October 22, 2014

It almost didn’t happen. There was so little breeze for such a long period of time. But the promised rain never appeared, the sun was warm, the sandwiches were tasty, and the company was congenial. So, we waited.
The event was the YRA Fall Championships. Eligibility to contend was having 'trophied' in any YRA race during the spring and summer of 2014.  Thus, in anticipation of an 11:00 start and up to three races, 18 boats divided into two divisions gathered at the location of where buoy FOC was supposed to be. After an emergency phone call, a temporary buoy was dashed to the area and set in the proper location. A mere two hours later, a small breeze appeared, and, at 13:15 and 13:20, Race 1 was started. A very short course of only 5.2 miles was chosen. And then the little breeze faded. Since it didn’t go completely away, the fleet was given a great opportunity to practice their light air skills. It took so long to do this one race, that there was no Race 2 or 3.

PHRF 1, with a rating spread of -15 to 120 was won by John Clauser’s 1D48 Bodacious+.  In second place by a mere two minutes and 20 seconds was Carl Gish’s Beneteau First 36.7 Pressure Drop and third was taken by Mark Kennedy on his Flying Tiger 10 Centomiglia.

PHRF 2, boats rated 123 and higher, was dominated by the slower-rated boats. A slightly more energetic breeze started filling in as this division began finishing. First went to Richard vonEhrenkrook’s Cal 20 Can O'Whoopass.  Close on his heels (1 minute, 26 seconds) was Anna Alderkamp’s Santana 22 Byte Size. Garth Copenhaver on his Santana 22 Oreo grabbed third only 42 seconds later. Full results can be found at www.yra.org.

Simultaneously, from the small buoy 'BYC' located near the Berkeley Yacht Club, BYC ran the seventh annual Oktoberfest pursuit race. With starts ranging from 12:04:31 through 12:38:25 in very light wind, the 15 entrants made their way through the Farr 40 Worlds fleet of 19 boats and their gazillion Protectors to go around Alcatraz (port or starboard – skipper’s choice) and finish off the deck of the club.

This event was won by Bob Harford’s Express 37 Stewball. Second place went to Gael Simon in his X-402 Gravlax and third went to Darren Cumming on his J/24 Downtown Uproar. This race also offered a separate non-spinnaker scoring, and the first of this division was won by Tyler Baron in a chartered Dufour 36, D’uphoria.  Full results can be found at www.berkeleyyc.org/racing.

The fun didn’t stop at the water’s edge. Each finisher was greeted by the Oktoberfest accordion player on the deck. The evening continued with beer tasting, German food, and Bavarian dancers entertaining all comers.

– Bobbi Tosse, Berkeley Yacht Club