Second Half Opener
Laura Watt sailed in the Yacht Racing Association’s Second Half Opener this weekend and said it was fantastic fun, despite a few holes on Saturday. “I sailed with Elan (Express 37, owned by Bill Riess), since Bullet is in Hawaii. Conditions on Saturday were sunny with a decent breeze and dying ebb, perfect conditions until we got to the Bay Bridge on the way back, then huge wind holes appeared, making it tough for the whole fleet to make it to the mouth of the estuary, and slow going to Encinal Yacht Club after that.
“We had a small Express 37 fleet for the Second Half Opener, only four boats, but we had a bright sunshiny start for the long race Saturday.” © 2008 Laura Watt
“Sailing out toward the Gate on Saturday, we passed the Laser Nationals getting going. I can’t imagine dealing with a starting line with that many boats.” © 2008 Laura Watt
Henry King’s Jeannette on the run back. Jeannette spent a lot of time out of the water for the last several months, after having hit an underwater obstruction on the way home from the Wallace Cup. © 2008 Laura Watt
The Express 37 Elan returns to SF Bay. Laura is on the rail, forward, in black, holding her camera. © 2008 Peter Lyons/www.lyonsimaging.com
“After a long, long delay with little-to-no breeze, we finally inched our way down the Alameda Estuary.” © 2008 Laura Watt
“Two of the Express 37s were lucky and skirted the massive wind hole out on the Bay, so we lost our lead, but managed to hang onto third place (out of four boats).
“Our first mark of Sunday’s race was Alcatraz itself, rounding the island to port. At least it’s a hard mark to miss...” © 2008 Laura Watt
“Sunday was foggy, overcast and very breezy, 15-20 knots I think - much chillier, but still very fun!”
See more of Laura’s photos at www.flickr.com/photos/lawatt/sets/72157606416399234, and more of Peter Lyons’ at www.lyonsimaging.com For results, see www.yra.org.
July 28, 2008
The run back to the Bay from Pt. Bonita buoy. Infinity is in the foreground. The red spinnaker belongs to the Express 37 Elan. © 2008 Peter Lyons/www.lyonsimaging.com