‘Sun Dragon’ and ‘Akumu’ Recap Doublehanded Farallones Race

We recapped the 2026 Doublehanded Farallones Race in ‘Lectronic Latitude last week, and we now have more accounts from the race to share with you. Sergei Podshivalov and Frank van Diggelen of Sun Dragon and Greg Ashby of Akumu tell their stories:

Sergei Podshivalov and Frank van Diggelen, Sun Dragon:

As two humpbacks patrolled the start line, Frank and Sergei on Sun Dragon joined 22 other brave twosomes for the doublehanded race.

A strong southerly breeze propelled us out the Gate as the promised wind built rapidly through the teens. The sharp, short-period swell was the initial challenge — lengthening as we progressed west. Then came the squalls. For us cool-weather sailors, unaccustomed to tropical systems, this was a rare novelty. Two squalls swept right over us en route to the islands. We reefed the main promptly as they approached, and wondered if that was enough as hail-blast hit us with 37 knots peak strength. Luckily it went by as quickly as it had come, leaving the textbook light wind behind. We’ve been studying squalls, in theory, preparing for our first Pac Cup, so this was fascinating to see, and feel, in real life.

Bottle Rocket and C Cubed led the way, as Raven, Ruffless and Jamani accompanied us approximately line-abreast as we approached the islands. After nervy jibes, we were homeward bound. With the swell slightly astern, we had a wonderful reach, Sun Dragon intermittently planing and surfing in conditions she was made for. Our top boat speed was 20 knots as we converged on the channel. We gratefully slipped into the calm waters of the Bay, happy to finish and tie up in the daylight before the worst of the squalls pummeled the smaller boats outside the Gate.

Sun Dragon corrected out top of the monohulls, with Bottle Rocket the lead multihull in a remarkable elapsed time below four-and-a-half hours. This was one of the fastest Farallones races, and definitely one to remember.

Greg Ashby, Akumu:

Definitely a rough, blustery day. We were a little late for our start but made good progress to the Golden Gate. You can see a jog in our track on the way out. We had just set the second reef and got blown sideways. We bore away to drop the jib. Came about and sailed under a double-reefed main for a while. We thought about setting the storm jib but reset the number three as the wind dropped a bit.

We had a couple of great surfs into the mid-teens after jibing around the back side. For the reach back, I think the sea state built, especially when combined with the northwest swell. A big one broke across the whole boat. About halfway back the pin came out of the gooseneck.

We dropped the main and lashed it all to the lifeline. After we crossed the bar, the seas mellowed and we lashed the gooseneck with some Dyneema and got the double-reefed main back up. Good thing, because the wind was going light.

We finished before sunset and were greeted by a whale.

Made some hot tea and chicken teriyaki for dinner while sailing back to RYC.