Mercurys Race in Shifty Conditions on the Estuary
The Encinal Yacht Club Spring Series concluded on a beautiful sailing day, with John Hansen securing the overall series win after a close, competitive finale. With the sun out and an opening breeze of about five knots, PRO Randy Smith and assistant Stuart Engle started the first race right on time.
Randy set an appropriately short starting line, creating several tight starts and minor contact at the line. As is typical on the Estuary, the wind was shifty and puffy, with frequent position changes upwind. Local sailors commented that the conditions were especially unstable, even by Estuary standards, making smart shift management and course-side selection essential to strong finishes.
Among the race fleet were seven Mercury entrants. In the opening race, Mike Kennedy (skipper) and Melissa Ward (crew) edged John Hansen (skipper) and Scott Jenson (crew) by just a few feet in a dramatic finish. John Ravizza (skipper) and Chris Boome (crew) then established themselves as serious contenders by winning races two and three, with Hansen and Jenson finishing second in both. The order reversed in races four and five, as Hansen and Jenson defeated Ravizza and Boome to take first and second, respectively.
Another local team, skipper Chris Davis and crew Volker Frank, delivered consistent results and finished third for both the day and the series. Jim and Kathy Bradley secured fourth place in the series, although a jib halyard issue prevented them from finishing the fourth race or starting the fifth race of the day.
At the end of the day, John Hansen won the tiebreaker over John Ravizza and also claimed the overall Spring Series title through consistently strong sailing.
Thank you to Encinal Yacht Club for delivering another excellent day of sailing and a well-run series. Aaron Lee also did an outstanding job when he was PRO and provided strong organization throughout the series.
You can find the full scores to the regatta here. Two other fleets (Harbor 20s and Snipes) were also racing.
We never had the numbers to match the Mercury or the Harbor 20 fleets but Snipe Fleet 12 had 5 boats out for the final race of the Spring series. I came in first for the series but only because I sailed all the races (first with my granddaughter Serenah Whitney, then with Sherry Eldridge and one race with Curtis). Packy Davis III came in second just 1 point back from me.
Also racing were Keith Farrell in 2nd place for the day, Andre Peixoto sailing single handed came in 4th, and Konrad Jarausch sailing a beautiful wooden Snipe came in 5th.
It was sunny and warm with good breeze all day. Could not have asked for better conditions. My thanks too for Aaron’s great work as PRO and the rest of the RC team for keeping the course square – well as square as possible in the Estuary. Onward to the Fall series.