Cats Descend on SF Bay

June 12, 2011

The excitement builds on San Francisco Bay - finally - the fast and sporty catamarans arrived! We visited these athletic sailors in their hastily erected village on Friday, when they were anticipating the next day, when the world would get to watch them test each other on our home waters - it's the Hobie Cat Division 3 Regatta!

Friday night protein-loading with Jason Moore (who'll be sailing in the Alter Cup next weekend), Mark Sailer, and Brett Peterson. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Hobie Village at Clipper Yacht Harbor in Sausalito on Saturday morning. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Fleet 281, based in Santa Rosa, and Sausalito YC hosted the entire Division 3 (Northern California) for two days of what turned out to be wild and windy sailing, capsizing, recovery, and sail repair on the Knox racing area. The first race on Saturday was sailing in light and fluky wind. The breeze went especially light right at the leeward gate, causing several competitors to bump into the inflatable mark, necessitating an extra tack and jibe for exoneration.

Rafi Yahalom's Hobie 20 playing with fire on the north gate mark. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

The view from the top. Of Blair and Sasha Wallace's Hobie 18, which came down from Tahoe City. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Colorful sails on SF Bay as the Hobie 16s start the first race. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Sling Shot, a Hobie Tiger. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Cats littered the Bay this weekend. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

The race committee aboard Mercury would soon have their hands full. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

The wind started to pick up after the first race on Saturday. Soon it would be nukin'. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Shortly after these photos were taken and the first race ended, all hell broke loose. PRO Jeff Zarwell commented, "We had carnage so bad on Saturday that I had to call in boats from San Francisco and St. Francis Yacht Clubs to help. Some boats capsized three or four times. There were no injuries, except to sails. On Sunday Charles Froeb's new Wild Cat broke her mast." It was the first regatta for the boat.

Charles Froeb's Wild Cat, of the above-mentioned wave-piercing bows. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Only one boat finished the second race, Tim and Jane Parsons' Hobie 20 Carpe Diem. After cleaning up the Bay, the RC canceled the third race.

Carpe Diem came in second in Hobie 20s. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Racing on Sunday, sailors observed that the lulls were longer, but the puffs were just as big as on Saturday. Rather than holding the single race Bay Tour as planned in the sailing instructions, the RC made up for Saturday by holding three short races. "Sunday the water was much flatter," said Jeff, "with maybe 20 knots of wind."

Hobie 20 racer Steve Reese said that four Hobie 20s had damaged or ruined sails on Saturday. "Sunday was a normal Bay day, gusty, from the right direction."

Steve Reese's Hobie 20 Addiction. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

At the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon at Sausalito YC, staff commodore Tim Prouty said, "We do this all the time - and it was gnarly yesterday!" The first award went to Steve Reese's Hobie 20, for fourth place. Someone in the crowd called out, "You stayed upright!" Steve replied, "No, we're just really good at righting!" Orange beach towels were handed out to the top finishers.

For more on Hobie Cat Division 3, see www.div3.hobieclass.com. The division's next regatta is July 9-10 at Crown Beach, Alameda, and includes the Round Treasure Island Regatta, but the class's next big regatta is the U.S. Multihull Championship for the Hobie Alter Cup, on June 15-18 in Long Beach.

Special thanks to the Wallaces for allowing us to attach a camera to the top of their mainsail headboard. The mud came out fine.