Wyliecat 30 Intergalactics

October 26, 2010

Steve Wonner reports on last weekend's Wyliecat 30 world championship regatta:

On Saturday morning my inbox showed three of the nine competitors not sailing due to crew and/or weather concerns. So we were down to six. The weather forecast called for a southerly with rain showers. It was accurate.

Bren Meyer and my son Casey served as race committee in Andy Hall's Whaler with marks, ground tackle and flags supplied by the Island Yacht Club. There was lots of lump in the South Bay with the last of the flood meeting the south wind. The first two buoy races went off well, although the RC had some trouble with marks and the committee boat dragging their anchors.

Uno won the first two races with Life Is Good second in both. Silkye was third in the first race, and Katzenjammer took third in the second. The third race was a short weather leg, then to pier "E" of the Bay Bridge, then to Blossom Rock buoy and back to finish off Alameda NAS. The rain and four-knot ebb were well established by then, and the speedy parade to Blossom Rock saw nine+ knot speed over the bottom. After rounding Blossom, the speed over the bottom fell to 3.5 knots for the beat to the finish.

It was great racing with four of the six short-tacking Yerba Buena, changing the lead and calling for sea room. It was quite a sight to see the water create a mist as it flew off the leech of the sails as everyone tacked simultaneously. The fleet finally made it under the bridge just in time to encounter an incoming container ship. The first three boats were able to keep sailing and clear the channel, but Katzenjammer had to bear off and then jibe to clear, giving up some hard-earned gains to the current. Mercifully, the race ended after two and a half hours with Uno winning, overlapped with Silkye. Life is Good was close behind in third.

We sailed on to Andy Hall's house in Ballena Bay, got into some dry clothes, and enjoyed Elise Hall's hospitality along with appetizers and beverages provided by the fleet. Tom Wylie joined us and held court. He's a real gentleman and true talent in the industry. The group concensus was to abandon Sunday's race since the forecast was for even more rain and high winds. I guess we've become "sailors of a certain age." Looking out my window on Sunday, it was the right call.

We were happy to keep the trophy on Uno with the harem crew of Karen Flick, Leslie McCord and Bernadette O'Connell. We were disappointed that the fleet was small, and the weather caused us to abandon one race. We're looking forward to better participation and good weather next year.

Results: 1. Uno, 3pts; 2. Life Is Good, 7pts; 3. Silkye, 9pts; 4. Katzenjammer, 11pts; 5. Lottatude, 16pts; 6. Crinan II, 17pts.

- Steve Wonner, 'Uno'