SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART I
Page 94 •
Latitude 38
• November, 2011
ERIK SIMONSON/WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM
Clockwise from spread — an OYRA race aboard 'Criminal Mischief' was enough to get Bill Lee on the water in what's become an increasingly rare occurrence for 'The Wizard'; Andy Newell's 'Ahi'; a parade back in from the Lightbucket; 'Always Friday' en route to another season win; 'Can O' Whoopass' putting the smack down; SSS races always find a wide variety of boats duking it out for honors.
LATITUDE/ROB
ERIK SIMONSON/WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM
ERIK SIMONSON/WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM
ERIK SIMONSON/WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM
I
t's that time of year for our Season Champions articles, where we profile the winners of the Bay's various racing disciplines. This year, we're changing up the customary order and giving the winners from the Ocean Yacht Racing Association (OYRA) and the Singlehanded Sailing Society (SSS) first crack at their laurels. OYRA is holding steady according to President Andy Newell (who also happened to win PHRO 3). He pointed out some positives, like the fact that in the last four years, the number of race starts among the boats has held steady at about 260 over the course of the season. This year, the fleet averaged about 29 boats per race out of 48 entries — without counting the single-race participants, who don't qualify for the season. With '12 being a Pacific Cup year, Newell said that OYRA has worked closely with the Pacific Cup YC and SSS to make sure they're not stepping on each other's toes and creating unnecessary scheduling conflicts. Additionally they're looking at front-loading the schedule to provide training opportunities to the Pac Cup fleet in the hopes of boosting participation. These areas of focus were brought about in part by the results of a survey that OYRA sent out to the sailors, asking for their feeling about the season. "We had 66% say they were either 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied,' and only 27% said they were 'very dissatisfied' with the season as whole," he said. "A total of 78% liked the 9-race, 1-throwout series, and 40% of the boats are thinking about doing the Pacific Cup. We've got everybody on all parts of the spectrum; we try to keep most of the sailors happy, most of the time, and that's as good as we can do." One particular issue that came up in multiple responses was the division breakdowns. "We pre-defined the divisions, and that backfired," Newell said. "We're going to try to put the human touch back in and deal with the boats right near the borders of the light/heavy displacement break so we can have tighter rating bands." Courses are also up for evaluation, with the fact that five of the nine races go around the Lightbucket and back, creating a bit of a rut. To all of these ends, OYRA is welcoming feedback from both existing and potential racers, so make sure you're heard if you have something to contribute. The SSS keeps going from strength to strength with its wellrun schedule of shorthanded races like the Three Bridge Fiasco, which has drawn record-breaking fleets for the last few years. Appealing to those who appreciate the challenge of sailing by themselves or maybe one other person, the Society's events have grown so popular that being a volunteer official for the organization is more like a full-time job. That fact isn't lost on SSS Singlehanded winner Bob Johnston, a former Singlehanded TransPac co-chair. "We have a phenomenal group doing Race Committee," he said. "There are always a lot of people that do a lot of work for SSS, but the buck always stops with them. Jonathan Gutoff and Christine Weaver have done a phenomenal job. At the finish of the Vallejo 1-2 Sunday, Jonathan was on the Richmond YC platform radioing the finishes up to Christine at the club, and the results went up in what seemed like an impossibly short period of time. It reminded me of how hard they've been working during their two-year term." You may have noticed that some of the customary fleets are missing from this month's edition. Rest assured that no one is getting skipped. Our apologies in advance to those division winners who neither appear here nor make it into next month's overflow reports. We base our choices largely on the number of total races sailed within the divisions. We hope you enjoy meeting these ardent racers as much as we have! — latitude/rg
