only one you'll have to beat: Ohana, an older Beneteau 45f5, with their brand new spinnaker. As you pass under the Golden Gate Bridge, you know you have them on corrected time. Can you beat them boat for boat? The last 20 minutes are a drag race as the wind builds to 29 knots. Ay Caliente! is slightly slower but is in front. Good times! As the boats cross the finish line, the gun goes off, and it really doesn't matter what the outcome was. The memories of those last 20 minutes of adrenaline are much more important.

- John Cabrall, Got Wind and Water

Ohana got closer, but not close enough. Nice spinnaker! ©2010 Got Wind and Water

Ay Caliente! won their division, PHRO 3. Got Wind and Water is a meetup.com group. See www.gotwaw.com/calendar/14419672 for more, and go to www.yra.org for complete results from the race. Additional photos can be viewed at www.gotwaw.com/photos/1023914/17202331.