A lovely day dawned for the third ocean race in as many Saturdays, the Doublehanded Farallones Race, put on by BAMA (Bay Area Multihull Association).

With slow going early on against an adverse current, way, way more boats dropped out than the 11 which finished. Boats in both groups were out past dark. Misfortune befell one, the J/80 Heatwave, sometime after 2000 hours. Sailed by David Wilhite and David Servais, the 27-ft boat was coming off a big wave under reefed main and jib when she spun suddenly, made a very loud cracking noise, was swamped by the wave, and rolled over.

The two Davids were wearing lifejackets - good. They were both tethered to jacklines - in this instance, bad. They had to cut the tethers to get out from under the boat (do you keep a good knife on your body when you’re sailing?). One of them was able to grab the VHF from a sheet pocket, and they called the Coast Guard.

The Guard Coast picks up the story: “At 8:23 p.m., the Coast Guard received a call for help over the radio from the crew of the sailing vessel Heat Wave, which capsized eight miles off the shore of the San Francisco Bay with two people aboard.

“One of the sailors was picked up by a 47-ft rescue boat from Station Golden Gate and the other was picked up by the Pilot Boat California. Both were rescued at approximately 9:20 p.m. A rescue helicopter from Air Station San Francisco also assisted in the search and rescue operation.

“The sailors were treated for hypothermia and transferred to awaiting emergency medical services at Coast Guard Station Golden Gate near the Marin Headlands.

“The wearing of lifejackets and carrying a handheld VHF radio helped save these two sailors’ lives.

“The Doublehanded Farallones Race starts near the Golden Gate Yacht Club and goes out and around the Southeast Farallon Island and back to the starting line, an approximate distance of 58 miles.”

Both sailors are bruised, battered and hypothermic, but escaped major injury. Of course there’s a long thread about this on Sailing Anarchy at http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=88193. Scroll down and you’ll find David Servais’ firsthand report (look for Team Jenna Racing).

Stephen Buckingham, sailing his Santana 22 Tchoupitoulas with Jennifer McKenna, commented on the first part of the race: “Everyone got out the Gate fine, but drifted around Pt Bonita with almost no wind in one of the worst washing machines I've seen. Big boats, small boats - everyone was there. Some boats got out of the cycle by going real close to the rocks. We didn't feel so good about the conditions, so we quit and went back home around noon.”

Rich Hudnut, Jr., sailing with Tom Condy on their Schumacher 52 Cinnabar (ex-California Girl), reports that “A racer who showed up late at our dock said they saw 30 knots 10 miles off the Farallones, and 40 coming back, with big steep waves.”

Of the boats that did finish the race, the first to finish, first overall, and first multihull was Native, the Newick 38 trimaran sailed by Stephen Marco and Curtis Pitts. They came in at 1824 hours. Next was Trevor Baylis’s J/100 Brilliant at 1935 hours with crew Paul Allen. Brilliant is already having a brilliant ocean season, with a win in the Doublehanded Lightship two weeks ago.

Correcting out as the first monohull to finish and the second overall was Peter Schoen and Roe Patterson’s Moore 24 Mooretician. The Olson 30 Dragonsong, sailed by Sam McFadden and Don Schultz, rounded out the top three. You can see all the results at www.sfbama.org.

Many thanks to Rich and Tom, and Stephen and Jennifer, for the photos. You can see more at http://picasaweb.google.com/rnutball/DoubleHandedFarralones# and www.flickr.com/photos/jenmck/sets/72157615962835417.