Here is the blow by blow for those who missed the WINDY one!
Our pathetic little fleet made it to the "Olympic Circle" on Saturday only to discover that SFYC must not come to the East Bay very much as they seemed to be a little lost and setup against the Berkeley Pier, well to the south of the Circle. We were caught napping at X and almost missed the start in beautiful #1 conditions.
There was sooo much room on the line that everyone got a great start and we all arrived at the windward mark in a tight gaggle all weekend long – well except for Tony and his crew on the first race and Conrad and his crew on the first race Sunday… these guys were sticking it to us and making sure that we noticed. Conrad said that I should be sure to mention that he thinks his speed was due to his new sailmaker in Benicia, I guess some people have heard of Holbrook Sails but this was my introduction and they look pretty good (well except for the spinnaker that was built at 7/8 scale!).
Anyway back to the race report… there were seven of us (68, 71, 85, 89, 118, 147, and 155) in building breeze on Sat. We went #1, #2 and then #3 for each of the three races. Nice course length and downwind finishes except for the last race of each day as this allowed the RC to pull up stakes early and get on their way home. We all went back to RYC to dry out and eat and then we headed out to the gathering for the Low Speed guys. What a sad time it was. There were plenty of Moore sailors, new and old, out there to represent the class. On 118 and 89 it was standing room only as they seemed to have the deck literally covered with people in what was a great show of solidarity. It was a good sendoff for the five. We listened to the bagpipes, sent flowers floating on the Bay, got jolted by the cannon shots, got some spray from the fireboat , dribbled some Jameson's into the drink and most of all, reflected together on all of the great things that we have experienced out on the water. There were some nice words aboard our boat about ocean racing and all that it brings. The message is to keep on keeping on, be safe and enjoy this very special part of life.
Sunday – earth day – dawned windy and totally socked in all over the Bay, well except for Richmond of course. People noted that the earth must be pissed as it was roaring all day long. We left the dock with #3's and they came back way worse for wear as it was WINDY out there. Awesome close racing for us, there was ripping current at the top mark and that made for some expensive circles in big wind that, while never fun, were much worse than normal. Both 68 and 89 not only got a serving of the weather mark but we went back for more and managed (unbelievably) to tag the offset also!
The chutes popped up with just a bit of dread and we were off (some of us for longer than others) on a ripping plane right over the backs of the brown and foamy Bay chop. It was awesome to be fully-powered with wash coming right over the deck at times. What great little boats these are!
The Melges were ripping and spinning, the Etchells were pushing some serious water and I saw that they brought out the BIG 5 gallon bailing buckets! The expresses were doing okay but we were running into the back of their fleet on Sunday as I think we light off before then in breeze.
The RC did a great job all weekend long and I think the final order was something like 188, 71, 85 blahhh blahh. My fingers are tired and face all wind-burned and I'm stoked to have had such a great weekend. Where were the rest of you? Do we need to make some changes to the schedule? Do we need to set events in Lake Merritt and Pinto Lake? What are we doing wrong? Billy said something like the wind was blowing harder than his age, implying that it was not easy out there. Should we be trying to accommodate this sentiment and make the events shorter, less windy, and perhaps fewer of them? Please let me know simonwiner@gmail.com
Simon
