November 16, 2015

"Pleasant and lovely!" "A whole lot of fun!" These are just a couple of the comments heard at the Berkeley Yacht Club bar after Saturday's Midwinter race. Fifty-three yachts ranging from PHRF 36 through 273 competed in the inaugural race of the four-race 2015-16 BYC Midwinters. Along with two one designs — 17 Express 27s and eight (!) Cal 20s — there were four handicap divisions. The event started on time, and an 8-mile windward/leeward course with the wind coming from the magnetic west was chosen, and most managed to finish prior to the westerly shift. And all 53 boats finished.

The Express 27 Eagle on Saturday. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

On Sunday, November 15, the main news was the weather. Since any news of maybe seeing some rain is a BIG DEAL these days, the promise of same was repeated again and again in the media. National Weather Service was agog with warnings of wind and rain for days in advance. Small craft warnings were posted a day in advance and apparently had an effect on our Sunday fleet. We had no rain during the day, but we did indeed have the wind — 20 to 25 knots, in fact. And because of the overnight rain, the sky was super clear and colder than Saturday. The above-mentioned weather reports apparently convinced about 46% of the entrants to stay snug in bed.

The doublehanded Flying Tiger Wild 1 accidentally started five minutes early, with a pair of Santana 22s. They came back to start properly, and finished the division second behind the Moore 24 Sparrowhawk. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

The Sunday fleet is about half shorthanders. Twenty-two of the 43 entrants are either doublehanded or singlehanded. I would have surmised that this group would have the highest attrition, but I was wrong. More than 60% of the 23 starters were of this group. All had their hands full in the summer-like weather.

The singlehanded Pogo Libra, sporting the deepest reef of the fleet, emerges from the shadow of a cloud. Dianne (in the background), and other fully crewed Express 27s, flew a shy kite. ©2015 norcalsailing.com

The course Sunday was similar to Saturday, but all finished a bit faster. And there was only one DNF. Full results can be found at www.berkeleyyc.org. Congratulations to all.

— Bobbi Tosse, Berkeley Yachat Club