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Everyone had a great time at Richmond YC's Sportboat Invitational on October 10-12, except perhaps the tiny open fleet of two Antrim 27s and a Melges 24, which opted not to come back after three races in one day of losing to Ben Landon's Thompson 650 FlightRisk.
Two days of nice, windy, decently civilized racing in the East Bay was fun for locals and mildly discomforting to lake sailors. Thirteen Ultimate 20s were contesting their Pacific Coast Championship. Santa Cruz YC’s Bob Comstock sailing Ultimate Antics ran a clinic for four races, then encountered roll-over-play-dead control problems and faltered with a couple of third places. This opened things up for Chris Chambers' Black Sheep of the Northwest’s Sandpoint Sailing Association, which needed a win with one intervening boat to overcome Antics. "Chris might have been a smidgeon closer except for a blown tactical call," reports our source at RYC. "He was leading and controlling Antics 100 yards from the finish of race 3 when he jibed away early, didn’t fetch the line, and saw Antics get the bullet."
Ultimate Antics leads Black Sheep around a mark. ©2015 Richmond YC
On Monday, a long-distance race to Blackaller near the Golden Gate Bridge in predominantly light airs until just past Blunt should have been run on Saturday when there was wind. Getting to Angel Island tasted of midwinters sailing. Before the wind died in the channel, it was a nice spinnaker reach.
This was followed by a light air beat (dodging an inbound tanker) as the westerly slowly filled in all the way to the Cityfront in a dying flood.
O Lord thy tankers are so great and my little Ultimate didn’t get a chance to surf yon bow wake. ©2015 Richmond YC
Antics was leading the way as the first boat into the Angel Island's tide relief and no doubt would have won. Then they passed between the restricted Point Blunt and its buoy, tying themselves up in untieable string. Bob Comstock later withdrew from that race, but he still won — that score was his throw-out. On the leg home, Black Sheep, unlike most racers, opted for the Raccoon Strait, where they found too much ebb, not enough wind, inevitable death, and the solace of second place.
"The Open 5.70s raced the lowest-key Nationals ever run with only eight boats," observed our source at the club. Fred Bouju’s Ocealys2 dominated the regatta. Everyone else settled for going fast and getting wet. Boaty hooked the finish mark then wrapped it around their keel. They cut their way free and sailed back with the finish mark. You can watch the snafu and hear the commentary from the race committee here.
Breezy day two, screaming and planing in an Open 5.70. ©2015 Richmond YC
For complete results, see www.richmondyc.org.
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