The forecast rain finished up before dawn, making for a dry weather start in the Three Bridge Fiasco. Winds lived up to their prediction: not much. After the earliest starts, however, a fresh southeasterly filled in, making for a nice beat for boats headed west to east for Treasure Island. Meanwhile, the boats that chose to knock off Blackaller first found themselves becalmed. The ebb started early and began to suck them out Gate. Fortunately, a westerly blew in the Gate to save the racers trying to get across to the Marin side, headed for Raccoon Strait and Red Rock.

In case you’re not already familiar with it, the Three Bridge Fiasco kicks off the Singlehanded Sailing Society’s season of singlehanded and doublehanded racing. This race is unique: you can start in either direction and take the three marks in any order and any direction, to finish in.... either direction! The three marks correspond to the three bridges: Blackaller buoy east of the Golden Gate Bridge’s South Tower, Red Rock island near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and Treasure Island/Yerba Buena, which bifurcates the Bay Bridge.

A reverse order start sent the Cal 20 Can O’Whoopass off first at 0930; the Formula 40 catamaran Shadow was last to start at 1119. Entries in doublehanded divisions numbered 310; with 295 starting. Singlehanded entries numbered 49, with 44 actually starting.

The first boat dropped out at 1134; the J/109 Joyride ran aground. At 1145, SSS Commodore Bill Merrick, sailing his Ericson 35 MkII Ergo, called the TBF Principal Race Officer to report that he had made it to Red Rock. At noon, Phil MacFarlane of Sail a Vie, another Ericson 35 MkII, left a message on the voice mail that he dropped out after hitting another boat (he was on port).

As we post this, the busy race committee is taking a mid-day pizza break, while continuing to monitor the radio for racers and vessel traffic. We’ll have a wrap-up report tomorrow. If you’d like to send us comments about your race or photos, please email us via our contact page. For a complete list of entries and more, see www.sfbaysss.org.