Race Chair Bobbi Tosse filed this race report about Berkeley YC’s second month of midwinter racing on the Berkeley Circle:

Saturday, December 13: To summarize the weather of the day…The wind direction was mostly from the northwest – except for the times it came from the north or east or south or west. The wind velocity was mostly 15 to 20 – except for the times it was zero or 5 or 10. The good news? It did not actually rain!

In spite of the threat of cold and rain, 56 boats showed up at XOC.  In the beginning, there was zero wind and a few short sleeves were spotted. Eventually, however, the breeze filled in with a bit of enthusiasm and, after only a 45 minute postponement, the seven divisions were sent on a 8 nm so-called windward/leeward course with the first mark of “G”. This course choice proved to be fairly reasonable for the first couple of divisions. Somewhere around 1430, the wind began to die and then filled slightly from every direction imaginable. Spinnakers were up, then down, then on starboard tack, then on port tack, etc. We actually saw boats on opposite legs proceeding towards each other – both with spinnakers up! A fun, fun day of winter racing on San Francisco Bay.

As seen by the cumulative results, the next two races of the series could shake things up a bit. Only two points separate five boats in Divison A; the top three boats of the Olson 30s are virtually tied; and there are ties for first in Divison B, the Moore 24s and Division D.  Should be a whole lot of fun!

Sunday, December 14: Our luck ran out by Sunday and we got thoroughly drenched.  And it was bitterly cold!  On our way out to XOC, bets were taken on Committee as to how many other stupid people there might be. Since only 34 had signed up, the consensus was we would be lucky to see 12 or 15. To our surprise, 25 showed up and started. This proves something, I guess – but I’m not sure what. The wind was out of the southeast and stayed at 10 to 15 pretty much all day.

Results show that Sunday looks almost as interesting as Saturday.  Two divisions, Division 2 and Catalina 22s, have ties for first and it looks like almost any one of the six Ultimate 20s could take the Gold.

In conclusion, I want to once again thank Peter Lyons of Lyons Imaging. Again, even in the bitter cold and rain, he picked up our temporary buoys for us while we finished boats. This good deed allowed us to return to our warm barn that much sooner. Thank you, thank you Peter!

- Bobbi Tosse, Race Chair

Results and cumulative scores from both series can be seen at www.berkeleyyc.org/racing/midwinters/index.html. The next Berkeley Midwinter weekend will be January 10-11. In the meantime, BYC serves up more casual Chowder Races (followed by chow) every Sunday.