Drake’s Bay Weekend

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.

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.

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

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.