A new star in the SSS constellation, the Richmond-South Beach started off the Richmond Yacht Club breakwater race deck on Saturday, headed north to the Brothers, through Raccoon Strait and the Slot and on down to South Beach Harbor’s breakwater next to AT&T Park.

This first installment started with a bang - actually two bangs for a 35-minute postponement due to severe lack of wind. The Singlehanded Sailing Society race committee rarely postpones, but breeze really was non-existent. Moore 24s on their way out to their Nationals race course clogged the harbor, some crawling along under sail, others paddling, still others catching tows from Good Samaritans, including some SSS racers. For more on the Moore 24 Nationals, see our report.

Once the Moore 24s had passed through and the Good Samaritans had returned to the starting area, the race committee decided to go ahead and start the race. Little zephyrs were puffing through, and the beginning of a flood current would carry the shorthanded sailors toward their first turning mark, the Brother Islands north of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

Six divisions started in reverse order - non-spinnaker boats first and multihulls last.

In the afternoon, the race committee drove out toward Richmond’s Pt. Molate and saw that many boats were moving nicely southward from the Brothers, so they headed over to set up the finish at South Beach. SSS Race Chair Max Crittenden comments: “Apparently we were looking at a brief bright spot in a day full of massive holes. Sally Taylor on Auggie (Santana 22) later reported catching up to the fleet at Red Rock and thinking they had the race won. Unfortunately, it took forever to get away from Red Rock. When you see flies on the boat it's not a good sign.”

Thom Davis, sailing singlehanded aboard the 24-ft trimaran Puppeteer, found the North Bay totally frustrating: “I was having a pretty good time until I passed under the Richmond Bridge the second time. I ‘proved’ (to myself anyway) that I was as good or better than anyone on a reachy course with very light wind. I passed Roshambo (F-31) and left Peregrine Falcon (F-27) and Triple Play (F-31) in the dust. When the wind filled, Roshambo retook the lead, but I think Peregrine Falcon motored away from the race (probably a good thing in retrospect).

“But the wind was really nasty after the Richmond Bridge coming back. I would sail toward Tiburon and get headed. Tack toward Richmond and get headed... it funneled me into the no-wind area. One really illustrative point: while me and two other boats are sitting still, Blueberry (Nonsuch 22) comes out of nowhere doing about 8 knots right in the middle of us... no, he didn't bring the wind with him, he left it behind and drifted with the rest of us after catching up.

“There I sat for 2+ hours watching other folks who had stayed toward Richmond get wind and move off. Frustrating is too mild a word.”

Max picks up the story: “We had a lovely 15 knots or so on the breakwater at South Beach, but again and again we saw boats glide out under the Bay Bridge only to park in a persistent hole just southeast of Yerba Buena Island. Once they got around NAS2 (a buoy leading to the entrance to Alameda’s former Naval Air Station), most of them had a nice beat up to the finish, and some of them looked spectacular entering McCovey Cove. 

“First to finish was Q, who also won the doublehanded division on corrected time. Bren Meyer, borrowing Steve Wonner's Uno, was the first singlehander to finish, despite being over early and restarting. Bren corrected out a full hour ahead of the next singlehander.

“Out of 52 starters, 27 were able to complete the course.” For complete results, see www.sfbaysss.org.