OYRA Lightship 1

April 24, 2011

Pat Broderick, sailing his Wyliecat 30 Nancy in the OYRA's 10-boat Short Handed Division, reports on Saturday's Lightship 1:

The wind was a mix of light and moderate. The initial problem was that massive flood along the Cityfront while it was ebbing strongly out in the middle. Same scenario as the BAMA Doublehanded Farallones Race, only there was no relief along the sea wall today. The flood seemed to get wider very rapidly during the starting sequence. Boats that tacked over to port too soon struggled to make 'A' (the starting mark in front of the St. Francis YC), and some had to tack back onto starboard. It took the division ahead of me a long time to clear the line and I still had to dodge several of them. I started about the middle of the line and I think the boats at the pin probably had more lingering starters than I encountered.

I stayed on starboard almost down to Anita Rock.

Once I got out in the stream it was a conveyer belt down to the bridge. I was under the bridge in 23 minutes on one port tack, including the slow stuff.

The wind was coming directly from the Lightbucket on the way out. There was a three-way split after Bonita. I, along with a few others, went the northern route. Quite a few boats sailed right out the shipping channel. And, some went very far south - Green Buffalo was one of those.

Jim Quanci's fully crewed Cal 40 Green Buffalo, pictured here on the run back in. ©2011 Erik Simonson/www.h2oshots.com

I think the boats that went out the channel won out, followed by the southern boats. I think most of the first two - fast - starts did the channel.

We "northerners" probably fared worse than they did, but the results will show that. I thought the wind would clock around, but it stayed pretty much out of the southwest all day. My tacks to the south were 120º all the way out.

I had apparent wind ranging from around three knots to as much as 12 or even 15 now and then on the way out. It seemed to die the further out we got, and was very light when I was at the buoy.

On the way back in, it built as I got closer, but then tapered off again about the end of the channel buoys. I elected to go up the middle since it was flooding and I was getting a 2+ knot or so boost. I had to move over to the south since a ship was coming in, and I noticed the speed differential went down until I was able to get back over toward the middle.

As usual, the wind built back up as I approached the bridge, and inside it was about 12 knots. The roughest wave action was near the South Tower, right under the bridge. Three-foot wavelets were popping up. The boat got wetter there than anywhere else on the course.

The ebb was particularly strong, I think. The waverider buoy out near shipping channel markers #3 and #4 showed a strong ebb as I sailed past it. I was surprised. There was a fairly strong south to north current at the Lightbucket - I had to take a short hike to get around it.

All in all, it was a grand day out there. Pretty flat seas, okay wind, and it wasn't too cold. A big change from the BAMA Saturday for sure.

- Pat Broderick, Wyliecat 30 Nancy

We expect that results will be posted on the YRA website Monday morning.