April 13, 2015

Island Yacht Club's Doublehanded Lightship Race was 'light' in both entries (16) and early wind. But the competition made up for the low number of boats, and the wind arrived to make it a wonderful romp across the Gulf of the Farallones to the 'Lightbucket' and back. Four boats showed up for the A Division and 10 boats for B, plus one multihull, the ProSail 40 Shadow.

Whirlwind, Green Buffalo and Snafu, on the beat out. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

Aided by the 3-knot ebb exactly at the start time, all the boats flopped over onto port and headed for midstream and the Golden Gate Bridge. The trip to the bridge took about 15 minutes, even though wind speeds were in the single digits. Once under the bridge the funneled wind speed picked up and the 'fun factor' was deciding about whether to follow the wind or the current. This split the fleets, with a few boats heading for Mile Rocks, some tacking down the middle, and some favoring the Marin side. Most arrived at Land's End about the same time!

On the way out to sea, at the Marin Headlands. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

Once the racers cleared Land's End, wind speeds dropped dramatically, with the wind coming directly from the Lightship vicinity. About two miles out, the wind clocked around to the northwest and picked up into the low teens, which made fetching the SF buoy on one long tack possible — right down the middle of the entrance channel. Only one ship came in through the channel, so it was pretty much free sailing. The last half mile was a reach, and after rounding the buoy boats heading directly back to the Golden Gate found themselves on another reach, which made hoisting chutes difficult.

Mirthmaker, Kirk Denebeim's Archambault 35. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

Among the 10 boats in Division B, only the three Moore 24s opted to get their chutes up immediately, and after lots of difficulty keeping them filled, they opted for a southerly course, headed for Seal Rocks. The rest of Division B continued reaching. Wind speeds picked up, with some boats showing 20 knots apparent on their anemometers.

Shadow finished first, the cat having lapped up the course in slightly more than three hours. The Antrim Class 40 California Condor came in next, but Greg Nelsen's Azzura 310 Outsider corrected out to first in Division A.

Hillary Johnson, catching a swell on Nancy. ©2015 Pat Broderick

The two Wyliecat 30s and the Cal 40 Green Buffalo continued reaching all the way to Pt. Bonita, while the rest of the boats eventually decided on chutes and Mile Rocks. The split worked for the Moores, which cleaned up, scoring 1, 2, 3 at the finish, with White Trash the leader. Fourth was the Wyliecat 30 Whirlwind and then, for the most exciting part of the day, a drag race to the finish between the Express 27 Wetsu and the Wyliecat Nancy, with Nancy eking out a 5-second 'win' at the finish line.

For complete results, see www.iyc.org.

— Pat Broderick & norcalsailing.com