THE GREAT VALLEJO RACE
PHOTOS LATITUDE / ROSS UNLESS NOTED
T
he 115th Great Vallejo Race attracted 144 boats within 22 fleets — and their enthusiastic crews — to the heart of the Olympic Circle on Saturday, April 26. Facing cool temperatures, mid-level cloud cover and no wind, the race committee waited for some semblance of breeze to fill in. A gun eventually fired at 11 a.m., the 'Cat in the Hat' flag dropped, and the first two fleets were on their way to Vallejo in under five knots of breeze. But the breeze stutterred and it took those fleets approximately 35 minutes to reach the first turning mark. Further postponements occured periodically, but by 1:35 all the racers were heading to Vallejo. As the tail end of the fleet started, a healthy breeze was filling in from the Gate, reaching 18 knots at the southern mouth of Raccoon Strait. Eventually, it came through to the Vallejo racers, and many who'd hoisted spinnakers quickly doused them to take advantage of the new westerly between the starting area and San Pablo Strait. The uncharacteristic beat to San
Pablo Bay may have had some worried that this would be a 'reverse year' where there would be no run to Vallejo. And although the gennaker boats could fly kites pretty early on — if they were tucked in the lee of Angel Island — the boats with symmetrical chutes had to wait a bit longer. Rob Theis skippered his J/111 Aoleus toward Angel to take advantage of the situation. "Passing by Angel Island is always a challenge," says Rob. "If you get too close, then you get into the shadow hole. The other option is to stay close to the eastern shores of Point Richmond and catch a draft there. We decided to stay close to Angel Island and catch the early build-up from the south and it eventually shifted to strong gusts from the west/northwest after Racoon Strait." Strategically, getting through this section of the Bay can be a make-or-break situation, and often determines who will lead and who will follow. Eventually, as boats reached Pt. San Pablo, the wind came around enough for the remaining and they prespinnaker boats to set — pared themselves for what turned out to
be a blast through San Pablo Bay. Inside San Pablo Bay, racers saw up to 25 knots of wind, which many found to be ideal for their particular boats. PRO Jeff Zarwell reports that Larry Levit's Express 27 Strega saw 17.5 knots of boat speed coming off a wave. The challenging breeze spread little overall havoc — although an unidentified female crewmember sailing on a keelboat needed to be taken to the hospital for stitches after a head injury. No hospital visit was required for Nick Grebe and crew Alan Engbrecht. But they took a bit of a beating on Nick's 5.5-meter Hobie Tiger Evil Octopus, which capsized numerous times and eventually had to be towed to Vallejo YC. (Thank you Jeff Zarwell). "We were in the San Pablo Bay just south of the Brothers when we had our first big spill , which was kind of fun except I wrenched my knee," says Nick. "We really ran into problems trying to get around Point Pinole. That's where we capsized about five or six times in the space of less than 30 minutes. Every time we tried to turn
