Foggy Sailing in the RegattaPRO Winter Series

December 13, 2010

Jeff Zarwell filed this report on Saturday's one design racing west of the Berkeley Circle:

The weather experts gave us a forecast of west winds 5-10 kts for Saturday's race, with partly cloudy skies. Upon arrival we saw pretty much nothing but mid level fog and 5-8 kts of wind out of the NNW swinging 305 to 320, with it tending to hover right around 310.

PRO Jeff Zarwell looks for the wind direction. ©2010norcalsailing.com

Fortunately the breeze held throughout the day, but the fog dropped around 2:00 p.m. and made finding the finish line a challenge for some.

Adam Spiegel's J/105 Jam Session, one of 15 in their class. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

The J/105 Roxanne at one point actually began sailing backwards at one point, frustrated with their upwind performance only to find a huge clump of the oh so scarce, endangered species Eel Grass. Once that was removed, their speed improved greatly, but the damage was done.

Weight to leeward on John Liebenberg's Antrim 27 Always Friday. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

The J/120, J/105, Melges 24 and Antrim 27 fleets sailed two four-mile courses, while the Moore 24 and J/24 fleets sailed two 3.2-mile courses.

Mako and some sister Melges 24s coast toward the start line. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

Style points go to Mr. Magoo (see photo at the top of the page), sporting a candy cane boom and sprit, red kite (borrowed from Twist) to go with their green hull, everyone onboard wearing Santa caps, and stockings for each crew hanging off the stern rail.

Holiday wishes to all. See you next year!

- Jeff Zarwell, Principal Race Officer, RegattaPRO

Get results and more information at www.regattapro.com.