Doublehanded Lightship

March 27, 2012

Saturday's Doublehanded Lightship Race, a fund-raiser for United Cerebral Palsy, was sailed on a cold, rainy day that happily ended with all boats accounted for. Dawn Chesney of Island YC reported that this year's race had 36 boats entered, five finishers, five no-shows, and 26 DNFs. "This was due to light wind, cold weather and consistent rain," explained Dawn. All finishers were in division A, PHRF <100.

Starters in the light air DHLS, left to right: French Kiss, Domino, Green Buffalo, Loya, and Rainbow. ©2012 Deborah Fehr

The race started at 0900, and the first boat retired a little after 1000, an indication of what was to come. Buzz Blackett's Antrim Class 40 California Condor crossed the line second but corrected out to first overall. On corrected time, Rufus Sjoberg's 11:Metre Rufless was second, third Alex Mehrain Jr.'s Open 50 Truth, fourth was Dan Alvarez on the JS9000 JetStream, and fifth was Zhenya Kirueshkin-Stepanoff's Hobie 33 Akyla, which finished at 15:46:39.

Shawn Waldowski's Express 27 Ranger, and Richard Von Ehrenkrook's Cal 20 Can O'Whoopass. The race is a 'counter' in the Express 27 Long Distance Series, and 10 of them signed up. ©2012 Deborah Fehr

"All boats had finished or retired when Akyla crossed," said Dawn, "except for Wetsu, the Express 27 skippered by Phil Krasner and crewed by Steve McCarthy. We anticipated they would cross the finish line and win the Express 27 division, as all the other boats in their division had retired."

Two hours passed, and the race committee became concerned. "Assuming the benign conditions remained relatively the same and calculating time based on PHRF ratings, Wetsu should have finished within an hour of Akyla. Wetsu, which has won the DHLS race previously, is a well-sailed boat with very experienced skipper and crew; so our gut said they were fine. These two die-hard racers, who we know well, just hate to quit or put the engine on. Two of the IYC race committee drove to the Marin Headlands to try and establish radio contact and/or visual observation."

They were unsuccessful in communicating with Wetsu via radio or cell phone and couldn't spot them, even while stationed at the Marin Headlands. "IYC race committee contacted the Coast Guard at 1800 hours, even though race cutoff was 1900 hours," said Dawn. "We had very mixed feelings about calling them," said Race Chair John New.

The Coast Guard tried to raise Wetsu on the radio unsuccessfully several times on both VHF 16 and and the race channel, 66. Then they put out a pan pan for Wetsu. The Coast Guard called John New and told him they were preparing to send a boat out.

Shortly thereafter, the tugboat Delta Katherine, which was on the south side of the channel west of the Golden Gate, established radio contact with Wetsu. The RC could hear the vessel Delta Katherine, but not Wetsu. Wetsu could hear Delta Katherine, but not RC. "Around 1900 hours we learned Wetsu was two miles north of Pt. Bonita. Phil and Steve were just fine and continuing to sail even though they said they had a working engine onboard. Phil called the race committee via cell phone shortly after 1900 and said they were out for a nice sail, they were fine and planned to sail home."

Vessel traffic picked up the Express on radar, and kept track of them via radar until they were back in Richmond.

"IYC offers heartfelt thanks to the Coast Guard, Vessel Traffic and the crew of Delta Katherine for their capable, timely, persistent and professional assistance," wrote Dawn. "While we wish more race boats had finished the race, we are thrilled all vessels returned home safely."

When the preliminary results were first posted, California Condor was listed as DNS due to no radio check-in. However, there was enough question in the minds of the race deck volunteers, and other racers corroborated hearing Condor check in, so the results were changed to reflect their finish. See www.iyc.org/racing.html.