race report
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 Cinnamon Girl, as seen from Siento el Viento, in Saturday's Joan Storer Regatta. ©2014 norcalsailing.com |
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Two for the Ladies
October 13, 2014 On the morning of October 5, San Francisco Bay south of the Bay Bridge had a light northerly, just enough to sail on. South Beach Yacht Club's Red Bra Regatta, an all-women race, was scheduled to start at 1300 hours. The race committee postponed the start, and the wind died while the ebb built.
The RC tried to start a race on a light northeasterly, but the current was too strong, and the boats in the first start were all over early and couldn't get back to starting side of the line, so the race was abandoned.
Finally, around 1500, a nice westerly breeze marched across the water from the direction of McCovey Cove. The RC set up a windward mark near South Beach Harbor and sent the two divisions (Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker) off on a double-sausage course.
The Elan 40 Tupelo Honey, sailed by Andrea Nelson, finished first, followed closely by Joan Byrne's Olson 911S Heart of Gold, which corrected out.
Deb Fehr brought her Santana 22 Meliki over from Alameda. This was her boat's first time back on the water after having a post-collision nose-job. Since she'd hurt her back, she switched divisions from Spinnaker to Non, and won.
For complete results, see www.southbeachyc.org.
The following Saturday, October 11, five crews raced in the Joan Storer Regatta. This race allows one dude per boat (though not everyone took advantage of that allowance), but he's not allowed to touch the helm. Unlike the South Bay the Sunday before, the North Bay cooked up a modest but consistent breeze with enough velocity to overcome a ripping flood. Due to the southeasterly wind direction, the course consisted of a one-tack beat, followed by a broad reach, a jibe mark in the worst of the current, a broad reach on the opposite jibe, and a one-tack beat to the finish. Susan Hoehler's J/105 Joyride was, by far, the fastest boat in the race, and the only one to fly a spinnaker. Despite the flood, Joyride ate up the rectangular 4.6-mile course in less than an hour.
Finishing in contact with each other were Shirley Vaughan's Hawkfarm Red Hawk, Mariellen Stern's cold-molded 26-footer Cinnamon Girl, and the C&C 29 Siento el Viento with a guest skipper at the wheel. All three experienced a 90-degree wind shift just before the finish line and had to tack to cross.
Full results should be posted soon at www.tyc.org.
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