When you head out to the line at 1000 and it's foggy, cold and already windy in the Slot you know you’re in for a beating. Saturday’s Sarcoma Cup, hosted for its sophomore year by Richmond YC, proved that summer isn't quite dead yet as the fleets had a fun yet wet time on two courses in three races set up on the Olympic Circle.

As the wind steadily increased to 30 knots by the third race, some boats started to break and drop out. Erik Menzel’s Wylie Wabbit Bad Hare Day broke a spinny pole and had to retire from race three, and Tim Russell and crew on the Wabbit Weckless filled half the boat up with water and limped home to the club. Drew Harper’s Viper BoomSlang retired in race three after bashing around because, as he said, "We’d have more fun at the club."

But as the attrition rate of the small boats was going up, the bigger boats were still hanging on. Nineteen J/105s raced three tough races just to make sure the crew were good and tired and would sleep well that night. One J/105 newbie remarked on how well the boats handled the conditions: "They may not be light and fast, but they seem to like the Bay conditions. We got slammed by a 35-knot blast just as we set the spinnaker at the offset and survived. But we watched the lead boat's kite explode in a big bang."

As PRO Fred Paxton sent the cold, wet and tired fleet on one more race he announced, "If your fleet doesn't want a long race, better tell me now because I'm going to wear you out on this one." No one spoke up quickly enough, and off they went on the longest course, a triple sausage. And the RC was courteous enough to square the lines to make sure they had plenty of tacks and jibes.

Back at the club, organizers Beat Sarcoma and Richmond YC welcomed the tired racers with free massages, free snacks, free wine, free beer, a rummage sale, a silent auction, music, dinner and dancing. All for a good cause - raising funds and awareness for sarcoma research.

Sunday’s pursuit race course had a start east of Southampton Shoals, around Alcatraz and Angel Island to starboard, and back to a finish at RYC. The startline crew on a little crash boat hoisted a Jolly Roger for the Warning, started the Santana 22s first at 1105, and flew the Jolly Roger for the rest of the starting sequence. Boats started according to a published time for their PHRF, the theory being that they should all finish at exactly the same time, which, of course, never happens.

Wind in the starting area was quite nice, and once in the Slot it built to a steady 20-ish. Close to Alcatraz, the windward mark, it became quite gusty, certainly peaking in the high twenties. It was a long slog upwind however, not so much due to the wind as the current. A raging flood produced a three steps forward, two steps back sort of effect.

Not everyone made it past the buoy at Little Alcatraz - click here for our report on that. Those that hoisted spinnakers near Angel Island had their hands full. Kites wrapped, jammed, tore, you name it. Still, despite the carnage, 32 of the 39 boats that started managed to finish.

A seemingly endless supply of Le Fabriche Le Roselle pink wine was offered for free. As the celebrants tried in vain to polish it all off, the live auction was held, followed by the awards ceremony.

Pursuit race winners were announced in reverse order:
4) J/World, a J/120 chartered by John Cabrall
3) Witchy Woman, Express 27, Thomas Jenkins (defending champion)
2) Get Happy!!, Express 27, Brendan Busch
1) Shadow, Formula 40 catamaran, Peter Stoneberg

Shadow started last (at 12:00:12) and has a PHRF of -75!

Nineteen J/105s sailed in the regatta, opting for two more windward-leeward races (can I have some more please sir!) on Sunday rather than the two-island tour of the pursuit race. Bruce Stone’s Arbitrage vanquished his brethern with the low score of 14 in five races.

For complete results, see www.richmondyc.org. For more on the benificiary of this event, medical research into this rare group of cancers, see www.beatsarcoma.org. Volunteers are in the process of assembling a photo gallery from which you will be able to order pictures, thereby contributing more funds for sarcoma research. See http://beatsarcoma.smugmug.com.