Looking Ahead to Labor Day Weekend Regattas

With just a couple of weeks left until Labor Day, have you made your plans yet for the last holiday weekend of summer? If not, here are some suggestions from the realm of Northern California sailboat racing.

Labor Day Weekend will actually begin in August. On Saturday, August 31, we see the last great run from the fog to the sunshine with the Jazz Cup. South Beach Yacht Club will preside over the start near Treasure Island, and Benicia YC will stand by to finish the race and welcome the sailors to a party with live music. Learn more about the 26-mile mostly downwind race and sign up here. Enter by midnight on August 23 to save $25 on the registration fee.

If you prefer small boats (really small boats!), the Estuary is the place to be. On the Saturday and Sunday, August 31-September 1, Encinal YC will host the Millimeter Nationals. Millimeters are 12.5-ft singlehanded keelboats roughly based on a scaled-down version of the 12-Meter boats used in the America’s Cup. For more on the Millimeter, see Ros deVries’ Boat of the Month take on them, and their class website, millimeter.org.

Hitch up the Wagons for the Weekend

The trailer-sailer/campout crowd is invited to head to Humboldt County for the Redwood Regatta on Big Lagoon on August 31-September 1. Humboldt YC in Trinidad runs this one. The camping that you can sign up for along with the race is a great bargain and will begin on Thursday, August 29. A long sandy beach, the Big Lagoon Spit, protects the lagoon from the open ocean. It’s north of Arcata along Highway 101.

On Sunday, September 1, only, Inverness YC will run their long-distance Hog Island Race on Tomales Bay. The race is open to International 110s and monohulls16-ft or bigger and multihulls, using Portsmouth Yardstick scoring. So far, 22 boats have signed up, including a dozen I-110s plus Open Class entries ranging from Daysailers to a Weta trimaran.

Back on the San Francisco Cityfront

The 54th International Knarr Championship (IKC) will kick off on Friday, August 30, and run through September 7. The IKCs alternate among San Francisco, Denmark and Norway, and we expect to see a strong Scandinavian showing in the City by the Bay. St. Francis YC will preside over the regatta, which got its start in San Francisco in 1969. Read the Deed of Trust here. This one should feature some great spectating from the vicinity of Crissy Field and the Wave Organ spit. So far, 20 boats have signed up.