THE RACING A sweep of Northern California midwinter races includes visits to Golden Gate YC, Sausalito YC, Richmond YC, Berkeley YC, Santa Cruz YC and RegattaPRO. Box Scores step out of NorCal and outside of the box. Our extensive Race Notes include an America's Cupdate and a Lipton Cupdate. And what the heck is the Berkeley Fan? to Blossom Rock followed the jibe around Harding. In the big breeze and strong ebb, the run was a dead-downwind oscillating death-roll transit of the west face of Alcatraz. Usually a top boat in their PHRF division, Gordie Nash's Arcadia instead dipped behind the east side of the Rock, and found — no wind!
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Seaweed Soup in the City Aaaah, our lungs seemed to be sighing in relief, relishing the fresh air straight from the salty Pacific, after two weeks of breathing dense, unrelenting smoke. While not forgetting the ongoing plight of the folks in Butte County, we were thrilled to be out on the water on
Gusty breeze and ebb current set the stage for GGYC's second midwinter race. Top: While some smaller boats on the first leg take advantage of a current lift to Blackaller Buoy, earlier starters reach off to Harding Rock. Bottom: The Martin 243 'Nice Rack' has joined the local scene.
the first weekend in December, regardless of rain, cold, ebb chop, sea swell and breeze too big or too small. Golden Gate Yacht Club's Seaweed Soup led off December's action on Saturday the 1st. The second race of the five-race series started right on time with a brisk breeze blowing through the Gate and ruffling up the water flowing out of the Bay. Underlying the whitecaps was the occasional set of sea-swell waves, about which NOAA had issued warnings to coastal areas. Skippers delivering their boats from points east had the worst of it, with rain squalls and gusts up to 30 knots. One last shower sprinkled on crews milling about for the start, after which a rainbow appeared and the clouds parted. The race committee assigned a triangle course to the first three divisions (the faster boats). After a quick beat to Blackaller Buoy, the reaching angle to Harding Rock led to discussions about whether to set or not to set. The teams that tried it either lost control or eventually doused to approach the mark. A run Page 82 •
Latitude 38
• January, 2019
Despite the roundups-and-downs and stall-outs, everyone who started the race finished it. The gnarly day seemed to favor the excellent Express 27s, as El Raton and Shenanigans finished first and second in their division. Back at the GGYC clubhouse, cold, hungry crews restored the calories they'd burned with a free hot lunch while they slaked their thirst at the bar. Racing in the series will resume on January 5. See www.ggyc.org and www.jibeset.net. — latitude/chris Skunked in Sausalito Sausalito YC's Chili Midwinter Race series got off to a rousing start on Sunday, November
4, with two spinnaker and two non-spinnaker divisions hitting the line. The SYC race committee chose a windward/leeward dropmark course with the windward mark near Sausalito's Yellow Bluff and the leeward mark near Angel Island's Point Knox. The large spinnaker boats took a 6-mile spin around the marks, while the other three divisions sailed 4 miles. The nice westerly breeze overcame the 3.6-knot ebb, and most boats finished in an hour or less. Back at the SYC clubhouse following the race, skippers and crews exchanged lies and ate complimentary chili. Everyone agreed it was a pleasant day with good wind and an interesting ebb. December 2's Chili Midwinter ended with three bangs and an abandonment of the day's racing. The optimistic crews arrived at the starting area to find fickle winds, sometimes out of the northeast backing and clocking from north to east — when there was wind. The SYC race committee aboard Mercury tried several course possibilities, keeping the mark boat running back and forth for two hours before calling it a day. While racers
