Half Hog
Plenty of sun, plenty of wind, now all we needed was plenty of water to take off down Tomales Bay toward the Pacific Ocean. A half hour postponement waiting for the tide to rise, and July 5’s Half Hog race was off at 1500. Inverness Yacht Club, on tidelands near the head of the Bay, puts on the race, which goes halfway to Hog Island, the only true island in the long skinny bay.
Inverness YC lies at the southeast end of Tomales Bay. NOAA chart
It’s a simple windward-leeward course, with a start at the club and a downwind finish on the same line. The one turning mark is an inflatable set just past Indian Beach on the western shore, about even with Marshall on the eastern shore.
Rigging a 110 in the Inverness YC yard. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
Fourteen boats made the race: a bunch of Flying Scots and 110s, a pair of Johnson 18s, and one Flying Dutchman, sailed by Mike Meszaros, which rounded the mark and crossed the finish line first.
Waiting for the water to rise, there’s plenty of time to chat with fellow racers. Note the colorful line of 110s on the left and the Flying Scots on the right. The white footballs in far upper left corner belong to the two Johnson 18s. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
Using a hand cart to wheel the Flying Scot Riskmaster out of the yard, past the clubhouse, and onto the long pier. We especially liked how the club building is organized, with dinghy racks behind the garage doors, lots of lockers and a kids’ room behind that, and the dining room, galley, and bar upstairs, with a great view. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
The race deck and boat hoist. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
Lowering a Flying Scot with the hoist. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
It helps to have local knowledge onboard to know where the shoals are. As might be expected, the wind is stronger and more consistent out in the middle - lighter, puffier and shiftier closer to shore, especially the western, more leeward shore.
The fleet is off on the long beat to the windward mark. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
The three sailors aboard the Flying Scot sit on the rail. With no hiking straps, there’s not much hiking out. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
By contrast, in the narrow 110 the driver sits on the rail while the one crew hikes hard in a trapeze. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
Closer to the ocean, the fog pours in. Here kid-sailed Riskmaster has turned downwind and prepares to set the spinnaker. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
Winds at the start registered 18 knots, and we’d estimate that some of the good size puffs coming down hit 25. Rear Commodore Mark Darley’s Johnson 18 would have won on corrected time - only it capsized 25 yards from the finish line: “We had the spinnaker up, and a big gust hit us. We’d had many big gusts, but that one caught us by surprise.” Mark did finish, but he had to pick up his crew, Ceci, first. At one point she was doing the backstroke to rejoin the boat.
Kim Desenberg (yes, the same one who has so much success on his Wylie Wabbit Mr. MacGregor) won on corrected time in his Flying Scot. The trophy is a ceramic pig (for Hog Island). “If you win you get your name on the front of the pig. If you lose you get your name on the back of the pig!” explained Mark.
As night falls, the fog rolls further up the bay, while a Fourth of July party packs the clubhouse, which was built in 1913. © 2008 norcalsailing.com
For more on the 1939-designed International 110, see their official site, www.110class.com. For more on the 1959-designed Flying Scots, see www.fssa.com. Inverness YC uses a Flying Scot in their adult sail training program, and they are especially proud of their youth sailing program (in dinghies). See www.invernessyachtclub.org.
July 6, 2008
The strong ocean wind fetches up some waves on the long bay, making for a wet ride to weather. No cameras were harmed in the filming of these pictures. No film was used either. © 2008 norcalsailing.com