Weekend (and Weekday) Racing

The big regatta this Saturday will be the Singlehanded Sailing Society‘s Corinthian Race, a San Francisco Bay tour beginning and ending at Corinthian YC in Tiburon. And we do mean big – 133 boats signed up! (Entries closed on Wednesday night.) Other races tomorrow include Richmond YC‘s Spring Tune-Up Race, the first event in their members’ championship series; Sequoia YC‘s Summer #1; and Coyote Point YC‘s Andy Byrd Memorial Race. It’s a relatively light weekend, comparatively speaking, since Easter’s this Sunday.

But we’ve reached that time of year when you no longer need wait for the weekend to go yacht racing. You don’t even need a ‘yacht’. Svendsen’s Thursday Night Races for Lasers and Vanguard 15s out of Treasure Island Sailing Center started last night, and St. Francis YC‘s Windsurfing and Kiteboarding series both start next week. Actual ‘yachts’ have lots of beer can race series from which to choose. Berkeley YC‘s Friday series begins tonight. If you like lots of wind, South Beach YC‘s Friday night series is a good choice; that begins on April 20. Corinthian YC‘s popular Friday night series begins the same evening. Not all beer cans are on Friday nights – as a matter of fact, you can race five nights a week if you really want to. For a comprehensive list, see Latitude 38’s Beer Can page.

Don’t have a boat or a board? Beer cans are a great place to begin your career as race crew. We’ll have more on beer can racing, and how you can get involved, in the May issue of Latitude 38.