Big Daddy Sees Little Breeze

Warm temperatures and light breeze had some observers wondering if any boats would start this year’s Big Daddy Regatta, hosted by Richmond YC. Yet, despite the challenging conditions, race organizers did their best to get boats around the courses.

Saturday’s racing took place on two courses between the Berkeley Pier and Southampton Shoal. Traditionally, three races are held on each of the courses. Unfortunately, conditions were such that only two races could be run on two of the courses. The course for the deep-draft boats had the least amount of wind, scuttling any racing for the PHRF A-E and the SF Bay 30 fleets, despite an optimistic starting gun for a few of the fleets.

Sunday’s pursuit race around Angel and Alcatraz Islands — in either direction — proved challenging as well. The strong ebb brought counterclockwise competitors through Raccoon Strait with a light northerly and a good ebb. Getting around Alcatraz proved more challenging, though.

John Clauser’s Bodacious+ crew decided that if they could fly a kite from the start to Alcatraz, clockwise was the direction of the day. John also reckoned that once they got up to Raccoon Strait the adverse ebb would diminish, which it did. Inside the strait, John saw close competition between his boat, David Rasmussen’s Sapphire and Kame Richards’ Golden Moon. Instead of hugging Angel Island’s beaches for current relief, he went for more breeze in the middle and found beneficial current on the Marin shore. The same northerly that filled in for two of the courses on Saturday held Sunday afternoon and, with a code zero flying, Bodacious+ sailed to the finish for the win.