Berkeley Yacht Club Midwinters

January 11, 2011

Saturday: First off, we want to thank Jeff Zarwell of RegattaPRO for graciously lending us a couple boxes of shells by zooming them over to us that morning. Our order from an outfit in Minnesota had apparently been snow bound.

And speaking of snow – aren’t we the lucky folks here in San Francisco Bay! We get to go sailing in January (as long as no one is in a hurry, that is). We were able to start the 55 frost-biters on time, for a change. An eight mile windward/leeward course was chosen, but the going was very sloooooow. So slow that the slower rated-boats never had a chance to beat the 1700 deadline and only 50 boats finished.

A peek at the cumulative results shows that in many divisions, first place is looking pretty solid. In four of the divisions, the leader has snagged all bullets. Things are not settled at all in the Express 27 fleet. There is a tie for 1st between Ray Lotto’s El Raton and Will Paxton’s Motorcycle Irene. And with a sizable 18-boat fleet, final places can change dramatically. February should pretty exciting!

On the foredeck of the Merit 25 Twilight Zone. ©2011 Stephen Buckingham

Sunday: Ta da! We see the sun. It appears to cost us knots of wind, however. And the direction was close to 'unknown'. After a 20-minute delay, the 24 boats were sent off towards GOC with great hopes. After an hour or so, it became apparent that a shortened course was needed. In fact, the slowest rated division ended up with only a 3.8 nm course. And it took them more than two hours to cover it. But the sun was out!

Andy Macfie's Olson 30 Hoot won Division 2. ©2011 Stephen Buckingham

For February, we can expect a bit of drama perhaps in Div. 3. Any one of the top three could end up winning. Richard Stockdale in his J/24 Froglips, or James Fair in his Merit 25 Chesapeake, or Tony Chargin in his Moore 24 Twoirrational are basically tied. The Fat Lady hasn’t quite sung in some of the other divisions, either.

Raising the jib on the GP26 Salt Peanuts, winners of Division 1. ©2011 Stephen Buckingham

The results are up at www.berkeleyyc.org.

- Bobbi Tosse, Race Chair, Berkeley YC

Special thanks to Stephen Buckingham and Jennifer McKenna of the Santana 22 Zingaro for supplying us with photos.