January 21, 2013

Sometimes behind that pretty face lies a psychotic personality. That was the case with Saturday and Sunday's Midwinters at Corinthian Yacht Club. Saturday's race was held on one of the prettiest days of the new year, but wind holes, foul currents, and a strange demolition derby course made for an interesting relationship. The Race Committee tried their best to set up a windward/leeward course in the confines of the Knox racing area, with the windward mark in Richardson Bay and the leeward mark off Point Blunt. But a northerly breeze turned it into a reachy/reachy drag race. Throw in a three-knot ebb, the wind shadow of Angel Island, and shifty puffs, leave out an offset or 'reaching' mark to separate lanes of traffic, and you have a mix of boats big and small, slow and fast, trying their best not to hit each other. As far as we know, they all managed to avoid colliding.

Two SF30 boats with pretty new dark blue paint jobs: the Laser 28 Sonata (ex-Takeoff) is crossing behind the J/30 Wind Speed (ex-Vent Vitesse). ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Alan Orr's Ericson 36-RH Sweet Grapes and Marc Sykes' J/35 Pegasus. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Even the SL33 BridgeRunner found a light spot near Angel Island. They won the small multihull division on Saturday, but didn't race on Sunday. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Sunday had even warmer sun, but a bit less wind, lacking Saturday's shifty puffs. The RC sent the spinnaker boats across the Bay to the Cityfront and back to a finish off the CYC race deck. Despite light spots and lots of ebb, the fleets enjoyed a fast romp in beautiful weather. But boats in the non-spinnaker classes were given a course around Angel Island and down Raccoon Strait back to the club. Those poor souls endured lighter wind with the current against them all the way, and many could not finish by the 1630 deadline. A pretty day, sure – but frustrating for them.

The Race Committee on the deck at the Corinthian waited anxiously during the last few minutes of the race on Sunday. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The wind was tantalizingly close for this group trying to finish before the deadline, including four Cal 20s. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

The boats sent to the Cityfront had a better time of it. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Some of the stories back at the dock included the crew of John Clauser's 1D48 Bodacious+, who were out of luck trying to make the race with the hoist at their dry storage yard out of commission. Mark Howe, who had planning to crew on Bodacious+, said, "Hey let's take my boat instead." War Pony is a Farr 36 and was well suited for the conditions.

The Bodacious+ crew trotted out War Pony instead. ©2013 norcalsailing.com

Axel Mehnert on the Schumacher 30 Shamless invited a visiting friend out on the race. "Morena is a personal friend of ours, and as we joined her birthday party on Saturday, I asked her if she would have fun joining us on Sunday's race. She was raised on the German North Sea island of Sylt, therefore has some affinity to the sea and sailing but never really got into it." Word is she really liked sailing on the Bay and wants to do more.

Aboard George Ellison's Shameless on Sunday's long beat back to Tiburon. Left to right: Ken Janke, Axel Mehnert, Morena Waack, Harry Macartney (behind Morena), and Celeste Mirassou. ©2013 George Ellison

The series continues on February 16-17, including the Rob Moore Memorial Regatta and fund-raiser on the 16th. With half the races completed in the series of four, standings are close in most of the divisions. Check out the results and a photo gallery at www.cyc.org.