The 2015 Moore 24 Nationals was held at Richmond Yacht Club on August 28th-30th and it delivered. Moore 24 sailor and club member Simon Winer headed up the organizing of the event and was able to land Fred Paxton as PRO as well as a very competent on-the-water team.
Social festivities ranged from an Ullman Sails Santa Cruz kegerator/tiki bar on-the-dock party on Friday after sailing, to a delicious Mexican style dinner at the club Saturday night.
Sailing started at noon on Friday with a crazy unpredictable quadruple restart fiasco of a race that had last place move into first repeatedly. Team White Tash #78 pulled the cat out of the hat by sailing back to Richmond and then reaching off back to the finish line to steal the bullet from team Moore wave*ohs #34 who had just done the same thing. It was a tough decision for the RC for sure but, where other fleets may have complained, the Moore fleet just got on with racing.
Race two was the long distance race. Started less than ten minutes after the pervious race as PRO Fred said he would. With everyone’s heads still spinning from the crazy race, jibs were being switched as sandwiches were being stuffed as the starting sequence commenced. The course was twice around Angel Island to starboard as the breeze built. Team Gruntled(“V” inside joke) #68 banged left off the line not because it was the way to go, but because they were outside Team Eclipse #85 and didn’t know the course. After tacking back to port and dodging a barge (and...”ohh it has a tow”!) at the island it turned out to be good enough to lead around Point Blunt. As the fleet accelerated out of the Racoon Straights and contemplated doing it again, the race committee showed mercy and shortened the course to finish at the BOC (Bottom of the Circle) leeward mark.
At the end of racing Team Trashy #78 were the leaders with a 1,4, followed by Banditos, Wet Spot, and Gruntled closed behind.
Friday night’s David Hodges/Ullman kegerator and the tiki bar were very much enjoyed followed by the usual tasty barbecue at the club.
Saturday was supposed to be lighter, but was windier. Team Trashy took a 2nd to maintain the lead. The wind picked up a little more and the chop built. By the end of the day Gruntled was leading with a solid 1,3,1 for the day with Eclipse posting a 3,3,1 and Banditos #118 with a 6,2,3 close behind.
Back at the dock the sight of all the wet gear littered around drying was a clear sign of the typical Berkeley Circle chop the fleet had pounded through upwind and aggressively surfed back downwind. More tiki bar and an excellent dinner capped off a full day.
Sunday saw the wind lighten up. Although the first race saw the fleet chose to go with #3s expecting it to build, it was probably #2 conditions. Gruntled got the bullet and maintained the lead, but Eclipse was still close behind. The last two races saw the breeze slowly start to lighten. Many boats used #2s and eventually #1s. Trashy started to make a comeback posting a 5,4. But Team Mooregasm #36 was the sleeper shooting up the standings with a 2,2,2 for the day.
The fleet was becalmed on the sail in and many sailors dove into the usually unwelcoming Bay waters to enjoy themselves after three days of hard sailing. Eventually everyone was rounded up and towed in by the Pelican and RC boats. One hilarity was a classic Wylie that showed up early and took their sweet time charging through the becalmed fleet again and again while cherry picking their friends (and ex-friends) out of the fleet and then being BEATEN back to the club by the official boats and their ducklings.
In the end Gruntled was able to hold off Eclipse for the win with Banditos finishing 3rd, Mooregasm 4th, White Trash 5th. Congratulations to the Gruntled team (4th National win) of Bart Hackworth, Simon Winer, Ron Tostenson, and Karen Loutzenheiser
Many thanks must be given to the Richmond Yacht club and all its volunteers including PRO Fred Paxton and Regatta Director Simon Winer for putting on a great Moore 24 regatta. And of course thanks to Moore Prez Karl for all the hard work and the permanent addition of The Tiki Bar to all future Moore 24 regattas as Karl now has a trailer mount for it and the blender under the Moore.
Photos by Leslie@Rockskipper.com
http://www.rockskipper.com/Sailing-Galleries/2015-Moore-24-Nationals