THE RACING The SSS rocked Round the Rocks while BYC reeled in the Wheeler Regatta, Dauntless recaptured the America's Schooner Cup, the Bullship and J/Fest rode the coattails of a Pineapple Express, and the Sadie Hawkins Race and Camellia Cup were hotly contested. Box Scores fills in the gaps, and Race Notes caps the section. Rockin' Round the Rocks The third race of the Singlehanded Sailing Society's season, the Round the Rocks Race, sprang forth on April 14. In the first race of the season, the Three Bridge Fiasco failure had only four finishers; the second race, the cosmopolitan Corinthian, had a mix of boats that enjoyed very windy conditions. Now it was Round the Rocks time on a fairly new course. This race replaced the original East Bay/Estuary Race developed in the '80s that finished off Oakland Yacht Club. Round the Rocks starts in the Berkeley Flats and rounds Alcatraz, Harding Rock the Brothers and Red Rock, and finishes off Richmond YC. Max Critteden, the race's creator, tells the story: "It was in the 2005 or 2006 East Bay/Estuary Race that we had many complaints from the Coast Guard about interference with a ship or ships bound for Oakland's outer harbor. There were some mods to the race in the following years (like a finish at South Beach), but when I became commodore in 2011 we did another rethink, the idea of using anything that had Rock in its name or nickname — Alcatraz, Harding and Red, and the Brothers are obviously rocks too." The course provides an unusual set of
LATITUDE / CHRIS
Singlehander Scott Owens on 'Summertime Dream', the well-sailed 1/4-tonner that he built, rocks the Round the Rocks Race.
conditions that change throughout the day. After a 35-minute postponement waiting for wind, 90 boats lined up in a light westerly. This year the singlehanders had their own early starts in an attempt to separate them from yahoo doublehanders crashing into them. A dying flood played tricks on the fleet rounding Alcatraz and Harding Rock, and, even with anticipation of a strong ebb, most of the boats went right down the middle of Raccoon Strait before heading to the Brothers in still-light breeze and building ebb. But there was a twist in this year's race. Previous Round the Rocks races had a provision that Red Rock must be kept to the east when heading to the Brothers. This year SSS Race Chair Jim Vickers allowed boats to go to either side when heading to the Brothers. "It started with reading the Sailing Instructions for last year. They were just a little too convoluted for my liking. There were two marks declared (R '2' and Red Rock) that were marks of the course but specifically declared as not being rounding marks. The RRS defines a mark as 'An object the SIs require a boat to leave on a specified side,' so on this definition R '2' and Red Rock can be a mark on that leg of the course. A rounding mark is defined in RRS 28.2b as being a mark that your string would touch when pulled tight. So the SIs were correct; they were just a
bit confusing to me. "I didn't see much reason to care which side of Red Rock the racers went on. Since the NOR/SSI Long Wharf exclusion includes R '7', a racer could technically skirt between Red Rock and R '7' to leave Red Rock to port, if they wanted." Some boats did just that. The Express 27 fleet split, some going toward the Richmond Long Wharf and some taking the traditional route. In the end the traditional route was favored and some passing ensued. "I honestly never considered there might be a historical reason to leave Red Rock to starboard when heading to the Brothers, and I thought adding the option might make the tactics more important for the racers, hence more fun," added Jim. The SSS accomplished that, and, like after other SSS races, the dock talk was about how enjoyable the longer Bay courses are. — ncs SSS ROUND THE ROCKS, 4/14 SINGLEHANDED SPINNAKER <109 — 1) Redsky, Olson 34, Brian Boschma. (1 boat) DOUBLEHANDED SPINNAKER <109 — 1) Timber Wolf, Farr 38, David Hodges/Andy Hamilton; 2) Juno, J/88, Jeremy Moncada/Richard Craig; 3) Invictus, Jeanneau SunFast 3600, Nicolas Popp/Jacques Benkoski. (13 boats) SINGLEHANDED SPINNAKER 111-159 — 1) Joujou, Capo 30, Tom Boussie; 2) Nancy, Wyliecat 30, Patrick Broderick; 3) Crinan II, Wyliecat 30, Don Martin. (5 boats) DOUBLEHANDED SPINNAKER 111-159 — 1) Uno, Wyliecat 30, Bren Meyer/Steve Wonner; 2) Arcadia, Mod. Santana 27, Gordie Nash/Terry Benett; 3) Sequoia, Cal 40, Fred Cook/Chris Straub. (9 boats) SINGLEHANDED SPINNAKER >161 — 1) Summertime Dream, Schumacher 1/4-ton, Scott Owens; 2) Sweet Pea, Islander 30-2, Jan Hirsch; 3) Galaxsea, Nauticat 44, Daniel Willey. (4 boats) DOUBLEHANDED SPINNAKER >161 — 1) Byte Size, Santana 22, Anna Alderkamp/Keay Edwards; 2) Nemesis, Pearson Commander, Jeff & Pat Sullivan; 3) Old School, Yankee Dolphin, Dick Loomis/Vince Casalaina. (7 boats) SINGLEHANDED NON-SPINNAKER — 1) Lackerli, Ranger 23, Beat Wirz; 2) Sobrante, Alerion 28, Paul Descalso; 3) Lindo, J/109, John Kalucki. (6 boats) DOUBLEHANDED NON-SPINNAKER — 1)
