“It was a very unusual circumstance for San Francisco from what I’m told,” said John Walker, owner of the 82-ft Mull Sorcery. “We were on spinnakers out and on spinnakers back. We didn’t have the opportunity to show what she can do on the wind. You’ve got modern stuff out there with a lot of new technology and we are running a boat that hasn’t been changed since ’83. We were second to Flash around the Lightship. She was a lot further ahead than we wanted; with a small amount of on-the-wind we were catching her. But as soon has the breeze eased she was gone.”

The Yacht Racing Association changed Sorcery’s rating from -66 to -45. They have only done four races in Northern California so far, and haven’t won all of them. “I don’t know why they changed it. There are no new modifications.” Sorcery was given a DNF in the Lightship because they failed to check in.

Also in PHRF 1A, Lani Spund’s SC 52 Kokopelli2 had a great first leg, sailing ahead of everyone, until they hit a parking lot near Pt. Bonita, where Flash got by them.

Dan Pruzan, sailing his Express 27 Wile E. Coyote reports, “It was an interesting race (we sailed about three-quarters of it under spinnaker). We started under spinnaker with the wind out of the northwest. It was a beam reach out to the Gate in light air. Once we got under the Gate, the wind shifted more to the north-northeast, and we were jibing in light air against the flood tide. By the time we got to the east end of the shipping channel, the wind shifted back to the northwest and it was a tight jib reach to the Lightship. The wind never got above about 12 knots on the way out. Once we rounded the Lightship, it was a tight spinnaker reach back in the remaining flood tide. As we got towards the east end of the shipping channel, the wind started to die down to about 5 knots and the ebb started to kick in. After about 45 minutes of sailing in the light air, the wind filled in again, which took us back under the Gate. Inside the Gate the wind was blowing about 20 to the finish. All-in-all, it was a nice day with the sun out and mellow seas.”

This was a counter for the Express 27 championship series. Ten boats raced in that division, with Bill Moore and Nick Gibbens’ Shenanigans topping the fleet.

For complete results, see www.yra.org/OYRA/docs/Results/OYRA_Lightship1_2008_results.htm.