Shadow Flips in Second-Half Opener

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.

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.

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.