Midwinter Sailing in Sausalito: A Bit Chili

Sausalito Yacht Club’s (SYC) Chili Midwinter #2 on Sunday, December 7, proved to be chilly. Bundled up for that chill, Nancy’s crew gathered at Clipper Yacht Harbor to prep the boat and stow the extra boat snacks we’d brought along. Every wind forecaster — SailFlow, Windy, PredictWind and good old NOAA — told us over and over to expect anything from zero to low-single-digit northerly wind. The current prediction was a four-plus-knot flood later in the race period, a good formula for anchoring and waiting, so we made sure the ground tackle was ready to go.

Anchored with the knotmeter reading three knots is not all that unusual for winter racing in Richardson Bay. Reality kicked in as we motored out of the marina with the true-wind needle pegged at 12 knots. Now we dove below to secure things -— including the anchor and chain — and put an extra wrap on the primary winches. We found less wind where SYC’s Mercury was anchored at one end of the start/finish line, but more than all those expensive wind forecast services promised. Wind speeds varied from high single digit to low double digits for the race.

The race committee pulled more or less windward-leeward courses from their quiver using YRA N (Sausalito Entrance Marker #2) and YRA 12 (Little Harding Rock buoy) as windward and leeward marks, with the start/finish line in the middle. As is often the case, the port side of the course was favored on the first leg from the start line to the windward mark, YRA N. The run to YRA 12 also favored the west side, where boats found more wind pressure.

For the combined Spinnaker divisions a detour around the restricted start/finish line on the second beat to YRA N resulted in most boats opting for the pin end and another port-side beat up to a second rounding at YRA N. Boats opting for the committee boat end found less wind.

Non-spinnaker boats finished after rounding Little Harding, so their choice was the middle of the line for the finish of a three-and-a-half-mile race. After rounding YRA N a second time, spinnaker boats enjoyed a quick, current-aided run back to a downwind finish for a 5.6-mile race.

The return to the berth saw wind speeds drop to near zero as we eased Nancy into her berth. After securing the boat we packed up the unopened extra boat snacks, and hit the SYC Clubhouse for complimentary post-race chili and awards. Nancy’s crew agreed with others that the afternoon had turned into a near-perfect midwinter race, and that any trust in wind forecasters was misplaced.

Race results can be found at sausalitoyachtclub.org.