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Photos of the Day: Corinthian Midwinters

January 22 - Tiburon


Blackaller buoy draws a crowd
Photo Peter Lyons/www.lyonsimaging.com

Bright sun and very welcome springlike temperatures greeted an all-time high 154 boats that came out for the first installment of Corinthian YC's popular midwinter series this past weekend. All that was needed to make it a perfect world was good breeze - too bad there's no such thing as a perfect world. The wind gods did smile enough to provide a lazy westerly to about 8 knots on Saturday, and a piping northerly on Sunday that got up to maybe 10 or 12, with a few puffs strong enough to cause an occasional roundup. Considering that the cold snap of the past couple of weeks has left the Bay a windless desert, the weekend was a real gift.

On Saturday, the hour-long starting sequence for 18 divisions stretched to more than an hour and a half due to postponements. Even when the guns were going off, some boats just kind of sat there bumping against each other unable to get across the line. Everyone finally got going, sailing for the most part the shorter courses in the RC playbook.


This mark rounding, led by Zsa Zsa, looked more like Christo's conceptual art piece.

Per tradition, Saturday night festivities at the club included a great dinner and dancing to Girls' Night Out. Kegs this year were courtesy of ABC Yachts and Peg Kopple Realtors.

Sunday racing started on time at noon in decent breeze, which lightened up for awhile but returned later on. Strong currents on both days were either bane or boon, depending on what course you were on. One lucky division was Non-Spinnaker 1, which was sent on a Bay tour course on Sunday. As it turns out, the current was a big help over much of this course, with boats carried in the right direction even when their sails were hanging limp. When was that last time that happened?!


Hank Easom's lovely Yucca won both her weekend races - again.

Look for a feature on this regatta in the February issue of Latitude 38. The second and final CYC Midwinter Weekend is on February 17-18. Cumulative scores for both weekends determine overall winners. Here are the division leaders after two races.

PHRF1 - Howl, Sydney 38, Peter Krueger
1D-35 - Yeofy, Eliel Redstone
PHRF 2 - Jeannette, Frers 40, Henry King
IOR Warhorse - True North, Baltic 42DP, Jeff Dunnavant
Express 37 - Expeditious, Bartz Schneider
PHRF 2 - Mistral, Beneteau 36.7, Ed Durbin
J/105 - Aquavit, Russell/Wilson
Non-Spin 1 - Q, Schumacher 40, Glenn Isaacson
PHRF 4 - Yucca, 8-Meter, Hank Easom
PHRF 5 - Silkye, WylieCat 30, Steve Seal/John Skinner
SF Bay 30 - Shameless, Schumacher 30, George Ellison
Express 27 - Desperado, Mike Bruzzone
Non-Spin 2 - Windhover, Pearson 10-Meter, John Dodge
PHRF 6 - E-9, Moore 24, Lesa Gutenkunst
Alerion Express 28 - Eagle, Chuck Eaton
Non-Spin 3 - Youngster, IOD, Ron Young
PHRF 7 - Tchoupitoulas, Santana 22, Giovacchini/Buckingham
Non-Spin 4 - Tension II, Cal 20, John Nooteboom

Complete results: www.cyc.org.

- latitude / jr


Four boats from three different divisions charge for home.
Photos Latitude/JR except as noted
 


From KWRW to OCR

January 22 - South Florida

Acura Key West 2007 is done and dusted and the Conch Republic can now return to its regularly scheduled programing. No doubt the locals are happy campers again. So are the winners of the following classes, the outcomes of which were not decided until the final day of racing on Friday: San Franciscan Tom Coates' excellently-sailed Masquerade in the J/105s, Southern Sun (Mumm 30), Giacomel Audi Racing (Melges 24), Lifted (J/80), Current Obsession (J/109), Wairere (PHRF-1), Cash Flow (PHRF-2), As-If (PHRF-4), Jazzy Jr. (PHRF-6), Numbers (IRC-1), Magic Glove (IRC-2), Esmeralda (IRC-3), and overall winner of the PHRF National Championship, NKE Electronics. (See Friday's 'Lectronic for the winners of the other five classes.)

We now focus our attention 160 miles north where, beginning today, a record-breaking 851 athletes from 48 countries are racing at Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. This is the cream of the Olympic hopeful crop, and you can bet the competition will be fierce. With just over 18 months until the 2008 Olympics, it's an important opportunity for sailors to see where they stand going into the last full year of training.


Claire Dennis is in Miami this week racing in the Laser Radial Class at the Olympic Classes Regatta.
Photo Courtesy California YC

For American sailors, a top-three finish among U.S. boats in their classes puts them on the US Sailing Team and gives them access to top-level coaching and some funding. A number of Bay Area sailors are racing this week, and we'll do our best to keep you apprised of their progress in Wednesday and Friday's 'Lectronic Latitudes.

- latitude / ss


Spring Crew List Party Announced

January 22 - San Francisco

This year's Latitude 38 Spring Crew List Party will once again be held at Golden Gate Yacht Club, on the Marina (next to St. Francis YC) in San Francisco. We hope to see you there on Wednesday, April 4, 2007, 6-9 p.m. We'll have the usual free munchies, no host bar, guest experts, meet-and-mingle skipper-crew match-up, and fabulous Latitude 38 fashions for door prizes.

Admission is $7, unless you get your name on one of our spring crew lists. The deadline for the Racing Crew List is coming up on February 15, so don't delay, send yours in today! See our Crew List page or pick up the January issue of Latitude 38 for details.

- latitude / cw


When Do Guardsmen Respond?

January 22 - Sausalito

When a strong norther blasted Richardson Bay (between Sausalito and Tiburon) Sunday morning, at least one boat in the vast inlet dragged anchor - which is typical.

What was atypical was the response from the U.S. Coast Guard. They first sent out two rigid hull inflatables (RHIs), then a 47-ft Motor Lifeboat (MLB), which moved the dragging boat - unattended at the time - to a nearby sidetie.

Why did they get involved this time instead of leaving the problem in the hands of the RBRA (Richardson Bay Regional Authority), as is normally the case? The answer is that this time the vessel dragged right into the middle of a navigable channel, which brought it into the Guard's purview.


Keeping navigable channels clear is a priority with the Coast Guard. Three vessels and at least a dozen Guardsmen were involved in this effort.
Photo Latitude/Andy

People often wonder why Guardsmen don't get involved with things like registration and pumpout violations, but the hard-working Coasties simply have more important concerns. When a navigable channel is compromised, however, they're on it.

- latitude / aet


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