No Shortage of Races in November

Isn’t the yacht racing season over yet? Neeeeever! We carry on into November with the following:

The California Dreamin’ Match Race Series wraps up this weekend with Stop #3 at Long Beach Yacht Club.

The final event on Latitude 38’s Unofficial Women’s Circuit will be raced this Sunday. Richmond YC will host the Amazing Grace Cheney Cup for women skippers. Following that regatta, we invite nominations for the 2019 Queen of the Women’s Circuit. Send us your choice by November 12.

Turkey Races

Races with a “turkey” theme in November include:

• Nov. 2 — Turkey Shoot, hosted by Lake Washington Sailing Club in West Sacramento.
• Nov. 23 — Turkey Cup on Clear Lake, hosted by Konocti Bay Sailing Club. The winner gets a turkey, second-place a chicken and third a Cornish hen.
• Nov. 23-24 — Turkey Day Regatta in Long Beach, hosted by Alamitos Bay YC.
• Nov. 29 — Wild Turkey Race out of Tiburon YC on Black Friday.

Midwinter Series

Several midwinter series kick off this weekend. Racing on Saturday — in alphabetical order — are:

• Benicia YC’s Frostbite Series.
• Golden Gate YC’s Manuel Fagundes Seaweed Soup Regatta.
• Encinal YC’s Jack Frost, racing west of the Berkeley Pier. The hope is for two races a day.
• Vallejo YC’s Tiny Robbins Midwinter Series.

Elkhorn YC’s Chowder Cup will sail the third of three races on Saturday. The club invites spectators to join them at the end of the north harbor jetty in scenic Moss Landing around 2 p.m. to watch the finish of the pursuit race.

The Perry Cup will start on Saturday-Sunday, November 2-3. Monterey Peninsula YC hosts the Mercury fleet.

Sausalito YC’s Chili Midwinter Series starts on Sunday, November 3. Then they’ll run the RegattaPRO Winter One-Design Invitational, kicking off on November 9. For info on both series, see www.sausalitoyachtclub.org.

San Diego YC’s three-part Hot Rum Series will run on November 9 and 23 and December 7.

In addition to weekly Sunday Chowder races, Berkeley YC offers two separate series of Midwinters on the second weekends of November through February. (If you sign up for both you’ll get a discount.)

Sequoia YC invites sailors to “head south for the winter!” They offer “two series to choose from and a warm fireplace in the club when you’re done.” First up is the Winter Series, beginning on November 9. Then, starting on November 23, the Redwood Cup is a “fun pursuit series, so you can maximize your time racing,” says race captain Davis King. “We start in the turning basin and can often set spinnakers in the channel. It has the simplicity of the Sunset Series but with less wind in the winter, so it’s ideal for training new crew, bringing family out, or close racing in light air.” Register for either or both on Jibeset.

Island YC’s Island Days series kicks off on Sunday, November 10, with sailing on the Estuary out of Alameda.

Santa Cruz YC’s Midwinter Series will begin on November 16.

South Beach Yacht Club has brought back the five-race It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over series, scheduled for the third Saturday of the month from November through March on the south and central waters of San Francisco Bay. SBYC invites racers back to the club post-race for no-host bar and food. SBYC most recently called this series Island Fever. “Rear Commodore Andrew Lorenzen discovered a trophy lying on the shelves at SBYC,” explains Patti Mangan. “It appears this was the original name of our Midwinters in the ’90s and somewhere along the line the name changed.” The trophy bears inscriptions from 1992 to 1999.

Believe it or not, there’s more. As usual, we don’t have room here to list all the races available. For more, see our November Calendar, coming out in the magazine this Friday, November 1. We’ll update the online version that afternoon.

Your Just Rewards

Did you race with the YRA this year? If so, the YRA hopes you’ll join them on Sunday, November 17, from 1 to 3:30 p.m., at Berkeley YC for the Trophy Party. As well as stopping in to pick up your swag, we encourage you to stick around, cheer for series winners, and hear updates and inspiration from YRA board members and MC John Arndt, publisher of Latitude 38. The racing editor will be there to take pictures of winners. Pupus will be served, and BYC will sell drinks at the bar.