Midwinter Racing Wrap-Up

This Saturday’s RegattaPRO Winter One Design race on the west edge of the  Berkeley Circle enjoyed sunny skies and a 5-15 knot breeze from a consistent north-northwesterly direction. The race committee, augmented by boats and volunteers from Sausalito YC, set a line that was square to the wind, but the flooding current favored the left side of the course, which had more wind anyway.

One more race day, with two races, remain in this series on February 11. Grace Dances is leading the J/120s, Wallping Swede and Wonder are tied for points in the J/105s, Personal Puff is way ahead in Melges 24s with five bullets and one second, and Always Friday is doing the same in Antrim 27s. See www.regattapro.com/regattas.html for full results.

Not far away on the Berkeley Circle, the Berkeley YC Midwinters continued on both days of the weekend. From the race committee boat, Bobbi Tosse observed, "On Sunday, we thought that perhaps winter had decided to show up. There were dark, menacing clouds, the wind was cold and more robust than the day before, and there were even white caps. As the fleet was rounding the first weather mark, the sun tried to re-establish its dominance of the last three months. Suddenly, as the racers proceeded downwind, each spinnaker looked as if it had its own separate lighting system and the sight was breathtaking. The attached picture doesn’t begin to capture the sparkle and surprise, but it is the best my cell phone could come up with. The real picture will continue to live in my brain."

The BYC Midwinter series also concludes next month on February 11-12, with a bonus Champion of Champions race on February 26. See www.berkeleyyc.org/racing.