Midwinters Notebook

Sausalito Yacht Club’s first Chili Midwinter Race kicked off the Bay Area Midwinter season on Sunday, November 1, in a mild southwest wind and building flood. The race committee selected a course that started near Pt. Knox (the southwest point of Angel Island) with Blackaller Buoy at San Francisco’s Fort Point as the windward mark and a temporary near the West Garrison on Angel Island as the leeward mark. Thirty-five boats in six divisions fought the flood on their way to Blackaller, then enjoyed a quick flood-aided romp back to the leeward mark and a short beat to finish. See www.sausalitoyachtclub.org for results, photos, and video. The SYC series will continue on December 6, January 3, February 7, and March 6. 

Racers could only shake their heads when they arrived at Golden Gate YC on the crisp, clear morning of November 7 — a moored barge was perfectly aligned along the startline between the clubhouse and the X buoy. Fortunately, it moved before the race went into sequence — leaving behind its substantial mooring buoy, which marked the mid-point of the line. But in the fresh northerly, everyone stuck close to X to start the one-tack beat to Blackaller. From there, a tack over onto port took the spinnaker divisions to Harding Rock, where a rushing river of ebb was almost enough to overpower that locale’s weak breeze. Spinnakers popped for the run to Fort Mason. With boats now traveling sideways to the ebb, the push from the current became a huge tactical factor — even more so on the second run when the northerly died out, to be replaced by a mere flutter of a westerly.

To see who won the first race, go to www.ggyc.com. The Seaweed Soup Series will continue on December 5, January 2, February 6, and March 5.

On Sunday, November 8, the Estuary Racing Gods smiled on the Island YC fleet by drying the skies and providing for shadows later when the boats were being put away. "A relaxing 10-ish knots of wind from the south turned our usual windward and leeward legs into a pair of reaches instead, preventing spinnakers from enjoying the increasingly pleasant day," writes IYC’s David Ross. "Our newest fleet, Size Matters, welcomes all boats 22 feet and under, with an option to fly spinnaker or not. Fairly evenly matched participants included a Wilderness 22 and a pair of Mercury 18s, which were all dominated by a familiar Santana 22." See results and more at www.iyc.org.The next race in the series will be on December 13.

On November 7-8, Monterey Peninsula YC’s Perry Cup Midwinters opened with five races, the last of which was abandoned due to a die-off of breeze. Pax Davis of the Mercury fleet reports that the weather on Saturday was perfect with 7-9 knots of wind and very small chop. Sunday, the forecast called for rain and wind at 5-10 knots. "The fleet sailed out in almost no wind, but as the delayed start approached so did the weather," writes Davis. "The breeze built up to 12-15 knots and the chop was a minor Berkeley Circle." The next race in that series will be on December 5.

Sequoia Yacht Club’s first of five Winter Series races went off without delay at 1:30 on Saturday under bright skies, flat water, and light wind. "The breeze blew about 7 knots throughout the day, dying to 4 knots so that boats had to work to sustain momentum across the downwind finish line," report Kathy Conte and Cathy Moyer of the Elan 310 Boudicca. "All 10 boats flew spinnakers during the 6-mile race, which had two upwind and two downwind legs." The top four boats finished within two minutes of each other! The Winter Series will continue on December 5. The club’s five-race Redwood Cup pursuit series will begin on November 21.

Midwinters starting up next weekend include Berkeley YC’s on Saturday and Sunday and RegattaPro’s Winter One Design and Bay View Boat Club’s Midwinters on Saturday only. For more, see our Calendar.