March 18, 2014

Sequoia Yacht Club held the final race in the 2014 Winter Series combined with the annual St. Patrick's Day Race on Saturday, March 15. It may have been the Irish whiskey waiting for the division winners or the great weather, as 22 boats crossed the start line, 13 in the spinnaker division and 9 in the non-spinnaker division to make this the biggest race in the series.

The skies were clear and the wind predictions were questionable, but 8-10 knots of fairly consistent breeze covered the course. This combined with flat water due to slack tide at the start made for a great day, so an 8.04-mile course was selected. With this many boats all wanting to have a great start, the line was quite crowed at the favored end with a wee bit of yelling – once again this was racing for a bottle Irish whiskey.

Quickly the fleet spread out for a long beat to Mark B at the San Mateo Bridge. This long leg took its toll on those crews whose tactics were not quite right or had the misfortune to being distracted by the cannon fire between the tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain, which were visiting the South Bay. With the winds coming more from the west than usual the leg from Mark B to Mark X along the bridge causeway was downwind with many of the spinnaker division boats hoisting their kites for what turned out to be the first of three connected spinnaker legs.

The beautiful ketch Hawaiian Chieftain was among the distractions on the South Bay Saturday. ©2014 Tom Fedyna

The sail from Mark X to Mark 12 and then on to Mark Y was where the sportboats left the fleet behind and the remainder of the fleet spread out to find the best angle to the last mark. At Mark Y a good number of boats converged from several directions to make the rounding exciting before turning on to the final leg on a close reach for the finish between Marks 3 and 4.

For the St. Patrick's Day Race and Winter #5 congratulations in the non-spinnaker division go to Pole Cat, Dan Doud's Wyliecat 30, for taking first place; Metridium, John Graves' Catalina 42, for taking second; and Iowa, Rick Dalton's Hunter 380, for taking third. In the spinnaker division Frequent Flyer, Stan Phillips' Farr 30, took first place; Daredevil, Tim Anto's Melges 24 for took second; and Head Rush, Peter Weigt's Antrim 27 for came in third.

The crew of Mark Bettis' J/29 Smokin' J. ©2014 Tom Fedyna

For the Winter Series, congratulations in the non-spinnaker division go to first place Pole Cat; second Ohana, Dan Lockwood's Catalina 36 MkII; and third Iowa. In the spinnaker division, first place goes to Head Rush; second to Relentless, Tracy Rogers' J/92; and third to Smokin J, Mark Bettis' J/29. The Winter Series consists of five races with one throw out. Race results and series results are posted at www.sequoiayc.org.

– Richard Butts, Winter Series Fleet Captain, Sequoia YC

Moon over the San Mateo Bridge. ©2014 Tom Fedyna