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A Leisurely Drake’s Bay Race

By Christine Weaver | August 20, 2018 | Drake's Bay, CA |
Chris Lewis’s Catalina 42 Carmelita disappears in a trough on the Potato Patch while racing up to Drake’s Bay on Saturday. The sea state was generally flat this weekend, but the shallow waters just northwest of the Golden Gate did generate a long, lazy swell.

latitude/Chris
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

As in recent years, oceangoing doublehanders and singlehanders of the Singlehanded Sailing Society joined the OYRA for the Drake’s Bay Race. The two-day regatta sends the fleet out from Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon up to Point Reyes, where the boats anchor out, some joining together in small raft-ups. The J/109 Joyride served as the finish boat on Saturday and the starting boat on Sunday. Boats finished off CYC’s race deck on Sunday.

A wave from Bob Walden’s Cal 39 Sea Star. The race on Saturday was all upwind; Sunday’s course was almost all dead downwind.

latitude/Chris
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Except for some sporty conditions inside San Francisco Bay, both days had light to very light wind, including at the CYC start/finish line. Fog obscured the coastline and, at times, fellow racers.

We saw (and heard) multitudes of common murres both days. The birds were in the news this morning: Juveniles have been coming ashore on Bay Area beaches, alone and starving but alive. This chick is still with its dad.

latitude/Chris
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Sea life, including humpback whales and harbor porpoises, provided a distraction from the slow crawl up and down the 31-mile course. One skipper reported that he thinks he inadvertently hit a large mola mola (sunfish).

"What’s a sparrow doing way out here?" we wondered. This little bird seemed lost and took a breather on the foredeck. It liked the jacklines, but the jib flapped and startled it away. (Update: a birder friend thinks this might be a juvenile Audubon’s yellow-rumped warbler.)

latitude/Chris
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Due to the light air, many boats dropped out of the race on both days. Results will be posted on the Jibeset pages of the SSS and OYRA.

John Kearney’s Express 27 Salty Hotel inches toward the startline on Sunday. The two trimarans in the background were in the first start and are seen sailing out of Drake’s Bay.

latitude/Chris
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

 Look for more on the Drake’s Bay Race in Racing Sheet in the September issue of Latitude 38.

"No wonder we’re going so slow!" Kelp on the rudder is a hazard of coastal sailing.

latitude/Chris
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

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