(Continued from Great Pumpkin Pt 1)

On Sunday morning, commuters could see a bit of fog creeping through cracks in Sausalito’s Wolfback Ridge. Before long, a dense, well defined blanket of the stuff had roared through the Gate, bringing with it plenty of wind and hiding Alcatraz from all but the GPS. Some racers got a chance to air out their #3 jibs and enjoy the last gasp of summer on San Francisco Bay. Through Raccoon Strait and back at the Richmond Riviera, sunshine and lighter breeze prevailed.

Saturday’s on-the-water events consisted of division racing around inflatable buoys on windward-leeward courses; on Sunday 164 boats chased each other in a reverse-handicap pursuit around the newly crispy Angel Island and fog-soaked Alcatraz - you pick the direction. Most of the boats that chose counterclockwise (through Raccoon Strait first) were hating life, as they fought their way against the last of a flood in no wind. However, at least one snuck through comfortably - Comfortably Mumm that is - and escaped a raging ebb by going in close to the East Bay shoreline before any of the clockwise boats could make it to the finish line just outside the Richmond Harbor entrance. Sailing a bit too slowly in the light stuff between Raccoon and Richmond, the clockwise fleet watched helplessly as the Mumm 30’s bright green spinnaker never drooped and inevitably united with the bright orange shape at the finish.

BAMA-rated (Bay Area Multihull Association) boats were invited to the pursuit race for the first time this year, and one of them finished second: Dave Austin’s Corsair 31 Lil Bear. Complete results from both days are available at www.richmondyc.org.

Between the two radically different days of racing was a totally rad ‘Monster Mash’ Halloween party at Richmond YC, featuring some of the most elaborate and creative costumes in recent years. For shots of some of the best and worst, see Rich Hudnut’s gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/rnutball/GreatPumpkin2008#.

Want to see more racing pictures? Go to our photo gallery (many thanks to Peter Lyons for sharing his photo boat). Also check out Peter Lyons’ and Erik Simonson’s photo galleries, and BAMA’s gallery from Sunday.