Organizers Scramble for This Weekend’s Races

As Bay Area (and beyond) stay-at-home orders continue (indefinitely for now), regatta organizers have scrambled to adjust. As we noted in previous posts, clubs either canceled or postponed races from mid-December into early January. Adjustments continue for this weekend.

On the Berkeley Circle

As in December, RegattaPRO has canceled Saturday’s Winter One Design to have been held on the northwest part of the Berkeley Circle. Remember that they already extended the series into March.

Berkeley YC’s Midwinters will proceed on both days this weekend, but with adjustments for racers and race committee alike. “Household/Crewed Divisions are canceled for January 9 and 10, 2021,” reads the amendment. “The signal boat will have only two people of the same household.” The volunteers will signal starts via VHF. The Doublehanded Division crews (including the Doublehanded Express 27s) must consist of two people from one household.

On the Estuary

Island YC has chosen a tactic similar to Berkeley’s for their race on Sunday the 10th. “Through discussion with the YRA, US Coast Guard and other clubs, we believe that we can continue to run our Island Days series, albeit with a few changes to our race procedures and crew rules,” Nathan de Vries wrote yesterday. “The key change we’re making is to allow only singlehanded or doublehanded crews to race. Doublehanded crews must be co-habiting in the same household (i.e. no ‘social bubbles’). In addition, we are scaling back our race committee. Both these measures are to eliminate cross-household mixing.”

Sequoia Yacht Club in Redwood City has canceled their Winter Series #3 race and replaced it with a Single Household Fun Race tomorrow, Saturday, January 9. This will be the second such race, as Sequoia held the first Single Household Fun Race in place of the Redwood Cup race on December 19.

On Monterey Bay

Moore 24 skipper Sydnie Moore checked in from Santa Cruz YC with this update: “December’s Midwinters Race was canceled due to COVID restrictions. We are hopeful for January 16, but have not heard if it will happen. We are going to try a Winter Window Timed Regatta: Pick a date, do the course, compete. Also some interesting speakers for the public to tune in to on WISS.” WISS is a virtual Winter Informational Seminar Series. January’s seminars are:

• Wednesday, January 13, Dan Byrne will present Novice to Captain: A Corinthian Success Story.
• January 20, US Sailing Area G regional administrative judge Mike Gross will present Changes to the Rules of Racing in 2021.
• January 27, Darci Bogdan will present From Childhood Crew to Captain of the Chardonnay.

Contact the club to request a link.

News from the Future

Looking ahead to spring, here’s a snippet of good news: California Offshore Race Week will return. They had to cancel it in 2020, but the organizing clubs — Encinal YC, Monterey Peninsula YC, Santa Barbara YC and San Diego YC — plan to host the event this year from May 29 through June 5. As in 2019, the first race will be the Spinnaker Cup from San Francisco Bay to Monterey, followed by the Coastal Cup to Santa Barbara, an in-port race there, then the SoCal 300 to San Diego. Organizers will offer the CA 500 from San Francisco to San Diego too. Find details and the Notice of Race at https://offshoreraceweek.com.