StFYC Simpson Regatta

October 16-17, 2010

by John Rivlin of Peaches

 

Saturday started out overcast with winds in the 16kt range. Our crew hadn't sailed together so we got out the race course early and sailed all the way up to the bridge with the #1 up trying to figure out whether or not it was the right sail. Ultimately we decided that the #3 was right anticipating a building breeze.

 

The course was set just off the face of Alcatraz with the windward mark about half way to the Golden Gate.

This allowed one to venture in and out of the cone search for relief or tide as desired.

 

The first race was sailed in a mild flood. We got off the line well and ended up playing the right side of the course. As far as we could make out the left side paid because the Rat popped out ahead of us. We rounded in second and jibed fairly early on on the downwind leg figuring that if it didn't work going up, it would going down. Unfortunately we got a little far off to the left and jammed ourselves in a corner forcing a hasty jibe to make the mark. The result was a mess leaving us in 5th place after the mark rounding behind Wile, Discotheque, the Rat and Opa. (The Rat changed up to the #1 on the downwind leg which turned out to be a mistake.)

 

The second race went better. We played the left side of the course and pretty much stayed with the rest of the fleet. Wile had another good race as did the Rat leaving us with an uneventful 3rd place finish. The highlight of the race was the first windward mark rounding where we approached on the port lay line and managed to cross in-between Wile E and the Rat who on starboard inside the circle.

 

The third race we got another good start and continued to play the left side of the course after a short hitch to the right. The wind did not build but continued in the same 16kt range under cloudy skies. We sailed pretty much the entire race in second and finished there although the Rat was approaching rapidly on hot angle on starboard at the end of the downwind finish.

 

Sunday we got a gift from Wile E who led the regatta on Saturday as they did not make it out for the day. Too bad! We were looking forward to racing with them. Sunday conditions were slightly lighter than Saturday. We sailed with the #1 although the fleet was split. It turned out to be the right sail and we found that we had great boat speed and point. (I think the Rat was struggling with being a little light.) We were able get out and in front on the upwind leg and not give up too much on the download leg focusing mostly on loosely covering the fleet.

 

The second race Sunday we got off the line well again and were able to sail higher and faster out on the left of the course. Things were going well until the wind shut down complete just be fore the windward mark. About 15 minutes later the breeze filled in from the south. Discothèque managed to play things well by positioning themselves to the south of us and ended up rounding in front of us. We didn't go very fast down wind and almost ended up getting caught by the Rat too. We didn't realize the course was shortened so we rounded the left gate and sailed up wind. We were luck as that left gate was quite favored allowing us to just edge out the Rat who finish at the right gate.

 

It took a while for the third race to materialize but the race committee did a great job sticking with it and adjusting the course waiting for the wind to settle in. Ultimately the wind ended up dialing around to the west and we got a third race off in great conditions and the windward mark set up by #16. We ended up working the left side of the course hard looking for early ebb. Again our boat speed was good and we were able to sail most of the race in first which gave just enough points to win the tiebreaker against the Rat.

 

It was a very well run event and the conditions were great as there was enough wind but not too much wind. Many thanks to the St. Francis for another great event!

 

John Rivlin