A Brief but Powerful Starting Line Squall

This winter has been pretty wet and wild. The forecast for the Corinthian Midwinters on February 16-17 was a little shaky, but that didn’t deter many. Right during the 13-division starting sequence on Saturday, a squall burst through the starting area west of Angel Island. Luckily, we weren’t starting yet. We had the jib furled and the main reefed. Others weren’t so lucky.

When you’re sailing you’ve got to be ready for anything, and that certainly keeps it challenging and interesting. Winter sailing can be the most interesting of all because it’s so inconsistent. Squalls one minute, warm sunshine and no breeze the next. When you have rain, snowmelt and all of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers piling on to a full-moon ebb, sailing feels like running the Colorado River. What could be more fun than that? In the end, that patch of blue sky grew, the sun came out, and we shook out the reefs and had a beautiful day of sailing.

If you’ve got any interesting video or photos of your Corinthian or other midwinter race weekend, send them to [email protected].