THE RACING
LATITUDE / CHRIS
A-One an' a-Two We don't know of any other regattas quite like the Vallejo 1-2. The Singlehanded Sailing Society presents racers with a series of challenges: 1) Sail the 20-mile course from the northern rim of the Berkeley Circle to the Vallejo Yacht Club solo — even if you're normally a doublehander. 2) Singlehandedly raft up with your fellows in the harbor. 3) figure out the logistics to get your crew to Vallejo on Saturday night or Sunday morning so that you can: 4) Race back to Richmond YC doublehanded. Among the challenges on October 22 was the wind — or, rather, the lack thereof. A tasty little breeze tantalized the racers at the start, so it was easy to get going. Less ebb was evident than had been forecast, and some sailors even found a little lane of flood to follow north to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Unfortunately, the fragile breeze soon disintegrated, making for slow progress downwind toward Vallejo. But the flood built and only one boat out of 47 dropped out on Saturday. A nice one-tack beat awaited the racers in Mare Island Strait,
Mary and Les Robertson won the SSS Vallejo 1-2 on their Moore 24 'Legs'. (Les and 'Legs' won the first-ever Three Bridge Fiasco in 1983.)
and VYC members welcomed the visitors with their usual friendly hospitality and easy-going manner. On Sunday morning, the sailors expected an ebb current at the appointed starting hour of 10 a.m., but found a light flood instead. The breeze was just barely adequate to keep them moving in the right direction. The racers found the ebb in San Pablo Bay and worked it to Page 88 •
Latitude 38
• December, 2016
their advantage for the beat to the finish off the RYC race platform. The wind was not as light as on Saturday, and it was predicted to build to 15 knots in the middle of the afternoon. But the wind that came in around 2:30 p.m. was a lot more than 15, and it came up so suddenly that kids in Lasers and Optis were flipping right and left in the Richmond Harbor, directly in front of the big-boat finish line. The junior program crash-boat crews got the youngsters rounded up — and then scooted off to aid a Vallejo 1-2 racer who had run aground while trying to take his sails down in the gnarly conditions. — latitude/chris SSS VALLEJO 1-2, 10/22-23 (2r, 0t) PHRF <109 — 1) Tijd, Beneteau First 30JK, Dirk Husselman, 4 points; 2) Ragtime!, J/92, Bob Johnston, 4; 3) Painkiller, J/80, Eric Patterson, 6. (4 boats) PHRF 111-159 — 1) Uno, Wyliecat 30, Bren Meyer/David Bacci, 3 points; 2) Arcadia, Mod. Santana 27, Gordie Nash/Ruth Suzuki, 3; 3) Green Buffalo, Cal 40, Jim Quanci/Rob Walker, 7. (12 boats) PHRF >161 — 1) Can O'Whoopass, Cal 20, Richard vonEhrenkrook, 3 points; 2) Summertime Dream, Schumacher 1/4-ton, Scott Owens, 4; 3) Green Dragon, Cal 20, Marcus Choy/Howard Wiese, 5. (4 boats) SPORTBOAT — 1) Legs, Moore 24, Lester & Mary Robertson, 3 points; 2) Max, Ultimate 24, Bryan Wade & John Pytlak, 6; 3) Jack, Wylie Wabbit, Bill & Melinda Erkelens, 6. (10 boats) EXPRESS 27 — 1) Dianne, Steve Katzman & Kurt Rasmussen, 3 points; 2) Verve, Ron Snetsinger & Leo Pershall, 6; 3) Take Five, Don Carroll & Paul Healy, 7. (6 boats) NON-SPINNAKER — 1) Meliki, Santana 22, Deb Fehr/Cam Campbell, 2 points; 2) Sobrante, Alerion Express 28, Paul Descalso, 5; 3) Sweet Pea, Islander 30-2, Jan Hirsch, 8. (8 boats) MULTIHULL — 1) Wingit, F-27, Amy Wells/ Synthia Petroka, 2 points; 2) Cumbia, F-27, Juan Tellez/Kostadin Ilov, 5; 3) Raven, F-27, Truls Myklebust/Steve Petersen, 6. (5 boats) Full results at www.sfbaysss.org
6-Meter North Americans The 6-Meter North American Championship and Fall Invitational Regatta
SPREAD AND INSET CHRIS RAY / WWW.CRAYIVP.COM
Winter is almost upon us, but before we turn the Racing Sheet spotlight on various Midwinter Series, we have a few fall classics to wrap up: the SSS Vallejo 1-2, StFYC's 6-Meter North Americans, SFYC's Leukemia Cup and RYC's Great Pumpkin Regatta. A couple of choice Race Notes follow, plus a smattering of Box Scores.
concluded on October 22 at St. Francis YC with Russ Silvestri taking first aboard Sting with a perfect scorecard. Craig Healy, Ethan Doyle, Chris Smith and John Bonds were the crew. Eliza Richartz finished second aboard Scoundrel, sailing with Brooks Price, Kermit Shickel, Gerard Sheridan and Keith Love. In the Classics division, Ben Mumford from Port Madison YC, Bainbridge Island, WA, finished first aboard Llanoria with 25 points, followed by Matt Brooks on Lucie with 28 points. Over the course of three days and nine races, a fleet of 11 6-Meters plied the waters of San Francisco Bay, putting on a gorgeous show of classic yacht racing. Following a particularly breezy September in San Francisco, competitors were pleased to see breeze in the low teens coming in from the west around noon each day. Competition was tight, especially because racing allowed for three throwouts. Going into Saturday, Day 3, with six races down, sailors were ready to fight to attain scores that would allow for a throwout of an earlier race. The day's first race was a long twice-around course that stretched to Blackaller Buoy off Fort Point. In Race 2, an aggressive start resulted in a multi-boat collision, a general
