February 10, 2014

RegattaPRO's Winter One Design, scheduled to wrap up on Saturday west of the Berkeley Circle, was cancelled. "Sorry everyone," said Jeff Zarwell, "but NOAA issued a forecast with wind to 25 knots, gusts to 30 out of the south and 2 or more inches of rain. I don't mind the rain and I'm marginal on the wind if it were from any other direction. Given our location on the Bay, a southerly with that much wind will bring an unsafe fetch. Live to fight another day. Sit by the fire and enjoy the storm." We wondered about a make-up race. "We'll shoot for the 22nd," said Jeff.

Lest anyone think that Zarwell may have been too cautious abandoning Saturday's races on Friday night: "I went to the venue today to fly the 'N' flag for those who may not have received notice of the abandonment (surprisingly there were several). In the photo, the bottom right is the maximum wind speed. Notice that it hit just over 46 knots or 53 mph."

The Max True Wind Speed on Sausalito YC's committee boat Mercury read 46.8 knots on the RegattaPRO race area Saturday. ©2014 Jeff Zarwell

Meanwhile, over on the east side of the Berkeley Circle, Berkeley YC proceded with the weekend's races. Bobbi Tosse reports.

Saturday: Finally, we got some wind! And with it, the desperately desired rain. And there was drama (a man overboard; see 'Lectronic Latitude). But perhaps best of all, a couple of young sea lions came to the start line and had a ball leaping in the waves, turning flips and entertaining the soggy Race Committee.

Of the 67 entrants, 33 showed up. Due to the drama mentioned above, 31 actually started. (Both Phantom, John Gulliford’s J/24 from where crew Steve Bayles left to go swimming and Wetsu, Phil Kramer’s Express 27 where Steve went to get dry went back to port before the race started.)

The wind was essentially SE at about 15+ knots and an 8.0 course to “D” was chosen. The wind promptly veered to the right and the planned windward/leeward legs became more ‘reachy’. Thus, the race was pretty fast and since the rain never really let up at all, there were no complaints. At least, I didn’t hear of any.

Aboard Richard VonEhrenkrook's Cal 20 Can O'Whoopass, which won the Cal 20 division, crew Paul Sutchek said they saw 40 knots of wind hit 9.7 knots with main and jib only.

Bobbi describes Sunday's race: I know we need rain, but a break would have been welcomed. The wind was lighter than Saturday, but the rain was much heavier. Only 20 boats of the 42 in six divisions were logged in prior to the start, so we decided to combine some starts. And, responding to some of the verbal requests, we chose a short 5.2 mile course. There was enough wind, so we were all on our way back to dry land before 1400 hours where we vainly strove to get warm and dry.

On this subject of trying to stay dry: This weekend presented us with an excellent opportunity to test various brands of foul weather gear. I am here to report: New stuff keeps a person dryer than old stuff – no matter what brand.  I am now shopping.

Sunday, February 23 will be the conclusion of the BYC 2013-14 Midwinters. Only trophy winners will be invited to that race. All the first place winners of both days will race against each other in a single division. All of the second place winners will race in Division 2 and all of the third place winners will be together. Thus we will end up with a Champion of Champions (the first placers) and first of seconds and a first of thirds. We have a couple of duplicate. In the Olson 30s, Hoot managed a first for both Saturday and Sunday, so Yankee Air Pirate will be invited to try again and start with all the other firsts.  Similarly, Motorcycle Irene dominated the Express 27 fleet both days, so we will invite Libra to try again for the first. Watch the www.berkeleyyc.org for Sailing Instructions and entry list for the Champion of Champion/Winners Race. Trophies for the series and the day will be awarded around 1700 hours at Berkeley YC.

Gary Proctor's C&C 30 Meritime takes a gust. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

Over at Tiburon YC on Saturday, the seas were looking flatter than expected, but fog sat low on the water, reducing visibility substantially, and the wind came in gusts. Although the Race Committee didn't cancel, only two boats showed up. Gary Proctor's C&C 30 Meritime came all the way from Richmond to sail in Division 2. He declared non-spinnaker at check-in. Ian Matthew's C&C 29, Siento el Viento, went out to race in Division 1. At first Ian wanted to cancel the race, but Gary pointed out that they had a nice little breeze. "I sailed over by myself and I'm ready to go," he said. Ian suggested a shortened course of start-TYC buoy-finish, about a mile and a quarter. They agreed, and started together. Siento sailed with a reefed main, and Meritime with a partially rolled-up genoa. An observer called it "the battle of the C&Cs."

And so begins the battle of the C&Cs. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

Thus, they notched a first place score in their divisions for the first race of the series, a just reward for going out to race in the heavy rain. See www.tyc.org for more info.

New TYC race co-chair Jim Bliss was flying solo. ©2014 norcalsailing.com