Skip to content

Shadow Flips in Second-Half Opener

Peter Stoneberg is all smiles as his Formula 40 Shadow is back upright and ready to be towed after yesterday’s YRA Second-Half Opener.

Tiburon
©2010 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

While this has to have been the coldest July ever, the flipside is that it’s been breeze-on for most of the month, and this weekend’s YRA Second-Half Opener was no exception. And while the breeze meant plenty of giggles for most boats, it was a little too much for Peter Stoneberg’s Formula 40 Shadow. The super powered-up cat was racing with a full main and jib about a mile from the Berkeley Pier in yesterday’s 30-plus knots of breeze and an ebb chop when it capsized in the early afternoon.

Shadow burns down the race course on Saturday. Does it look sufficiently powered-up?

© Erik Simonson

Although Stoneberg was in the process of towing the boat over to KKMI as of this writing, we were able to glean that, after capsizing, the boat was anchored — it snapped a 5/8" or 3/4" anchor rode — and a successful righting operation was undertaken more than an 4-5 hours after it flipped (corrected from 1.5 hours) with the help of a St. Francis YC Protector Cressy, Steve Stroub’s Protector Tiburon, and Stoneberg’s Protector.

It took three Protectors and a some heavy anchors to right the big cat.

Tiburon
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

We’re still in the process of gathering details about the incident, but understand that no one was hurt. The boat appears to need at least a new jib, and unfortunately a new rig, as you can see from the photos. Look for more on the Second-Half Opener and the Shadow rescue operation in an upcoming ‘Lectronic Latitude.

Sailing

Leave a Comment




Some sailors merely dream about crewing in exotic destinations; others, like Kat Gartin and Brian Morrison are more proactive — a lot more proactive.
It’s not quite as bad as if he’d won the Presidential election and discovered that his Vice President had been a bald-faced liar in repeatedly denying that he was a baby daddy, but longtime Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has foolishly sailed into some very hot water with his constituents.