September 8, 2014

Although Corinthian YC's Friday Night Races ended with the month of August, end-of-the-week racing continues into September on the northeast side of the Tiburon Peninsula.

Sausalito has its 'hurricane gulch'; Tiburon Yacht Club has two. The wind funnels down Ring Mountain, creating chilly, sustained gusts that tax the rigs, but not the wills, of the local casual racing crews. The other Hurricane Gulch is an aptly named boat, Richard Selmeier's C&C 33, a long-time regular at these races.

On the first Friday in September, the hurricane gulch effect was in full force, and no one opted to fly a spinnaker. (In many of TYC's casual races, skippers declare spinnaker or non-spinnaker when they check in.) Some reefed, and those who had a choice of headsails chose small ones. Nevertheless, a shroud blew on Bob Horton's Black Watch 37 Brigadoon before the start, forcing the lovely boat out of the game. The Nonsuch 30 broached, an unusual sight.

The windward mark. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

The fleet was split into two handicap divisions, with the faster boats starting first and sailing a longer, 4.3-mile course. The slower division got a short 2.4-mile upwind-downwind double-sausage which consisted of a one-tack beat, a jibe around the TYC mark and a fast reach. Ian Matthew's C&C 29 Siento el Viento reached the leeward mark first and tacked around it without stalling out in the strong flood current, getting back on the starboard beat without a pause, with Otto Schreier's pretty red Folkboat Galante in hot pursuit. The rest of the division parked at the leeward mark, fighting the current and losing ground to the other two. Siento lapped up the second half of the race, finishing first, but Galante corrected out to take first place.

Aboard Siento el Viento. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

Meanwhile, in the fast boats division, Mark Eastham's F-31 Ma's Rover, the only multihull in the race beat out Hurricane Gulch for first place. The exhilirating race was over quickly, and the crews rushed in to join a crowd of 100+ club-goers enjoying a feast of Indian food.

TYC's Friday Night Races conclude this Friday. A regatta of note coming up on their calendar on October 11 is the Joan Storer, a women skippers regatta in which only one man may be aboard – and he may not touch the helm! For more info, see www.tyc.org.