The Yacht Racing Association’s Party Circuit has wrapped up their year with a two-day Season Closer this past weekend, hosted by Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon. Still in its toddlerhood, the Party Circuit has caught on quickly with racers not wanting to commit to a whole bunch of weekends each year, and desiring fun destinations for their crews and families. Using the centenarian Vallejo Race as the shining standard, adding in the Second Half Opener and the new Season Closer to form three weekends of fun and competition - in that order - the YRA has a winning combo.

Boats signed up for the Party Circuit and the HDA (handicap) series were given a 20-mile three-island tour on Saturday, while ODCA (one design) racers got windward-leeward heats on the Knox race area (three for the Olson 25 fleet, two for the others). This weekend also concluded the ODCA season. You can see all the results at www.yra.org/ODCA/odca_race_results.html.

The Islands Tour course took the fleets around Alcatraz, Angel and Red Rock Islands, all to port. The wind was pretty good until about  Southampton Shoals, where the leaders fell into a great big hole. Seeing their distress, observant followers were able to stay to the right - toward Richmond - and avoid the worst of it. Once beating back from Red Rock, they had a nice little breeze. Shameless hit a rock at the northwest corner of Red Rock, and had to spin a 360 to free herself (or was it a penalty turn for hitting the mark?) Despite the brief delay, Shameless won the SF 30 division.

Sometimes local knowledge helps in unexpected ways. Gerry Brown of Mintaka 4 protested Jarlen for going inside the green buoy that marks the tip of Belvedere Island; many racers were hugging the Belvedere shore for current relief and wondered if that mark was restricted, but the Corinthian Friday night regulars on Jarlen knew it wasn’t, which the CYC race committee confirmed. A caveat if you choose to go inside: there are rocks extending out from shore, so stay close to the buoy.

On Sunday all fleets sailed in the Crazy 8 pursuit race. Imagine a pursuit race like Richmond YC holds on the Sundays of Big Daddy and Great Pumpkin, with boats starting in reverse order according to their PHRF rating. Theoretically, they should all arrive at the finish line at the same time - with variation resulting from tactics, strategy, crew work, equipment condition, and luck - after sailing around Angel Island and Alcatraz Island, in either direction. Only with the Crazy 8 race, you have to draw a figure eight around the islands instead of just an oval. Skippers had the choice of two courses: Alcatraz to starboard, then Angel to port; or Angel to starboard, then Alcatraz to port; with Little Harding thrown in as the first and last mark to make the distances even. Unlike Richmond’s pursuit races, this one was still scored in divisions, rather every boat against every other boat.

Would anyone choose to go around Angel first? Charlie Brochard, whose Olson 34 Baleineau won their division on Saturday, rounded Little Harding and made a sharp U-turn to the north to go back to Raccoon Strait, while almost everyone else took a left turn and headed for Alcatraz. The flyer didn’t really pay off for Charlie, but it wasn’t the end of the world either, as he still came in third in his division.

First finisher of the Crazy 8 race, Mark Simpson on the Olson 25 Shadowfax, said they went around Alcatraz first. "We were questioning on which way to finish. When we saw Shameless cross the line without a sound from the RC, we punched across the line to get the gun." George Ellison on Shameless: "We just figured on finishing in the direction we started. We didn't see any official direction listed in the SIs." Since the Olson 25 and the Schumacher 30 were in different divisions, they both won. Hopefully the instructions for this race next year will be more thorough.

In this pursuit race, no over-earlies would be called. If you’re over the start line early, you can’t go back to exonerate yourself. The race committee just tacks on 15 minutes to your finish and everyone gets on with it. The light winds right at the start line caused more racers to be late - only a couple were over early: the Beneteau 40.7 White Fang, and the Tarten Ten Centurion’s Ghost, which had even lighter winds and heavy ebb at their finish. Along with the Nonsuch 22 Blueberry, their approach to the line was so agonizingly slow that they received cheers and applause from the crowd at the Corinthian when they finally made it across.

See www.yra.org for all the results. Next on the schedule for the YRA are the Champion of Champions race for ODCA top finishers, and the Yankee Cup for HDA top finishers. Both will be held on the Cityfront on October 11.