norcalsailing.com weekend update
!st Impression, a Santa Cruz 27 sailed by Jan Grant, TMC Racing, a J/24 sailed by Lulu Yang, and Dominatrix, a Santana 22 sailed by Heidi Schmidt, race past Coast Guard Island in Island YC’s Jack & Jill + 1. ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
Jack & Jill + 1, Midwinters, Samba Pa Ti
Jack & Jill + 1
With Indian Summer lingering into November, the Estuary was the hot place to be on Sunday, as 17 Jills, with their Jacks and Plus Ones, hit the race course for the last of the year’s NorCal women skipper regattas, hosted by Island Yacht Club. The regatta is followed by a chili cookoff, but this year an ice cream social might have been more appropriate. What a way to bring in Standard Time!
The RC hoists an individual recall flag in a competitive start.
Photo by Loretta Sheridan ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
A light ebb and lighter breeze made for close starts in three divisions: light PHRF, heavy PHRF, and Santana 22s.
Division 2 start. The boat closest to the Race Committee end is My Tahoe Too, a Capri 25 sailed by Barbara Phillips. Photo by Loretta Sheridan ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
Postponements seem to be inevitable these days. All we can say is that this one was briefer than most lately. Once in sequence, starts went off without pause.
The WylieCat 30 Uno, with guest skipper Lucie Mewes, threads the needle in slow motion between Maverick, a Columbia 5.5 sailed by collegiate racer Noah Shaw, and the Catalina 38 Harp, sailed by Linda Farabee. Maverick won Division 2. ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
Laraine Salmon’s Bewitched, a Merit 25, won Division 1. ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
Three of the skippers were graduates of last month’s Women’s Sailing Seminar, hosted each October by Island YC. Two of them were Santana 22 sailors: Miho Andrews on Bonito (which is regularly raced with great success by husband Mike), and Jerez Shulang on Poniente. The third was Lilia Celhay on the Catalina 27 Bodrum Sunset.
Lilia Celhay and crew were all smiles aboard Bodrum Sunset. ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
Besides the bottles of wine and plaques which went to the winners, Island YC handed out certificates to each skipper and crew who participated.
The female sailors who raced on Sunday gathered for a group photo.
©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
Jonathan Andrews crewed for his mom and dad on Bonito, and proudly showed off the family’s First Place trophy. ©2007 www.norcalsailing.com
A pretty racy club, Island will be at it again next Sunday, with the first of the Estuary Midwinters. Island and Alameda YCs have joined forces this year to bring you a series of five races November through March. For info see www.iyc.org.
More Midwinters
While the Jack & Jill + 1 was making its leisurely way around inflatable marks in the Estuary on Sunday, Sausalito YC kicked off their midwinter series in similarly light air, and also featured a Santana 22 division. Results are not yet available, but will be posted at www.syconline.org. With four more races, it’s not too late to get in on the action on the Knox course.
Golden Gate YC had to abandon their first midwinter on Saturday, as the ebb proved too strong for the weak wind. All divisions got started, then drifted toward the first mark, Blossom Rock, or backwards toward the Gate. Many anchored, others just headed back to the club. About two hours after racing got underway, the RC called it quits. “The bigger boats might have made it as far as Pier 39,” said Linda Farabee of Harp, a previous champion of this series. “We figure we won, since we were first back to the dock. They fired three guns for us.” Plenty of racing is yet to be had in this series too, and if you missed the first race you’re still even in the standings with everyone else. See www.ggyc.com/racenotices.php to sign up.
Berkeley YC and Encinal YC both host midwinters next weekend. See www.berkeleyyc.org/racing/midwinters/index.html and www.encinal.org.
Westerner Samba Pa Ti Wins East Coast Championship
The TransPac 52 Samba Pa Ti, campaigned by John Kilroy of Los Angeles and San Francisco, beat defending champion Dan Meyers of Boston and Newport, RI, in the Storm Trysail Club’s three-day IRC East Coat Championship in Annapolis this weekend. “We thought that were through with our year at the Rolex Big Boat Series,” said Kilroy, who has sailed in ten major races over the past year, winning eight, “but then we were bringing Samba Pa Ti to the East Coast to be optimized for all the IRC racing we’ve been doing, and we decided to stop here first.”
Samba Pa Ti sailing to victory in Annapolis. Photo by JH Peterson
Imagine how well she’ll do once she’s been ‘optimized’! Samba won IRC 1 in September’s Rolex Big Boat Series in SF.
November 5, 2007