The Great Vallejo Beat

The great irony for which the YRA’s 2016 Great Vallejo Race will be remembered is the use of downwind ratings to score an all-upwind race. Most years, the race from the Berkeley Circle to Vallejo Yacht Club on Saturday is mostly downwind, featuring colorful spinnakers parading through the North Bay and San Pablo Bay. The race is held in the spring, however, when conditions can be unsettled. This year, a vigorous northerly blew all day Saturday, and not one spinnaker set was even contemplated. The wind strength was fortunate, as it overcame a strong adverse current. The sun shone brightly, and both days were unusually warm.

Fortunately for the racers on Sunday, that same strong current helped them through a light-air race to a finish line just north of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Some of the racers suffered the misfortune of mistiming the start, or underestimating the flow of water in Mare Island Strait, as many were over early and had to struggle to get back to the line to restart. Others suffered mishaps at the finish, snagging the anchor rode on the port side of the line — perhaps getting as a result of getting swept downstream in the current — or running aground on a new shallow spot right next to the race committee boat. The race’s PRO encourages those who ran aground at the finish to file a ‘Request for Redress’.

In between the two races, VYC threw a grand party, with multiple musical acts, dancing, food vendors including seafood and BBQ, and plenty of Mount Gay rum drinks and other liquid refreshments.

On the docks, VYC members Bruce and Gail Sinclair hosted a mini-boat show of three cold-molded Gary Mull-designed 30-footers, Chico, Shadow and Pretty Penny. The Sinclairs own the latter two. John Lidgard built Chico in New Zealand in 1968; Marin County’s Hank Easom built Pretty Penny in ’72 and Shadow in ’74.

Preliminary race results are available on Jibeset. As mandated by the Sailing Instructions, Saturday’s race was scored using downwind ratings, but the overall standings were figured using standard PHRF ratings.