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Drake’s Bay Weekend

John Kearney’s Express 27 Salty Hotel sails past Point Bonita on the way to Drake’s Bay.

latitude/Chris
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Over the weekend, a combined 46-boat fleet of OYRA and Singlehanded Sailing Society racers participated in a mostly-light-air Drake’s Bay Race. The weekend consists of two races, one on Saturday from Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon to Drake’s Bay in Point Reyes, the other a race back the next day. To facilitate the Saturday finish and Sunday start, CYC sends a race committee powerboat up to the anchorage. 

The seas were mostly flat, even glassy at times, and, although the overcast never cleared on Saturday, the sun came out for the sail back to Tiburon, and it was actually pretty warm out on the ocean. Despite the minimal swell, a bit of a rolling action — a motion not felt on San Francisco Bay or in the Delta — challenged sailors to keep their balance once they’d set the anchor.

When racers raised their anchors on Sunday morning, they found them fouled with a slippery, rubbery red kelp, difficult to pry off with bare hands. A knife helped.

latitude/Chris
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC

The sailors enjoyed sightings of humpback whales, numerous pods of harbor porpoise — mostly swimming inbound on Saturday — and a plethora of seabirds. One of the sailors even thought he spotted a sea otter.

Bait ball! Brown pelicans, gulls, terns, murres, and cormorants went nuts in this spot while the racers sailed past on Saturday.

latitude/Chris
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Out of place on the ocean were a couple of Mylar balloons floating on the surface, their helium no longer keeping them aloft.

Happy birthday little girl! You’ll be glad to know that, thanks to the sailors who picked it out of the ocean, your balloon didn’t kill anything.

latitude/Chris
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Singlehander Greg Ashby on the Wilderness 30 Nightmare also picked up a balloon.

latitude/Chris
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Drake’s Bay is among the locations visited in the September feature, Sailing Destinations Beyond the Central Bay. That issue of Latitude 38 will come out tomorrow. We’ll have a race report in the October issue’s Racing Sheet.

Had it not been for the annual race, this cruising boat would have been all alone in the anchorage.

latitude/Chris
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC

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