Sideways Sadie

February 27, 2011

What's the difference between Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker? Sometimes it's about 30 seconds of spinnaker work. Such was the case on Saturday, when Island YC's Sadie Hawkins Race for women skippers was sailed on the Estuary in a nor'easterly. Usually the wind in the Estuary blows in from the Bay and travels down the waterway much like a yacht seeking her berth. Add to that some westerly side-blasters filtering through the buildings on the southwest shore, just to keep you on your toes. But on Saturday the wind was following the path of the land-mass storm that had graced San Francisco with snowflakes in the middle of the night. What racers got was a reach-reach instead of a windward-leeward, with bigger than usual puffs and wind shifts. The Race Committee called it 15 knots from the north.

Jan Brewer sailed the Martin 32 Solar Wind, pictured here on the first of three 'windward' legs. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

The J/105 Racer X, sailed by Mary McGrath, was the first spinnaker boat to pass the race dock at the finish. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

The Black Soo Mirage, helmed by Lori Condon, corrected out to first place in the Spinnaker Division. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Five boats sailed in the Spinnaker Division, and were blessed with only one brief spinnaker set before the wind clocked too far forward and they had to douse. Four more boats sailed in the Non-Spinnaker Division. Results are available on IYC's website, http://www.iyc.org.

The skippers were all given Sadie Hawkins mugs and top finishers also received bottles of wine. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

The Sadie Hawkins Race is the first event on the unofficial Women's Circuit, cooked up by Latitude 38 to encourage women sailors to take the helm on the race-course. The next event is Oakland YC's Rites of Spring on March 19, which features an all-women fully-crewed division. The final event is not until November 7, when Island YC hosts their Jack & Jill + 1 (Jill has to drive).

The view for boats returning to San Francisco after the post-race awards and Chowder Challenge. ©2011 norcalsailing.com