Three Bridge Fiasco

With 364 entries, the Singlehanded Sailing Society’s Three Bridge Fiasco exceeded last year’s fleet by nearly half again as much, making it the biggest race on the West Coast — last year’s Newport to Ensenada race came in with about 325.

Why the sudden increase in participation? We’re not sure, and we’re not arguing. Of course the additional boat-mass made Saturday morning’s start for the single and doublehanded divisions even more of a charley-foxtrot than usual.

A pretty solid ebb and really light breeze didn’t help either, and we saw a couple boats with their engines still on, backing down to avoid colliding near the X buoy. There were also some choice words — in addition to paint — traded there. But the folks who started a little closer into shore had a lot more room and a lot clearer air in the light easterly that got going at about the time the Moore 24s started.

We didn’t make an exact count, but we estimate that about 75% of the fleet opted to head toward the Golden Gate first, with 23% heading to the Bay Bridge first and the remainder headed for Red Rock first. Of the majority, some of the Moores were the last boats to make it across the Bay to the headlands and up Raccoon Strait in any breeze, as the rest of the fleet got stuck in a huge hole off Crissy Field and Fort Point. From what we’ve heard, there were more than a few anchors dropped at that stage until the westerly finally started filling.

Although there were a few people calling it quits as early as 11 a.m., it seemed like quite a few boats were in it for the duration, although we’re not sure, because the results aren’t yet up on the SSS website. With that many boats, it’ll probably take some heavy duty sorting and maybe even the resolution of a few start-related protests, so it might be day or so.