THE RACING

Midwinter reports sprinkled throughout this section include Corinthian, YRA Doublehanded Series, Seaweed Soup, Jack Frost, Island Days, Optis, and Berkeley YCs (tune back in for South Beach next month). We also cover the Mercury NorCal Series, Big Daddy in Richmond, and the Santa Monica Bay Race. Box Scores and Race Notes make a spring comeback.

Midwinters in a Real Winter

For the past five years the sunny side (literally) of the drought has been mild winters allowing for great sailing with few midwinter races canceled due to weather concerns (COVID concerns were a whole other story).

Now Califor nia's Great Drought has broken, and midwinter series were similarly broken up, with many races canceled due to daunting forecasts. Among the bigger midwinter series, Corinthian Yacht Club drew the winning dates, with sunshine for all four days of their regatta. The downside: Their two weekends also coincided with king tides, with massive tion' in the sense of 62.1(a), but was an 'impolite action.' He was able to apologize in person to some boats most impacted by that, but would like to offer a general apology to all those caught off guard." ebbs

The waited-for wind filled in after the starts. Boats rounded the new Yellow Bluff mark, named after the late Hank Easom. Some crews brought flowers and tossed those overboard at the mark in memory of Hank.

Racers returned to the club and a party, this time not in the ballroom but out on the deck, with dinner in the dining room. Fortunately, CYC has some really effective patio heaters, and dancing to the tunes of the Stick Shifts further warmed up the revelers.

Sunday had the best conditions of the series, with moderate breeze in the mid-teens. During the starting sequence, the current and wind shifted the RC boat from facing west with a square line to facing east with the boat end favored. But the wind was such that helmspeople had good control and (this time) none of the starters tangled with the rode.

Seaweed Soup midwinter race on March 4, but, with a last look at the forecast, the race committee pulled the plug at 8 a.m. that day. "It looks like it would be more prudent to cancel today's race than to hold it," read the message to skippers. The club nevertheless held their buffet lunch and awards ceremony. Winning the perpetual trophy for overall best performance this year was the top Folkboat, Polperro, sailed by Peter Jeal and Susan Parker, a married couple. They were the only crew with all bullets.

"We generally do the midwinters with just the two of us," commented Susan. "During the regular racing season, we have a third person aboard." She wasn't available for Race 1, so Mason Smith subbed. "I was the only crew for the remaining races.

"Fr om experience, we think of the midwinter series as a low speed/high tactical event, the ultimate last-ditch tool being the at-ready anchor!

"The final race was epic. At the start, the ebb was already huge, and it got progressively stronger. The wind died. There were two choices: (1) Go north, which might move you closer to the mark; or (2) go south, well beyond Pier 39, pick your moment to tack, and round Blossom Rock in the massive ebb. We hung in and continued north. Fortunately, the wind picked up and we were able to round Blossom, get catapulted on a reach toward 16, and then it was a short, upwind reach to the finish.

leading to minus tides.

Like January's weekend, February's races on the 18th and 19th had light air on Saturday and wind on Sunday. On Saturday, the race committee postponed the first warning until 2:15 p.m., when the wind became steady enough for competitors to clear the start line. "The wind that was expected to fill in was taking its time to arrive, but the 4:45 cutoff time was coming ever closer," explained one of the race committee volunteers. "The PRO ended the postponement rapidly, announcing over the radio that the AP was coming down less than a minute before it did, then started the sequence a minute after that. Which, after he did it, he realized was not an 'improper ac-

The final YRA Doublehanded Midwinters on February 28 expected winds of 18 knots gusting to 28. We might expect those conditions during the summer, but they're atypical for shorthanded midwinter racing.

The race committee at Golden Gate YC gave the racers short courses to get them finished before the worst of the wind and rain hit. All classes went to Blackaller first and Fort Mason last, with Harding Rock in the middle for the faster boats. The first finisher completed the course in just under half an hour, the last finisher in just under one hour. "We expect many were still soaked and caught in the gusty breeze on their delivery back to their slips," commented a race committee volunteer.

All systems were go for the final GGYC

"I forgot to bring the sandwiches. All we had aboard were two heavily-bruised bananas and two beers. 'Twas exhilarating!"

On the same day, Encinal YC proceeded with their final Jack Frost tworace day, actually a make-up for races canceled earlier in the season. Out on the open waters of the East Bay, one of the racers reported seeing multiple gusts over 40, with one of 46 knots, when a squall line blew through ahead of the start.

For final results of the above midwinter series and more, see Box Scores on pages 94-95.

— latitude / chris

Meanwhile, on the Estuary

Also canceled due to the forecast on March 4 was Island YC's Linda Newland women skippers race on the OaklandAlameda Estuary. This is the regatta formerly known as the Sadie Hawkins Race. The club hopes to find another date for the event that will be more pleasant, particularly for new skippers.

Meanwhile, four hardy Mercury duos took to the same Estuary to kick off the NorCal Series sailed out of Encinal YC. "Following a short 30-minute delay, the race committee set a windward/leeward course for a steady southwesterly breeze," reports Jim Bradley. "With the exception of one five-minute downpour, the day was perfect for sailing. By the end of the third race, the sun was out and it was time for sunscreen. The wind direction held pretty steady for the five double-sausage races, so playing the puffs was the secret to winning the races. Randy Smith with crew Dennis Mulligan, fresh off a win at the L.A. Midwinters, made it clear that time out on the race course is what leads to success. Randy won most of the starts and had good boat speed both upwind and down to take the day and the lead for the series."

April 1's NorCals will count for the Carmiggelt Trophy.

— latitude / chris

For more racing news, subscribe to 'Lectronic Latitude online at www.latitude38.com

March's racing stories included: anderas a e atta ort of os n eles ar or C p St Fran is n itational ort Semis

Windward Passage in t e Transpa

Felix Weidlin to ead StF C a in C n erted Start a e

T e ean a e ore Ca o a e re ie s of pril a es, and more

SSS Corinthian Race Strays

Feral race needs home. The Singlehanded Sailing Society's Corinthian Race used to start and finish off Corinthian YC in Marin. Since COVID-19 hit in 2020, it's been hiding out at Golden Gate YC in San Francisco. In previous years it actually had to hunker down on the rocks in front of the GGYC clubhouse.

This year's race on Saturday, February 25, was reimagined as a shorter, lighter-air affair after a successful Three Bridge Fiasco in January.

Richard Reitmeyer is the SSS race co-chair along with Carliane Johnson. "Several weather models predicted the racing would have 1-2 knots of wind until 4 p.m.," reports Richard. "As it turned out, the actual weather cooperated enough to get everyone started smoothly."

The course was shortened to 13 miles compared to the old days of 18 miles, with one of the reasons being it's hard to mimic the original CYC course from GGYC and make it interesting and tactical. In the old days the course from Corinthian went on a Bay tour to the back side of Angel Island at Southampton. From there you had a choice of heading back through Raccoon Strait or past Point Blunt to the Little Harding buoy, then to the finish in Tiburon. The distance from Southampton to Little Harding works out to be exactly the same either way. Now the course is usually more of a drag race with few passing lanes.

"In an effort to boost safety, there were two courses this year. Classes using the Corinthian for their class season and doublehanded boats had course 2, which was the same as last year's course," explained Richard. "Course 2 took boats from the start off GGYC race deck to Blackaller, then to Angel Island, rounding it in either direction. Then to Little Harding, then Blossom Rock, and back to finish at GGYC." Although the choice of rounding Angel any way you choose sounds alluring, the actual shortest route would be anticlockwise. "New this year was Course 1 for the singlehanders, to give them separation in space from the doublehanders. Course 1 went from a start at GGYC up a very short windward leg to the St. Francis YC A mark, then to F on the Olympic Circle, then Angel, then Little Harding, and back to finish at GGYC."

The weather predictions were right, and light wind combined with a mixedup, confused flood current fighting winter storm runoff gave the boats more of a test than advertised. "Currents and wind holes proved challenging, and many boats retired. Results for the 113 boats show 29 were DNC, 32 were DNF, and 52 finished."

Larry Baskin, who took the photos on page 92 and sailed his Express 37 Bullet with Nick Grebe, called it, "One of the most beautiful sailing days that I remember." He posted this video: https:// vimeo.com/804440863

SSS CORINTHIAN, 2/25

SINGLEHANDED MONOHULL — 1) Slainte, Cal 20, Paul Sutchek; 2) Uno, Wyliecat 30, Brendan Meyer; 3) Rubicon III, Contessa 33, Rod Percival; 4) Eight Ball, J/100, Scott Easom; 5) Kincsem, J/105, Joerg Esdorn. (22 boats)

DOUBLEHANDED MONOHULL — 1) Mooretecian, Moore 24, Peter Schoen/Roe Patterson; 2) Snafu, Moore 24, Karl Robrock/Steve Bourdow; 3) Gruntled, Moore 24, Nick Diel/ Steve McCarthy; 5) Bluebird, Moore 24, Ryan