Chicks and Old Guys Rule

Or at least they dominated the Bay’s race courses this past weekend. The weekend started early, on Friday, as the Fremont Bank International Masters Regatta got underway at St. Francis YC. The first trick to getting invited to this one is to be 60 or older (if you’re crewing, you can be a young’un of 45+). It also helps if you can keep up in a J/105, as the racing is very competitive - indeed, the top three finishers were separated by only one point after three days and five races. In order they were: John Jennings (20 points), Bruce Munro (21), and Robert Mosbacher (22). The local J/105 fleet loaned their craft to the regatta, and a dozen skippers rotated through the borrowed boats. For more, see www.stfyc.com.

They say “Age before beauty,” and accordingly the ladies’ events did not commence until Saturday. Golden Gate YC went first, with their brand new Ruth Gordon Schnapp Regatta.

After a postponement of an hour and half of pleasant, windless sunshine, a well-mannered westerly breezed in through the Gate, and Gary Salvo’s efficient race committee sent the ten teams on a single-sausage Cityfront course for Race 1 and a triangle for Race 2.

Amy Daniel’s 1D-35 crew aboard Alpha Puppy ruled the spinnaker division. Leslie Iacopi and gang aboard the Ranger 26 Mytoy did the same in non-spinnaker. For complete results, see www.ggyc.com/raceresults.php. This event raised about $3,000 for the breast cancer organization, Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Ruth’s gals. The regatta’s namesake is third from left, second row back, in the red suit. She is flanked by her daughters. The first and second place skippers are kneeling in the front row. ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com

Next up on Sunday, Sausalito YC’s Women Skippers Regatta also began with a postponement, this one in chilly fog. As the fog pulled back to Sausalito’s Wolfback Ridge, however, the breeze came up much like the day before, and the first of three races got underway. Alas, many boats had strayed too far from the committee boat and had to fight a heavy flood to get back to the starting line within the six minutes alotted between the dropping of the postponement flag and the start of the first division.

After two single-sausage races, a discussion over the VHF ensued about abandoning the first race and sailing a fourth one. In the end it was agreed that this would not be proper given the Sailing Instructions, but sailors did get a double sausage for the third and last race.

The regatta benefitted the Tall Ship Semester for Girls. For more on that worthy program, see www.tallshipacademy.org.

Cathy Stierhoff’s Santana 22 Tackful prevailed in the 11-boat non-spinnaker division. Enough spinnaker boats raced that they were divided into two groups for the purpose of awards. In the under 102 PHRF group, the Schumacher daysailer Q, with Janice Still at the helm, topped the class, despite not flying a kite (boats rating less than 99 were required to sail in the spinnaker division). In 102+, the IODs 306LP (Shawn Davies) and Youngster (Ashley Wells) took first and second respectively. Check back at www.syconline.org in a day or two for complete results.

2007’s Northern California women’s regattas conclude in three weeks with Island YC’s Jack & Jill + 1 (woman skipper, male crew, third person of either sex). The on-the-water competition will be followed by a Chili Challenge at the clubhouse. They invite sign-ups for both events; see www.iyc.org/raceinfo.htm for details.

Olympic Trials

If you read our story a few weeks back about the Finn North Americans, you may be interested to hear that 23-year-old Zach Railey (of Clearwater, FL, but a St. Francis YC member), has clinched a spot on the U.S. Olympic team after winning the Trials held in Newport Beach last week. Second was Geoffrey Ewenson of Annapolis, MD, followed by Darrell Peck of Gresham, OR. Trials were held on both coasts in all Olympic and Paralympic classes; see www.ussailing.org/olympics/OlympicTrials/race_results.html.

norcalsailing.com weekend update

October 16, 2007

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