Wyliecat 30 Worlds

October 29, 2012

The Wyliecat 30 fleet used Richmond YC's Great Pumpkin Regatta as their 2012 World Championship. A record ten boats signed up, with nine sailing. The format was the same as in past years, with three buoy races and one distance race – in this case the Great Pumpkin pursuit race – where anything can happen. "The first day saw no dominant leader with a different winner in each race," reports Steve Wonner of Uno.

Left to right: John Tuma's Green Onions, Don Martin's Crinan II and Silkye on Saturday. ©2012 norcalsailing.com

"Saturday's weather was exceptional," observed Skip Allan, who crewed on Tom Patterson and Sue Estey's Dazzler, "clear with southwest winds 6 knots, building to 16-18 for the third race.

"With nine Wyliecats on the line, jockeying for position upwind and down highlighted the short windward/leeward/windward courses. It was a learning experience for me. The Wyliecats have powerful mains, capable of being tweaked to optimum shape. The mains are more like genoas, and you sheet the wishbone over the transom corner.

"The Wyliecats all have slightly different configurations. Outboards, inboards, no engines. Folding props, feathering props. Dacron mains, carbon mains, square top mains. Dry sailed, wet sailed. Though it was clear Silkye and Uno are the benchmarks of the class, the boats are very similar in speed, and time afloat 'shifting gears' is a key ingredient in getting up to speed.

"Through the whole afternoon I had much fun, with two memorable moments. The first was seeing Bandicoot going upwind and crossing tacks with Uno, with Al Germain sailing singlehanded and steering Bandicoot from the cockpit seat. Uno had four big boys on the rail. Gotta love that.

"The other visual was being in the middle of seven Wyliecats coming into the leeward mark together during the second race. The wind was 15 knots, and with 24-ft wishbone booms, the side-to-side 'footprint' of these boats is about 40-ft from port jibe to starboard. Being on the outside at the turn definitely puts you in the slow lane. There was some animated discussion, some creative boat handling. But in the end everyone got around the pinwheel with no contact."

At the end of the day, Steve Seal's Silkye was in first place with 9 points and Uno, Dazzler, and Margay were all within 3 points. "There were any number of possible scenarios," said Steve Wonner, "but it looked like the boat that won the pursuit race on Sunday would likely win the Championship. After a two-hour start delay we had decent wind (if you went clockwise, that is) and the race was off, featuring lead changes, big current, wind shifts and holes." By the time it was over, Uno took line honors to tie Silkye, but won the tiebreaker with two firsts. Dazzler came in third.