Weekend Racing Round-Up

Berkeley YC’s penultimate Midwinter weekend featured two races in dying breeze, with intermittent raindrops on Saturday and intermittent sunshine on Sunday. The race committee called for a twice-around windward/leeward course on both days; when the southeasterly fizzled out on Saturday, the RC mercifully shortened course for all but Division A. An eventual flutter from the north flipped the course around but saved the day.

On the west side of the Berkeley Circle, RegattaPRO hosted 43 competitors in six fleets for two races on gray, rainy Saturday. This year’s Winter One Design Series includes divisions for Moore 24s, Melges 24s, J/105s, J/120s, J/70s and J/24s. For standings, see Jibeset.

On the same day, Sequoia YC’s Winter #3 sailed under cloudy skies with widely variable wind forecasts and a 2-knot ebb. The line was set so as to keep the pre-start maneuvering away from the ebb and daymarks. "With wind out of the south, 10 boats had a clean downwind start and immediately headed into deep water, popped their kites and rode the ebb out to B just south of the San Mateo Bridge," report fleet captains Cathy Moyer and Kathy Conte. "The fleet then headed for the shallows to get current relief on the long beat and shorter run to the finish. The wind never clocked around, staying light and out of the south for the entire race, yielding flat water."

We’ll have more on all of the above in the February issue of Latitude 38.

On a day that dawned with only a whisper of a breeze, Long Beach YC was able to pull off the Two Gates Pursuit Race. After an hour-and-a-half postponement, the race committee started the first boat on a 5.17-mile course instead of the usual 13.2-mile course, which would have had most boats finishing in the dark. Skipper Lisa Meier took first overall in the 29-boat fleet and first in Class A on the Andrews 63 Medicine Man. “This was really a privilege,” Meier said, “to have an offer to sail with Medicine Man’s crew, who are some of sailing’s best.” Medicine Man’s owner, Bob Lane, said that the boat is geared for Southern California light-air sailing.

The 65th Corinthian Midwinters kick off this Saturday and Sunday, with starts in the Knox area west of Angel Island and racing on Central San Francisco Bay. Cal 20s and Express 27s have enough entries for division starts. Other one designs are possible, if five or more boats sign up. Divisions also include SF Bay 30s, sportboats, multihulls, and two for non-spinnaker boats, as well as numerous PHRF classes. Saturday night will feature the usual raft-up at the docks in downtown Tiburon, a band, and a BBQ dinner. We’ll report on the race weekend in the February Latitude.