Shorteez Session Two: Four Boats, Three Races, and One Long Afternoon

First, a big thank you to Alan Orr and Peter Oppelt for running the committee boat: steady hands at the helm of order and time. Starts were crisp, finishes clean, and the fleet knew exactly where the line lay between chance and skill.

The Coast Guard had warned of a 40-footer adrift near Coyote Point, but none of us ever saw it. What we did see, and what Surprise! alone caught, was a telephone pole-sized log near the finish of race three, just enough to remind us that even a calm Bay hides its teeth.

The committee set the start line and Mark D and rolled out a trio of courses, each a little longer than the last. First, a windward-leeward: D-Z-8-finish. Then a triangle: D-Z-Marina 2-8-finish. Finally, the day’s marathon: a hybrid of both, because why stop when the wind still holds you?

The sky was pewter. Winds ran soft, seven to 10 knots, with a ghostly drizzle uninvited by the forecast. It slicked the decks, cooled the hands, and lent the racing a strange, quiet beauty. Four boats answered the call: See Monkeys, Surprise!, Svea, and Will o’ the Wind.

In Race one, Will o’ the Wind seized the start, but Svea drew ahead by Z. Surprise! slipped past See Monkeys at the mark, and for a while the order held. Then the fleet split — Svea heading west info faint whispers of breeze while the rest stayed east. The west paid off: Svea crossed first.

The second race began with Surprise! leaping off the line, chased hard by Svea. They traded tacks up to Z. Surprise! arrived first, found her line to Marina 2, and lengthened the lead. Downwind to 8, the fleet went wing-on-wing, sails trembling like birds at rest. See Monkeys, her whisker pole out, clawed back distance as others fenced for clean air. Again, Svea gambled west on the final run, and again, she was right. Svea finished first again.

Race three brought the longest course and the tightest start of the day. Surprise! broke through first, Svea on her stern, then Will o’ the Wind and See Monkeys. The fleet strung itself thin across the gray water — Svea taking Z, Surprise! hunting her down toward the marina. Downwind the wind flickered and failed. One last gust shoved See Monkeys forward, and then silence. The fleet was huddled mid-Bay like chess pieces waiting for a hand to move them. A vote was called, the course shortened, and they ran the remainder like an echo of race two. Surprise! held her line to 8, followed by Svea, Will o’ the Wind, and See Monkeys.

When the racing ended, the job wasn’t done. The committee boat had fouled her anchor rode, and the fleet stayed to help her free — boats idling, crews leaning over the rails, hands reaching through the drizzle to untie the day itself.