race report
| home contact us movies galleries stories store |
 In the battle of the Cal 20s, Just Em slipped ahead of Recluse at Elephant Rock in Sunday's Corinthian Midwinters. ©2014 norcalsailing.com |
|
The Bright Side of the Drought
January 20, 2014 Sometimes guilty pleasures come in the form of knowing that you should be worried, but you just can't help enjoying yourself. The California drought is now official, but in the wake of Jerry Brown's declaration came two of the finest days of sailing weather for the Corinthian Midwinters in recent memory. Yes, most competitors wished for more wind on Saturday, but on Sunday all were treated to a perfect 10-knot northerly in almost T-shirt and shorts conditions.
Saturday started out with a sighting of two whales in Raccoon Strait, within full view of the CYC clubhouse. Once the starts began out in the Knox area, the race committee sent the faster boats off across the Bay to Blossom Rock. This set up an interesting downwind/reaching start scenario in a light breeze to Little Harding as the first turning mark. In all the starts everyone behaved themselves graciously and quietly, even with the added distraction of setting chutes at the line and trying to get away smoothly.
Once out in the Bay the wind slowly died, and first a lingering flood then a building ebb conspired to keep the boats away from the leeward mark, the Blossom Rock buoy. Those who were able to make it around before the tide changed were treated to more breeze up the course and positive current to push them to Blossom Rock. Those who started later were treated to small puffs of air and a frustrating fight to Blossom.
The RC gave the slower boats a shorter course and kept them in the wind that never faded from the Knox area. Perhaps they saw what was going on to the south. As a result, Express 27s were rafted up outside of Cal 20s.
On Sunday morning the racers were greeted by a stronger northerly, while they enjoyed their Bloody Marys in the lee of the clubhouse on the sunny deck. The RC again chose downwind starts for the majority of the fleets, but this time it was across to Fort Mason for the leeward mark, a good test for the one design boats to see who's got the best boatspeed.
The later starters were given a classic Friday night course that again kept them closer to home. Then it was back to Belvedere Cove for everyone, with that ever-pesky Elephant Rock turning mark to negotiate before the finish off the CYC race deck. The breeze stayed steady under the warm blue skies. If it's not going to rain, we might as well enjoy it.
You can see results at www.cyc.org. The series concludes on February 15-16, including the Rob Moore Memorial Regatta (aka "Robgatta"), a fund-raiser for lung cancer research, on February 15. "We have a tremendous panel of speakers this year," says organizer Leslie Richter, "Stan Honey, John Craig, Kurt Jordan, and Dee Smith – and are hoping that our fundraising for lung cancer research meets our $50,000 goal."
|
