Big Dinghy Saturday
The Big Dinghy is formatted much like its namesake (the Big Daddy), with multiple buoy races on Saturday and a pursuit race on Sunday, put on by the same club, Richmond YC.
Saturday’s triangle courses were set on two racing areas, Southampton Shoals and the more protected (sometimes too protected) flat waters of Keller Cove, between the Richmond harbor entrance and the Richmond Long Wharf.
Not part of their season, the El Toro fleet nevertheless joined the fun on the Keller Cove. Commented one El Toro sailor, “I bailed out of Keller (windless) Cove about an hour and a half before everyone else got towed out of there. The race committee got two races in for that course. The poor RC had a lot of tough calls.”
The big tow out of Keller Cove. After waiting about two hours for the breeze, the RC towed everyone out to the other side of the outer breakwater where two races were held. © 2009 Richmond YC
Fred Paxton beat the other Toreadors handily. Only Buzz Blackett came close.
Dan Ouellet, pictured here catching a splash, tied for second in Bytes with Michele Logan; Trish Sudell won their division. © 2009 Erik Simonson/www.h2oshots.com
Besides one design fleets, open classes were available on each racing area. On Keller Cove, four Snipes were grouped with three Day Sailors, three Sunfish, and two FJs. They all sailed boat for boat, no handicaps, and the Snipes ruled.
Sherry Eldridge demonstrates proper hiking form on Vince Casalaina’s Snipe. Sherry has won the Snipe Women’s World Championship and crewed for many of the top sailors in the class. She’s been sailing with Vince for six years, during which time they’ve won the local fleet championship twice.
© 2009 Erik Simonson/www.h2oshots.com
Vince Casalaina chimes in on the Snipe racing: “We hosted the Nationals last summer and it never fails that the energy to make such a big event happen makes the next year a tough time to energize the fleet. Given that, the four boats that came out to race had some of the closest racing we've seen in a long time. It seemed like we were never more than a couple of boat lengths apart at all the mark roundings and often overlapped at the first mark. Of course that's why you sail one design.
“We just sailed on Saturday. Our fleet does not count the Sunday race as part of the season championship, and we opted for work over sailing, though neither of us was really happy at missing a day on the Bay.” No Snipes made it out for Sunday’s pursuit race.
Steve Lowry and crew short-tacked their Day Sailor out of Keller Cove. They also sailed on Sunday, on the Long Course. © 2009 Richmond YC
In some ways, Wylie Wabbits are the perfect boats - who else gets to sail in the Big Daddy and the Big Dinghy? Former Wabbit builder Kim Desenberg’s Mr. MacGregor topped their division, followed closely by Erik Menzel and Tim Russell. Joining them at Southampton were Lasers, Flying Dutchmen, multihulls, and a large, diverse open class division. They got in three to four races on that course. You can get complete results at www.richmondyc.org. Be sure to go on to our story on Sunday’s Pursuit Race.
March 30, 2009
El Toros converge on a leeward mark in Saturday’s drop-mark racing. © 2009 Erik Simonson/www.h2oshots.com