‘Can O’Whoopass’ Races in Doublehanded Midwinters

Richard vonEhrenkrook sailed in the fourth race of the YRA Doublehanded Midwinters and gives us his report on the racing:

When the wind gods are constipated, sailors get grumpy. Not today! After a 50-minute postponement, with signs that we might go home empty, we pulled our anchor up from the beach sand just west of the St. Francis YC, and 20 minutes later were starting a 6.8-mile course, up, down, and back up the Cityfront.

We were smart all the way, staying out of phase on the one-sided course, and hitting the headed angles on the run, in 8–10 knots of breeze. All that changed at the leeward mark, Blossom Rock buoy, notorious for weirdness. All the strange was supplied by Karl the Fog, which had been lurking by the Golden Gate and finally brought the news at 30 knots, with gusts to 35. We went into gale mode, opening the jib leads, cranking the backstay and vang into “Oh, s***!” mode, which nearly turned the main into a sheet of plywood, and taking full advantage of what I call “Cal 20 weather.” When they be droppin’, we be boppin’. Only one boat of the over 30 starters corrected over us. The top three were an Alerion 28, Cal 20, and Alerion 35. The first series of 2026 goes to the little boat.