THE RACING To begin this month's racing news we start with April's Newport to Ensenada Race, which was remarkable for its wind and the number of trimarans vying to break the speed record. Closer to home, San Francisco Bay racing is in full swing this season. The Singlehanded Sailing Society was busy running the Round the Rocks, Duxship and Singlehanded Farallones races. Berkeley YC ran the WBRA's Race #2, and midway through May there were the SFYC's Elite Keel, StFYC's Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure, and SYC's Women's Skipper regattas. did not see too many other boats before dark but were pleasantly surprised as we converged with the finish line and were finishing near other boats that we consider to be much faster." Melvin sailed with his 19-year-old son, James, and Peter Wells. "James and I have sailed in a lot of regattas together in the F18 catamaran class and on our trimaran in New Zealand. He and I have won several national championships together," says Melvin. "This was the first time we sailed with Peter Wells and he was a fantastic addition to our team. He was the 2004 Olympic team representative in windsurfing for the United States and has done a lot of other sailing as well. This was Peter's first multihull regatta and he said, 'First race on a multihull and I am hooked.'" Mama Tried won three throphies — best corrected time, best corrected time/ trimaran, and best corrected time for all boats. Complete results at www.newporttoensenada.com
— latitude / ross Round the Rocks On Saturday May 3, the Singlehanded Sailing Society's Round the Rocks race
PHOTO KEN BROWN
Newport to Ensenada Race (4/25-4/27) The big story in this year's Newport to Ensenada Race wasn't that big at all. A significant storm system had many thinking that records were going to be broken for the 125-mile race. All eyes were on the big trimarans: last year's winner, William Gibbs on his 52-foot catamaran Afterburner, Tom Siebel's MOD 70 Orion — the 2014 San Diego to Puerto Vallarta record-breaker — and H.E. Erloe's ORMA 60 Mighty Merloe. But seemingly out of the blue, Pete Melvin (of the well-known yacht design firm Morelli & Melvin) surprised many by winning best overall corrected time in his 28-foot catamaran Mama Tried. Tom Siebel won best elapsed time, skippering Orion. Despite wind speeds reaching 38 knots, no records were set. Pete Melvin's done this race six times, but not since 2009. "I bought Mama Tried in New Zealand and we sailed the boat there for one season," says Melvin. Prior to leaving for San Francisco for the America's Cup he'd "modified Mama's daggerboards and built new floats. Just before the race we shipped the boat to Newport inside a container."
Michael Radcliffe's Synergy 1000 'Kilo' during the May 10 Duxship race — held inshore this year.
Melvin is pretty discreet about his race preparation, what there was of it. "We had not raced the boat here so had no gauge against how we compare with the local fleet," he says. "In the race we Page 106 •
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got off to a roaring start on the Olympic Circle, with breeze well into the low 20s by the first start at 10:30 a.m. Singleand doublehanded participants in 13 classes headed south to round Alcatraz, then past Harding Rock, through Raccoon Strait, and on to round the Broth-
ers. Heading back past Red Rock, they finished in front of Richmond YC. Although conditions warranted some reefing at the start, racers eventually fell into far calmer waters when they reached Raccoon Strait. After that, the fleets experienced an easterly as they headed toward the Brothers. "There was a little bit of a fiasco around the Brothers," according to Jib Martens, who doublehanded his Worth 40 Freedom with his son Will. "The wind went light and changed direction, and the current is wicked there. Some boats ran into trouble getting too close to the island and had to turn on their engines. Others got flushed a little wide making the turn to the SE." Jib and Will avoided the mess and sailed on toward a healthy 20+ knot breeze at the finish. — latitude / ross SSS ROUND THE ROCKS REGATTA (5/3) SINGLEHANDED MONOHULL — 1) Hot Ice, C&C 110, Mike Haddock; 2) Green Dragon, Cal 20, Marcus Choy; 3) Whirlwind, Wyliecat 30, Dan Benjamin. (26 boats) DOUBLEHANDED MONOHULL — 1) Can O' Whoopass, Cal 20 Odr, Richard VonEhrenkrook; 2) Outsider, Azzura 310, Greg Nelsen; 3) Nemesis, Pearson Commander, Jeff Sullivan. (44 boats) SINGLEHANDED MULTIHULL — 1) Tri N Fly,
