Midwinters Roundup: BYC Midwinters See RYC Boats Dominate
Berkeley Yacht Club (BYC) wrapped up its 2025/26 midwinter series on February 14 and 15, with three classes competing in the Saturday midwinter series, and seven competing in the Sunday midwinter series. Of the10 divisions that raced across the Saturday and Sunday series, eight of them were won by boats sailing under the Richmond Yacht Club (RYC) burgee.
The Saturday series was composed entirely of PHRF divisions, with 28 boats competing in the three different divisions. The 10-boat PHRF Division One was dominated by John Kernot’s C&C 115 Raven (RYC) across four races. Kernot and company recorded a picket fence, giving them a net total of three points from four races (each boat was afforded one drop).
PHRF Division Two featured seven boats and was won by Hendrik Bruhns’ Olson 30 WYSIWYG (RYC). Bruhns and team won races one, three and four, and finished second in race two to claim victory in the series with a net total of three points from four races.
The third and final division from the Saturday series was the biggest, with 11 boats racing. Once again, there was a clear and dominant winner: Vaughn Seifers’ Moore 24 The Flying Tiger (RYC), which won races two through four after finishing second in the first race (won by Rick Raduziner’s Santa Cruz 27 Lickety Split).
The three Saturday divisions were all won by RYC boats, and all of the boats boasted a net total of three points. Averaging 0.75 points per race sure seems like a winning formula.
The Sunday series featured three one-design classes, two PHRF divisions, a doublehanded division and a singlehanded division. RYC once again was dominant, with boats flying the red and white “R” burgee winning five of seven divisions.
The PHRF One division was won by Nesrin Basoz’s J/111 Swift Ness (RYC), recording a picket fence. Basoz and team finished five points ahead of 2025 YRA Women’s Championship Series winner Elizabeth Henderson and her all-women J/105 crew on Chinook (IYC). Seven boats raced in the division.
The other PHRF division featured eight boats and was dominated by Froglips (RYC), a J/24 owned by Richard Stockdale. Stockdale won three of four races, finishing second in race two behind regular Latitude 38 contributor Richard vonEhrenkrook aboard his Cal 20 Can O’Whoopass (SSS).
Doublehanded Sunday was a much closer affair, with just two points separating the top two finishers, both racing in Wylie Wabbits under the RYC burgee. Colin Moore’s Kwazy (RYC) finished with a net total of seven points, two ahead of Erik Menzel and Anna Pia Slothower’s Bad Hare Day (RYC) with nine.
Bob Johnston’s Alerion Express 38 Surprise! (RYC) took the win in the Singlehanded Sunday division with a net total of five points, having won races two and four. Gregory Ashby’s B-25 Akumu (RYC) finished with a net total of eight.
Chop Chop (White Sands YC), sailed by Matt Hamilton, won the six-boat Melges 24 class, one of only two divisions not won by a RYC boat. Hamilton recorded a net total of four points, winning the final two races of the series to claim victory.
Eric Villadsen and his team aboard New Wave (SLTWYC) narrowly won the Express 27 division with a net total of five points, one ahead of Steve Katzman’s Diane (RYC) with six. Villadsen and team sealed the series win in the final race, taking a bullet while Katzman finished second. The only two non-RYC division winners were both Tahoe boats snowbirding on the Bay.
The final division of the series, the Alerion 28 class, also featured nine boats. Fred Paxton and Arnie Quan of Zenaida (RYC) won with a net total of four points, edging out 2025 Ruth Wosser Trophy winner Chris Kramer and his wife Denise aboard Sweet De (RYC) with seven net points.
With midwinters wrapped up, boats turn their attention to the increased wind speed, fleet sizes and fierce competition of the “regular season” of spring, summer and fall sailing on San Francisco Bay.
Catch up with more racing news in Latitude 38‘s March issue.