cyc midwinters

CORINTHIAN MIDWINTERS CORINTHIAN MIDWINTERS

We didn't notice any red skies at night. But they must have been out there beyond the drizzle, because the January 21-22 Midwinter racing at Corinthian YC was certainly a sailors' delight. Although rain threatened Saturday morning, gray skies grudgingly gave way to sunny ones and the fleet of 137 boats in 17 divisions started light-air races on three different courses of 4.7 to 10.5 miles. Despite a number of parking lots (particularly at Harding Rock) with so little wind that many boats played 'fend your neighbor,' only a handful of boats could not finish by the 5 p.m. deadline. If the Bay courses were familiar, the venue ashore was slightly less so than in years past. CYC's famous Saturday night dinner/dance was held downstairs this year — the upstairs ballroom had been reserved for another event. Kegs were provided courtesy of ABC Yachts and Peg

Third's a charm — 'Eclipse' and 'Jazzy' head for Southampton on Sunday. Both boats fi nished third in their respective divisions.

BLAH BLAH BLAH — SAILORS' DELIGHT

CORINTHIAN MIDWINTERS CORINTHIAN MIDWINTERS

Copple Realtors, and dancin' music was provided by Girls Night Out. On Sunday, a 15-knot nor'easter filled in for the noon starts and all fleets were given a 10.6-mile Bay tour. This started off the club, went around Harding Rock to Blossom, then to Southampton and back to the finish. The wind slackened a bit as the day went on, and a strong flood maxed about 2 p.m. With Southampton actually trailing a wake of its own by then, it also made for some pretty exciting mark roundings. The standout performance of Saturday went to Don Weineke's J/105 Lulu, which somehow sneaked through the parking lot at Blossom Rock while the rest of the J/105 fleet sat becalmed. Lulu kept moving, finishing more than half an hour in front of the second-place boat. "Between skill and luck, I'll take luck any day," noted Don. He also reminded us that his luck ran out on Sunday when he got in a duel with Tim Russell's Out of Options (ex-Aquavit) near Southampton and went from second to second-to-last.

When the racing was done on Sunday and totals for the two days combined, many of the usual suspects occupied the top places in each division. There were also a few newcomers to the ranks, and special nods go to John Dodge's Pearson 10 Meter Windhover, which took a 2,1 on the weekend to lead Cruisers NonSpinnaker Division 2, and La Calou, Bruce Powell's Ericson 38, which took a third in Non-Spinny 1 on Sunday and cumulatively lies in fourth place out of