‘Can O’Whoopass’ Sails the 2025 Vallejo 1-2

A great way to tell which approach to a course “be da bess” is when two one-design boats take completely opposite takes on the puzzle. So it was in Saturday’s Race One of the Singlehanded Sailing Society’s (SSS) Vallejo 1-2, when two equally talented Cal 20 skippers took on the very technical problem of getting to the VYC without the benefit of anything resembling a fresh breeze, and doing so before a full-moon afternoon ebb kicked in.

The regatta PRO smartly adopted the “laissez-faire” mode, and sent the fleet off on time in order to maximize exposure to a dwindling but robust flood current. Paul Sutchek’s Slainte (SSS) took mentor Gordie Nash’s advice, and hit the deepest-water route, often on the extreme left side of the course, while Can O’Whoopass opted for the shortest-distance route, on the right side.

At various points on the trip, the Can had mile-plus leads, and at others, Slainte led by a half-mile or more. On the right side, the entire Wyliecat fleet played for ultimate current relief. When the ebb hit around 2:00 p.m. some boats on course left took extreme measures to stay as close as legal to the south side of the Pinole ship channel, where the remnants of the flood would linger longer.

The boats on the right would need the predicted southwesterly to build on their side early, and it did not. We watched the left-siders hit the ebb wall, and then scoot along the Mare Island seawall in the narrow relief zone. The right-siders, one by one, peeled off to acknowledge their false hopes dashed. Can, in full cognizance of that reality, carried on past the Martinez refinery on a starboard headstay reach, jibing to a port headstay reach to cross the last mark, fetching up exactly at the green turning mark and able to carry the kite up the Strait.

That ploy put her about 800 yards behind Slainte and the DayGlo-green Santana 22 Three Fisted Rat Boy (EYC) (cool name!?!). The Can was blasting up the Strait, and Slainte, who was taking the victory lap a bit early, set her kite for the final mile of course. Passing the ‘Tuna, it seemed actually possible to salvage a missed call on the course, but, alas, the finish line came one minute and 35 seconds too soon. All that hard work, on both sides, gave the “slowest” boats a fifth and sixth, overall corrected time, out of more than 45 starters.

In epilogue, Slainte decided not to wait out the doldrums on Sunday, and burned gas home, while the Can made a full weekend of it, finishing fourth of 12 starters, just behind a bunch of speedys.