November 10, 2014

It was a tale of opposites for the first weekend of the Berkeley Midwinters – one day warm and sunny with a light breeze and the next day cold and foggy with a big breeze. Saturday started with just a little bit of fog near the Golden Gate Bridge and a nice 8-knot northwesterly that was enough to send all the boats off the starting line on time. All divisions sailed drop mark windward-leeward courses.

The Express 27s had a one design fleet in the Midwinters both days last weekend. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

The Olson 911S Elusive, one of five SF Bay 30s that raced. They'd hoped for their own division on Saturday, but were mixed into PHRF 3. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

The sun was shining bright, the tiny bit of fog cleared, and by 1300 the wind had built to 10 knots with a steady northwest angle. It was about as perfect as predicted.

The crew on Henry King's Frers 40 Jeannette. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

The weather predictions for Sunday were for more of the same, but maybe even a little lighter breeze so everyone was prepared for another fine fall day on the Bay. But wait – what's that? Some noticed the rather large fog bank hovering around the Golden Gate Bridge just before the first start and wondered aloud if it meant more wind, not less. It meant more.

Division 2 start on Sunday. The pin end is XOC, the center of the (former) Olympic Circle. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

This year, some members of the Singlehanded Sailing Society got the word out that the BYC Midwinters have a shorthanded division on Sunday, and 16 boats showed up to sail singlehanded or doublehanded in two PHRF divisions. They would be mixing it up around the marks with the crewed boats and it's hard enough to stay out of trouble on the usual SSS long distance races, but with five knots of breeze predicted it seemed like a good idea and a fun way to spend the day.

They must be mad! The ladies on the Santana 22 Mad Max flew a spinnaker in the high-wind conditions. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

By 1300, an hour after the first start, the fog rolled in obscuring the marks and committee boat and a full-on summer westerly hit 20 knots, building up a nasty chop. Everyone behaved themselves, with no crashes on the busy Olympic Circle and with only a few drop-outs on the cold, blustery day.

Because of the weather prediction, most of the shorthanded boats were stuck with their big jibs up (with no crew aboard to change down), and none of them flew their kites on the second run. In fact a lot were out of control at some point of the racing. "I knew it might be windy as soon as I put on the big jib on before leaving the dock," said singlehander Bob Johnston of the J/92 Ragtime! Maybe the weather forecasters should call him next time before posting the prediction.

The ghost of Ragtime! As the fog moved east, it became a challenge to see the competition, let alone the marks. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

For results, see www.berkeleyyc.org. The next weekend in the series will be December 13-14.