Elite Keel on Revenge from Mars

May 22, 2012

"What a great second Elite Keel Regatta for the San Francisco Open 5.70 fleet, which has grown to 13 boats this spring," said fleet captain Marc Finot. Ten Open 5.70s joined the other fleets on the Berkeley Circle last weekend, making them the second largest class after the Knarrs.

A new 5.70 owner, Dave Peckham wrote the following story about the race from their perspective on Revenge from Mars.

"The weekend was a phenomenal start to our racing in the fleet. Having only received the boat a couple weeks prior, we had little time for practice. And after a particularly bad Tuesday night beer can this week, we had planned on skipping Saturday's racing to just go practice our boat handling. However the mild weather forecast convinced us otherwise. (BTW, weatherman, 5-10 is not the same as 20-25!) So we joined the fleet for the first race.

"About 30 seconds into the first race, our main outhaul shackle pin broke. We scrambled for spare parts and put the mast ball bolt into new service and got back into the game, albeit more than five minutes later. We now have a spares bag with one of each shackle!

"Our second race was shaping up much better, and I think we won the start. But we misread the course and were heading for the far (red) marks, not the (near) yellow ones. As we were crossing the fleet on port, in pretty good position, we realized that they were on the yellow starboard layline and we were between the mark and the offset. So, we crossed the lineup, ducked back under and unwound, ending up in fifth. Race three was our best, with a second place leaving us in fourth overall.

"Sunday was another great day. The the strategy was to guard our two-point lead over Joe Wells on The Rooster (USA298), and if possible to steal some of Barry Demak's (Whale Tale USA290) four-point lead away from him. I think it was race four where we rounded the weather mark ahead of Joe and Barry. They were very close to each other and ended up harassing each other, which gave us space to lay a loose cover on them down to the leeward gates. That took two from Barry's lead.

"One memorable moment in race five was being a length ahead of Stephen Woodward at the helm of Frolic (USA208) entering the gate, then quickly seeing how easy it was to come out the other side four lengths behind. We also had the privilege of being close enough to Tom Baffico on The Maker (USA288) at one point on Sunday for him to give us a textbook lee bow. Well played, sir.

"Our 8-5-2-3-3 put us one point off the podium. It was a hell of a first outing, and I owe it all to my crew, Jen and Garret, who brought their "A" game into the regatta. Extraordinary effort in somewhat trying conditions.

"This fleet is just the friendliest and most helpful. Oh, and we've named the boat. Here's the back story.

"Our Express 27, Attack From Mars, was so named by her previous owner after a popular pinball machine. Turns out, there was a sequel to that game, Revenge from Mars. So, the sequel to our Express bears the name of the sequel to the game. Also, our sail number, 315 is the Ides of March (aka Ides of Mars)."

Attack from Mars and its sequel. ©2012 www.arcade-museum.com

"Tom Baffico and his star crew, Nick Burke and Synthia Petroka on The Maker (USA288) mastered the conditions and got five bullets," reported Marc. For the first two races, Marc's Frolic, with crew Stephen Woodward and Emma Yates, managed to stay close but never succeeded in closing the gap. With Marc at the helm on Saturday and Stephen on Sunday, they finished second with a consistent race (2-2-3-2-2). "The fleet is very thankful for this very well run regatta by the race committee from San Francisco Yacht Club," said Marc. "With the growing fleet, we can expect an even bigger event next year."

Tom Baffico, Nick Burke and Synthia Petroka on The Maker. ©2012 Marc Finot

Be sure to check out our previous report on the Elite Keel Regatta, and see full results at www.sfyc.org.