April 7, 2014

Pat Broderick of the Wyliecat 30 Nancy reports on Saturday's Doublehanded Lightship Race:

Island Yacht Club's Doublehanded Lightship Race began on time at 0900 with very light NE wind wafting through the 30-boat fleet, which was divided into two starts. Nancy started in B division at 0910 on starboard tack, close to the temporary X buoy off Golden Gate YC, as Ross Bliven and I attempted to work our way out into the middle of the Bay. Like in the BAMA Doublehanded Farallones start however, the wind decided to move around, so we tacked, sailed toward Angel Island, tacked, and sailed toward Fort Point, all the while seeing boats in the A division begin to get into the westerly blowing under the Golden Gate Bridge. Ross is getting good at popping the Wyliecat's sail battens in near zero wind!

We finally got far enough out to catch the westerly and began pointing toward the North Tower as the hour-old 3.5-knot ebb pushed us along. By this time, however, many Division B boats were ahead, as they'd caught a patch of wind sooner. Once under the bridge, we began a series of long tacks, attempting to stay in the fastest ebb on our way to Point Bonita. Mostly being pushed along by the ebb, we could see larger sails further out heeling, so were confident there would be wind.

And there was! It was slow going through the mix of swells and chop beyond Bonita, but the wind steadily increased from a WNW direction in the low teens. Some boats went north and there were quite a few sails further south. We opted for a middle route, just north of the deep water channel, following the other Wyliecat 30, Dan Benjamin's Whirlwind which had gotten away before us in the first half hour's slog down to the Bridge.

Nathalie Criou's Express 27 Elise found the wind. ©2014 Jennifer McKenna

Seas were confused, and steering through the mixed swells and wind waves was difficult, especially as the wind increased further out. Eventually we were seeing mid-twenty-knot wind, with gusts into the high twenties. We stayed high on the Lightbucket, close reaching along at around 7 knots except when we ran into a wave or fell off the backside of a square swell. We began to pass some of the boats that had gotten away from us at the start, including the Moores and the Dogpatch 26 Moonshine – all of which we owed time to.

We reached down to the "SF" Buoy, rounding it with Tesa and behind Whirlwind by about 10 minutes. It was blowing 28 knots apparent, so the 'Wylie Jibe' was an event, with 40 feet of sheet whipping through the cockpit in one or two seconds!

Stephen Buckingham on the Black Soo Starbuck. ©2014 Jennifer McKenna

Once onto a port tack, we trimmed the sail, aimed for the Golden Gate Bridge, and began our wild ride back in, again just north of the deep water channel. There was enough form to the swells that we could catch and surge down many, but others were just too confused. The knotmeter registered a consistent 7+ with surges into the mid-teens. Wind remained in the low 20-knot range with higher gusts until almost Bonita.

Starbuck sets her sights on the Golden Gate Bridge. ©2014 Jennifer McKenna

Soon we noticed a parade of white Moore spinnakers to our north and behind us. It appeared their swells were more organized and they were enjoying "Moore" surfing than we were, leaving rooster tails as they chased each other and passed us. Bummer! But all swell fun has to end, and as we approached Pt. Bonita the wind backed off and we thought the seas calmed down. However, just for good measure, the Gulf of the Farallones provided us with one final reminder of who was boss. A stray swell slapped the quarter and filled the cockpit, dumping a gallon of water down my back – I'm the one who had his hood down because he thought he was almost home!

Ross Bliven aboard Nancy. ©2014 Pat Broderick

We had caught up with Whirlwind a bit, and judged that we were about five minutes behind when Dan decided to take a detour to the south side. We continued on the Marin side, sliding past Pt. Bonita. We noticed that the three Moores that had passed us were sailing across the middle, while several larger boats were hugging the headlands. Decision time. We decided to follow the Moores, so continued on a diagonal across from Pt. Bonita toward the South Tower. We began to lose about half a knot to the ebb, but had more wind than the boats that were up against the Marin cliffs. Dan, who sailed a longer route, got past the South Tower about five minutes ahead of us.

Once under the bridge, we called in and sailed through the StFYC J/Fest on our way to the finish line at GGYC. The Moores clearly finished ahead and we saw that Moonshine had also slipped past us. Double bummer! We finished at 4:24, three minutes behind Dan and seven or so minutes behind the Moores. Now, if those three Moores had had their own division like the Express 27s we'd have finished third, but instead settled for sixth. The bright spot was that we beat all the Division A boats on corrected time except for Greg Nelsen's Azzura 310 Outsider. One of the Moores Karl Robrock's Snafu, was the overall winner. For complete results, see www.iyc.org.

What started out as a sloooow race turned out to be fairly fast at around 4 hours and 24 minutes for the 25-mile course out and around the Lightship. It was a sunny, mostly windy, somewhat rough, cold-down-my-back racing day on the Gulf of the Farallones. IYC put on a good race. And, we even got to see a boat fire on the way back to Sausalito – a powerboat had caught on fire near Peninsula Point. The sun dried me out once I shed my foulies, and we listened to the Giants beat the Dodgers on the drive back to Santa Rosa. Life could be a lot worse. And just think, Pat Wertz and I get to do the same thing again in just two weeks, on the OYRA's Full Crew Lightship Race.

– Pat Broderick, Wyliecat 30 Nancy