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SF Bay 30s
Walter George's Wahoo and Tim McDonald's Lazy Lightning reach up to Treasure Island in SBYC's Island Fever. ©2012 norcalsailing.com

Island Fever in South Beach

November 19, 2012

The clouds parted and the sun came out for the first edition of South Beach Yacht Club's Island Fever winter series. The Island name is because the race committee can send you around Treasure Island, Alcatraz Island or both. The fever part is because on Saturday some of the boats had a choice of which way to go. And that caused a fever for some. "Division F (SF 30s) went on course 15 which is around TI," remarked Robert Hu aboard the Olson 911S Heart of Gold. "About half the fleet went around clockwise (leaving TI to starboard), and the other half went around counter-clockwise (leaving TI to port). In the end more of the boats that went around TI to port were further ahead."

Heart of Gold
Heart of Gold finds a puff while trying to head off to TI. ©2012 norcalsailing.com

The SF Bay 30 class, which has quite a few members living at South Beach Harbor, is new to this series. "We enjoyed racing with the SF30 boats as a class, but we were particularly please to have Bob and Luther Izimirian as competitors aboard the Capo 30 Wahoo. While they're still getting use to the boat, and we enjoyed finishing ahead of them, we are bracing ourselves for stiff competition when they finally dial in Walter George's boat." said Robert.


Fleet Foxtrot peek out of McCovey Cove at their start. ©2012 norcalsailing.com

The other divisions raced different courses and the non-spinnaker fleet were sent off up the Embarcadero to Blossom Rock and back. Five boats raced, and they corrected out within four minutes of each other in reaching conditions.

Seaview
Tight quarters at the start for the C&C 110 Seaview and Avalon, a Catalina 30. ©2012 norcalsailing.com

Part of the bragging rights in the series is the trophy in the form of pink flamingoes. Each race you win earns you a plastic bird to place on your transom. Walking the South Beach docks in the winter, you can see the best boats have the most birds hanging around. Islands, flamingoes and sunshine. All you need is a Piña Colada at the end.

Lotsa birds
The Hobie 33 Aero sports plenty of faded pink flamingoes from previous years. ©2012 norcalsailing.com

See www.southbeachyachtclub.org for results.

Race Committe
Both the start and finish are inside McCovey Cove. ©2012 norcalsailing.com

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