‘Wildcard’ and ‘Nuckelavee’ Duke It Out at the Encinal Regatta

On July 25, Encinal Yacht Club and the San Francisco Bay Yacht Racing Association hosted the 2026 Encinal Regatta, which started on the Berkeley Circle and sent boats out to and around the Point Bonita channel marker, and then back into the Bay to a finish off the Encinal docks in the Oakland Estuary. Brandon Mercer, who served as tactician on Wildcard, recaps the event:

The PHRF A fleet was the start, and we split evenly on whether heading for the layline of the North Tower or finding current relief up the Cityfront was best. Bodacious and Saoirse headed for San Francisco, while Wildcard, Nuckelavee and Arsenal went right for the tower. It was pretty even either way.

The wind built, and Wildcard, a Santa Cruz 37, peeled from the J2 to the J4, then headed for the windward mark. At Point Bonita, things got spicy. Wildcard and Nuckelavee sent it, with big kites for both, and both tried to carry them too high and got knocked around. Before the Gate, Wildcard peeled to the A7 and then could hold a high angle, while trading jibes with Nuckelavee. Right past the bridge, with winds 25–27, photographer Erik Simonsen was in the right place at the right time, but Wildcard was not — barreling in on port trying to cross a broaching Nuckelavee.

Dumping the kite and heading way up high, Wildcard took Nuckelavee’s transom as the Melges 32 battled a big, white mess of sail. It was a close crossing, but not as close as the later jibe battle down the Oakland Estuary in calmer conditions.

Each puff sent one boat scooting ahead of the other. Nuckelavee, being so light, caught the cannonballs through the buildings toward Encinal first and jumped ahead, beating Wildcard by just 17 seconds after an epic battle across the Bay.