regattapro winter one design

SYC/REGATTAPRO

The RegattaPRO Winter One Series started in 2002 as a one one-design series for the Bay Area Farr 40 fl eet. They wanted to keep their chops up during the 'off' season. "The following year," said race organizer Jeff Zarwell, "the Farrs agreed for me to add a second fl eet, which ended up being the 11-boat J/120 fl eet. By the third year the Farrs were waning quickly, so I added the J/105s. Year 4 saw the addition of the Express 27, which lasted for a few years until they decided the event was too competitive for their fl eet." The Express 27s went over to the Berkeley Yacht Club Midwinters,

A J/105 start on stormy February 9 in the RegattaPRO Winter One Design Series. Note that several boats were over early and had to go back to restart.

held on the same (second) weekend of the month in November-February. The two regattas share the Berkeley Circle (er, Fan), with RegattaPRO being set up farther west and sometimes north. Occasionally, the courses intersect. "Over the years, RegattaPRO has hosted a number of fl eets including the Beneteau 36.5s and 40.7s, Antrim 27s, etc. Currently we're hosting the J/120, J/105, J/88, J/70, J/24, Melges 24 and Moore 24 fl eets. Participation ranges from 60 to 70 boats each year." Zarwell brought Sausalito YC onboard to help out a few years ago. "It was a great decision to do so. Their support has made it much easier for me, as I'm not spending time looking for support boats and a signal boat to charter, plus they have a great race committee team. Their presence has made managing this regatta much easier. "The original and continuing emphasis of the RegattaPRO Winter One Design Series is to mimic summer racing as closely as possible (up and down courses; multiple races each day), to allow boats to rotate in new crew and stay sharp during the winter season, so that they're up to speed come March. To that end, I think we've been pretty successful."

A Moore 24 start on November 10, when smoke from the Camp Fire in Paradise hovered ominously over the region.

This winter's series kicked off under inauspicious skies on November 10. The horrific Camp Fire had started two days previously, and the resulting smoke blew down to the Bay Area from Butte County. Most race organizers went ahead with their events that weekend, but many individual crews chose to stay

indoors. "That was a tough decision," said Jeff, "but RRS 4 defers the decision to race entirely to the skipper. Turnout was light, and it was somewhat eerie on the water, but not a whole lot different looking from what fog can look like sometimes. As I recall the winds were light, and it did look a little strange with people wearing dust masks while racing. "Looking at the smoke maps, the Circle was forecast to be a pocket of much lighter smoke density than anywhere else on the Bay. Also taken under consideration (and this is no offense to the sport of keelboat racing), sailing these boats is not as physically challenging as running, bicycling, etc. I'll probably catch some heat for that, but aside from jumping a halyard, pulling in a shrimped kite, and some grinding on the winch, it isn't overly physically exerting." December's two races were probably the most pleasant. Rain had showered upon the California wildfi res and extinguished them. The 8th and 9th were sunny and mild, albeit smoggy. The race committee originally stationed themselves south of the northeasterly breeze, so they moved into it before setting the marks. The postponement was brief while they set up a short and long windward mark, a short and long leeward gate, a startline pin and a fi nish-line pin. The preponderance of infl ated pillows in various shapes, hues and sizes confused some of the newbies. It helped to have a color printout of the course diagram (or a saved PDF on a digital device). Adding to the confusion was a bright orange mark used by the BYC race committee as their start-fi nish line pin, fi lling in for the fi xed XOC buoy, which was offstation. The BYC line was on the south (right) side of RegattaPRO's upwind legs. The two races crossed paths during RegattaPRO's beats and BYC's runs. With large divisions of J/105s (RegattaPRO) and Express 27s (BYC), there was some bobbing and weaving to be done. The only mark movement was of the startline pin. The 23-boat J/105 fl eet was sent off fi rst, then the mark-set crew moved the pin closer for the smaller fl eets that remained. Two quick double-sausage races were completed without the need to move the rounding marks, as the wind direction stayed consistent. The velocity ranged from 7.5 knots at the signal boat (SYC's Mercury) to 10 knots up-course. With a weak fl ood transitioning to ebb, the water stayed fl at for a darned nice day of sailing. January 12 was the only day when not all classes were able to get in two races. The wind held for the fi rst race, then began to soften right after the second J/105 start. The course was shortened to once-around, which was good enough to get most of the starters around the

course. But the Moore 24, J/70 and J/24 classes never got a second race, and some of the entries in other divisions found that the time limit expired on them. Rain, wind, hail and the shivers struck the fl eet on February 9 for the fi nal two races of the season. Unfortunately, the race committee was experiencing diffi culties, and the sailors endured a postponement of more than half an hour before the marks were set and racing was ready to begin. It turns out that one of the support boats that Zarwell had intended to use was swamped on Saturday morning. He couldn't get that one to run and ended up swapping it out for a different boat. He didn't make it out

ALL PHOTOS ROXANNE FAIRBAIRN / WWW.ROXSHOTS.SMUGMUG.COM EXCEPT AS NOTED

With large divisions, there was some bobbing and weaving to be done.

The fl eet went from not enough wind in January, as experienced by these J/120s (left), to rather a lot in February, as demonstrated by the J/88 'Inconceivable'.

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to the course until after the start of the second race. The SYC volunteers made do in the meantime. Zarwell later sent an email of explanation and apology to the skippers. While some were hoping for a quick outing and return to their respective yacht club fi replaces, the race committee gave the long, two-lap course #2 for both races. The good news: The water was fl at, the current mild, and the racing was brisk in both senses of the word. Although SYC encourages all the sailors to come hang out and partake of food and drink after all the races, there are no awards. "Never have been," commented Jeff. The original Farr 40 fl eet didn't want trophies, just races. "That's what they said, anyway."

The 2019-2020 Winter One Design Series is scheduled to begin on November 9, with no foreseeable changes at this time. "As for the future, it's funny," says Jeff. "By the time we get to the February races I'm tired and ready for it to be over,

In December, merry 'Mr. Magoo' got decked out for the season. The J/70 'Kangaroo Jockey' crew were well soaked in February.

but as soon as it is I'm already looking forward to next year. "I look at it this way: Most all of my friends are sailors. If I weren't doing this I'd either be racing myself (which I still do a little bit of) or out doing something by myself while my friends were racing." — latitude/chris

SYC/REGATTAPRO WINTER ONE DESIGN SERIES J/120 (8r, 2t) — 1) Mr. Magoo, Steve Madeira, 9 points; 2) Peregrine, David Halliwill, 11; 3) Shenanigans, Mike Clarke, 14. (4 boats) J/105 (8r, 2t) — 1) Ne*Ne, Tim Russell, 12 points; 2) Godot, Phillip Laby, 22; 3) Akula, Doug Bailey, 22; 4) Box of Rain, Charles Pick, 24; 5) Walloping Swede, Theresa Brandner, 28. (23 boats)