February 24, 2014

At last! After four months and 40 minutes the “normal” westerly showed up on the Berkeley Circle. Twenty-three of the 32 winners showed up to try and determine who was the fastest of them all. At 1300 hours, the appointed hour of the start, the wind had yet to appear. But after a mere 40 minutes a nice westerly filled in. In fact, the nice westerly continued to build and was chased in by a fog bank. Truly, it seemed almost like summer!

The Red division, the collection of all the firsts of the previous four-month Midwinter Series, was won by the defending champion, Motorcycle Irene, Will Paxton and Zachary Anderson’s Express 27. It was close, though. In second, Michael Whitfield with his J/24 TMC Racing is still looking around for a piddly 7 seconds, and third place Ypso, Tim Stapleton’s Cal 2-27, needed only 13 seconds to take the first. In fact, only 2 minutes and 2 seconds separate the top six finishers. Yeah for the local PHRF committee!

A smiling Zach Anderson and crew Angie Liebert. Will missed the fun. ©2014 Berkeley Yacht Club

The Blue division, a collection of all of the second place winners, was won by John Schoenecker’s Olson 911S Elusive. The second place was close – with only 40 seconds to find. James Snow of Racoon, a Cal 20, claims this place, while John Liebenberg on his Antrim 27 Always Friday had to be content with third. These three boats have an almost 200 seconds/mile handicap spread.

The White division, a collection of all the third place winners, was won by Ragtime, Trig Liljestrand’s J/90, followed by Tony Chargin’s Moore 24 Twoirrational and then Steve Katzman’s Express 27 Dianne.

Full results are up at www.berkeleyyc.org. For the next two weeks, unclaimed trophies may be claimed from the office downstairs at Berkeley Yacht Club. The office hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 to 15:00.

– Bobbi Tosse, a BYC race person