A Proper Fiasco

Still glowing from having finished the three bridge, I decided to write it up (we didn't win it!). So many great pics have been shared from people celebrating at anchor or flushed to mile rock. 

Standard practice is either go clockwise around the course, or counter clockwise. Sometimes the really weird moves pay off. Like going around one of the islands the longer way (TI 270 degrees worked last year!), or going to Red Rock as a very first move (worked the year before!). All the planning Friday night is pointless. The HRRR forecasts are great but the reality of what is going on at the time of the start ultimately makes all the plans often useless. Or gives you some false sense of security that the forecasts were wrong and it will all be ok. Lol! It’s a big freaking gamble. 

We did the unconventional move and planned to go straight to Red Rock from the starting line. We saw all the A players heading towards Blackaller and didn’t let it get to our heads. They’re nuts, I thought. I have seen that pile of boats drifting out the gate before. A hard no. It means sailing extra distance at the end, in order to round Blackaller Bouy. But we were intent on getting to current relief by Berkeley as fast as possible while there was still breeze, which was forecast to basically shut off completely (2 kts) by 10am. From there we could work north in the shallows, and wait for the wind to rebuild mid-afternoon to complete the course. 

The start was ridiculous - we had this kinda glorious sailing on a reach east and west as our 5 minute warning started. We were a little up-current of the line, well outside of the 150’ exclusion zone (towards the North), and there was plenty of breeze. And with three minutes to go, it shut off. Oh come on!! And we drifted down current. There goes the starting line. We fought, and fought. And there were so many other boats sitting on our air. I don’t know how long it took us to get to the starting line again and cross it, but it was 100% focus to get there. 5 minutes? 10 minutes? No idea. A minor miracle we made it back, and the breeze picked up right as we crossed the line. 

We started making our way to the south shore of Angel for the current relief behind Point Blunt, as a few boats ahead of us did. We had made it to just north of Alcatraz buuuut, nope. Breeze shut off and we got flushed to Sausalito along with a few other Moores that chose our same strategy. We floated with Enamored, Lowly Worm, and Mooregasm, who were looking mighty fast while at anchor. We only had 100' of anchor rode which was not enough to catch in 60' of water. We had also loaned my motor to Kurt & Alex on Safety Third, who were ironically more safety conscious than me and wanted to carry a motor (!). Mooregasm, it turns out, had already written it off and was just intent on not getting flushed out the gate (also no motor). They wondered what we were doing. :)

So we sailed against the current for hours, until we finally started making some progress up the cone of Angel island as the westerly breeze filled. We went through Racoon straits, which was not our original plan. The J125 Arsenal cruised on by in full glory, laughing at the irrelevant-to-them current. In the meantime we’re following the -0.1ft depth contour on the north shore of the straits. We exited Raccoon, took a brief hitch north before crossing ‘the river’ into the shallows cone south of Red Rock and worked our way up. And there is Flying Tiger. Where the heck did they come from?! Apparently anchored north of TI for hours, waiting to pounce. 

The few boats ahead were all rounding clockwise. Arsenal was LAUNCHED southbound in the current and upwind after rounding. There was not enough wind and too much current to round counter clockwise. Well, everyone in front of us going clockwise rounded, and then the door shut on us. Yep. I have been here before. WTF. At least the 45 minutes we had to wait was less than the 2 hours last time. I recalled to Jason McCormack (of Hood River / Express 27) who was sailing with me, stories of Foamy sailing past the bridge and drifting back across the top of Red Rock. 

In the meantime like 50 boats came rushing up the other side of the island. People on our side started bailing - Brendan Busch on Express Get Happy had made up a massive deficit to come right up to our heels turned back to Richmond. Then we see Lowly Worm, North of the bridge, making it work. Damn!

We really were tempted to 'unwind' and go around the other side of the island when we finally got the shift, and all the kites on the other side of the island dropped. The bow was pointing just to the right of the current and we crept across every so slowly. It was incredibly nerve wracking. And then we drifted south for what seemed like forever. No ‘launching’ like Arsenal. Just drifting along at 3 kts, sails hanging. Our hopes of finishing diminishing by the minute. The wind teased us a couple more times before solidifying. Maybe? Maybe? We were drag racing Lowly all the way to TI, converging a few boat lengths behind them. They swapped Mikey into the driver’s seat just to play with our heads. We both rounded beautifully right next to each other at TI, where it was miraculously breeze all the way through - just as the sun set. Champagne sailing right there. We then had an upwind drag race all the way up the cityfront. It was now flooding, so we stayed well away from the piers where the worst of the early flood is. Lowly split and opted to gamble on taking a tack in for relief on the shore below St Francis; we went far out into the bay, which worked as planned. We found the tiny little blackaller buoy in the dark, rounded it, set the kite and sailed to the finish. Finished with 12 minutes to spare, with Lowly a few minutes behind even closer to the cutoff. 

It was a year for the fast boats; we were the slowest boats to finish. Flying Tiger finished a whopping hour before us, followed by Painkiller and Topper II, two of the boats that opted for TI first and anchored for a long time. Well done y’all. What’s most fascinating is that we had Blackaller-first, Red Rock-first, and TI-first, among the finishers, and no two boats that finished went the same way. Anything goes I guess. 

The best part of the race was a minute after finishing - we turned up a bit to head back to Richmond, pole on the headstay, a Moore crept in out of the darkness right below us heading upwind from TI to the finish - Paramour (they had tried Blackaller first and got flushed to Pt Bonita and somehow clawed back). We all cheered as we flew past each other a boat length apart, with just a glimpse of their unmistakable Moore hull briefly visible in the glow of the city lights. So much joy in the shared experience of declaring victory over this course. 

Karl

Going nowhere fast

Wrong view of Fort Point! (Courtesy of Tonopah Low)

Not a mark of the course! (courtesy of Tonopah Low)

The carnage

A sneaky Corinthian

SSS Corinthian Race 2/25  

Even though we did well, much like for everyone else, it had its frustrating points.  In the end, perseverance paid off. However, the whole day felt like conditions would change in an instant, and sometimes they did!

We started the day by thinking that it would be pretty cold, so I’d already put my foulies on before I left the house.  The rain stopped falling just before we arrived at the boatyard in the morning.  During our boat prep, decisions were made about which sails to fly, which jibs to flake etc., but we pretty much felt it was going to be a #1 jib all day. 

On our way to the starting area we checked conditions along Chrissy Field.  We saw light winds from the east and a consistent 1-2 not ebb from GGYC all the way to Blackaller buoy. Mental notes were taken

Before the start we “Hid” behind the spit at the Wave Organ along with many other Moores to stay out the ebb at the start.  This gave us time to develop our starting strategy, which was to coast to the line on the main alone and then raise straightaway to the kite.  We chose to leave the jib secured to the deck and started to question our strategy when we saw all the other boats start on jibs. We raised our spinnaker right before the start and found an opening at the pin, partly due to the ebb, I’m sure, and the boats just ahead that were messing with each other.  The start turned out great after all.  Luckily, the boats under us didn’t take us up and we were able to roll over the top of them!  OK, solid start!

We headed toward the middle of the Bay thinking the ebb was still running stronger there, constantly checking where the Express 27’s were headed.  As the wind lightened and puffs now coming from the south, we jibed a few times to get closer to Chrissy Field in case we needed to drift past Blackaller buoy. We dropped the kite and went to the #1 jib as we rounded that mark in 2nd, with SNAFU well ahead of us.

After Blackaller we felt with the way the tide was running that it made sense to head through Racoon Strait first and leave Angel Island to starboard (rounding Angel either direction was an option).  We knew from our earlier transit from Sausalito that the flood had already started on the Marin shore.  That’s where we headed and were possibly the western most Moore.  Constantly on our minds was that we certainly didn’t want to repeat our recent 3-Bridge Fiasco where we drifted past the GG north tower!

We successfully made it to Yellow Bluff, found the relief we were seeking and breathed a sigh of relief.  We then passed the Hank Easom buoy seeking for his guidance because at least four Moores caught and passed us as we approached Raccoon Strait with kites now up.  The flood was now starting to build and we became concerned that we weren’t going to clear the Belvedere Point mark, an obstruction on the course.  We passed GRUNTLED who had to take down their spinnaker and put a jib to make it around.  We rode over a tide line to stay on the Tiburon side of Racoon Straits to stay in the tide relief.  By now two additional Moores passed us as we struggled to get to the new breeze filling from the east, in the vicinity of the Caprice Restaurant.  It was now jib up and kite down as we felt we wanted to be closer to near Angel Island as we exited the Straits

On the north side of Angel, the wind swung around to the north and the call was to hoist the spinnaker. Many of the Moores ahead of us headed out toward the shipping channel but saw that those boats ahead weren’t making good headway.  So, now on the east side of Angel, we jibed in toward the island looking for tidal relief.  We jibed several times to stay close to the shore and take advantage of the puffs coming down off the island.  By staying relatively close to the island shore we passed at least two Moores and reeled in the leaders. Now had a direct line to Pt. Blunt buoy with WET SPOT slightly ahead of us. As we approached the buoy, we had a short discussion with Mike Callahan on WET SPOT trying to decide if the mark was an obstruction or a mark on the course, since it could be considered an extension of the island.  We didn’t resolve this dilemma.

With spinnakers still up, we jibed around Blunt and sailed close to the south side of Angel, mainly to stay out of the adverse current and stay in any reverse we might find.  This strategy seemed to work as we caught up to the three leading Moores because they were becalmed and in adverse current.  The northerly wind rolling down Angel Island that we had been taking advantage of now lightened for us.  The wind was awfully fickle at this point.  We were also checking to see how much we were getting swept by current. Looking around us we saw that SNAFU took off on a new northwesterly breeze. We switched back to our #1 jib and tacked out from Angel to get closer to their new breeze line.  We were sailing away from the boats behind but SUERTE got to the northwesterly before us and extended.  At this point SNAFU was well around Little Harding and “Gone.” 

We finally got to the northwesterly and halved the distance between us and SUERTE by the time we reached Little Harding.  SNAFU and SUERTE still ahead of us, and feeling good about being in 3rd, we rounded Little Harding.  We rounded next to PEACHES and we both raced to get our kites up.

We looked for the expected westerly breeze but it had not yet developed.  We saw that SNAFU was on a course to leave Alcatraz to port on their way to the next mark, Blossom Rock, and SUERTE appeared to follow them.  They both looked to be in very light wind.  At that point, we decided the best strategy was to stay in the flood on a rhumb line toward Blossom Rock buoy.  That worked, as we quickly passed SUERTE.

Our next challenge now lay before us.  An outbound container ship that was in the northern shipping lane and coming right at us.  Luckily, the wind veered slightly left and allowed us to work up and away from the ship to give it room to safely transit the channel. Now well behind us, SUERTE was struggling to get out of the channel near Harding Rock as the ship approached.  We were now in 2nd.

Once the ship passed us, we jibed and headed directly toward Blossom.  We now had a clear view of SNAFU’s position which was slightly west of Alcatraz. In amazement we saw that we were now abreast of them!  SNAFU, seeing our position and the progress we were making, jibed and passed north of Alcatraz. I’m certain they were anticipating/hoping the westerly would fill so they could take off.

Wind was still light where we were but was now blowing from the SW.  We had just enough breeze to keep the spinnaker full and the last of the flood carried us through the little bit of wind shadow behind Alcatraz.  Once we were past the island, we could see that the current was pushing us right and toward Blossom.

There was still 1-2 knots of flood at the Blossom mark and knew we wanted to head to shore for favorable current.  We felt the flood was not strong enough for there to be any significant tidal cone relief from Alcatraz

We didn’t do a lot of tacks up the SF shore, only enough to take advantage of tidal relief.  By now the wind turned into a solid 7-9 knot westerly.  We kept an eye on SNAFU, who stayed mid-Bay, probably thinking that the flood current wasn’t that adverse and that our search for current relief wouldn’t pay off.  We traded tacks with former DH Moore sailor John Donovan on his multi, MA’s ROVER as we sailed toward the finish.  As we crossed the finish line, we celebrated with high-5s and beers were now in order!  We then looked back to see where SNAFU was – still the same distance as our separation at Blossom.  Not sure which of our upwind strategies was better.

It was a great race for us, certainly redemption for our not so spectacular 3BF finish!  Patience and perseverance played into our hand this day.  On the way back to Sausalito we saw many boats still trying to round Little Harding, including two Moores.  That’s when it really started to sink in on how well we finished.

-Peter

Moore memories

THE HULL

In the early 1970’s, Moore Sailboats was busy building 5o5’s in the run-up to the 1971 Santa Cruz Worlds. There was no paved SCYC dry storage, and the weight limit on the club hoist was 2,000 pounds. Both Phil Vandenberg and I had ordered new 5o5’s, and I spent a LOT of time at “The Reef”. (George Olson shaped our foils.) The Moores knew they needed a product with broader market appeal, and were entertaining the idea of a small keelboat. But, until the spring of 1971, the only action was a lot of head scratching and ideas coming in off the street. Until finally (I think it might have been John Moore) said, “What about that old Grendel plug out back?”

George Olson had designed Grendel for MORC racing around three things he already had: a Cal 20 rig (which he was familiar with from the turboed Cal 20 “Sopwith Camel”), a Newport 20 ballast keel, and a copy of Skeene’s Elements of Yacht Design. However, although Grendel was quite successful racing MORC on the Bay, George knew she was too narrow and tender. This became a central topic in discussions with Ron and John.

Thus “the day the plug was spread” came about. It was a weekend, and I remember it was hot. Very Hot. I was rigging my Proctor D mast on the bench along the wall. Grendel’s plug had been freed from the mass of weeds, vines, snail tracks and spider webs that covered it, lugged into the shop and chocked upright. A lot of beer was being consumed, but it didn’t take long, before the athwartships stations were cut and it was being spread. It was just built of lath with a thin skin but, even so, a certain amount of pressure, involving bottle jacks and shims was required. By this time the corrugated iron Reef was well over 100 degrees. Finally, Ron was squatting inside the plug measuring and gesturing, when George walked across to the scrap pile behind the wood stove near my mast, grabbed a 2 x, walked back and handed it to Ron. Then, after a bit more jacking and wedging, George cut a short chunk off with a saw, and they jammed it in place athwartships at the gun’l. George stepped back, and said, “That looks about right.” And, it was. Almost.

As the plug was spread, the sheer amidships was forced downwards, to the point that it’s curve became extreme and the hull depth too shallow. In spite of this, what would become Summertime’s hull was laid up over the rebraced and inverted plug. Then, once it was popped off, about 8” of freeboard was added and the sheer straightened. This was done by constructing a Masonite mold surface along the hull’s exterior at the sheer. The glass added between the original sheer of the modified plug, and Summertime’s actual sheer, is visible in the following photo. An idea of how much the sheer was modified can be had by observing the faint line that is the bottom edge of laminate overlap, through the hole in the aft cockpit bulkhead. The line forward of the bulkhead, if extended aft, originally curved up to the corner of the transom. It’s that line that shows how distorted the plug’s actual sheer was after spreading.

With her long cockpit, small bubble cabin, and cramped interior, Summertime pre dated modern “sport” boats by decades. By 1972, she was sailing off Santa Cruz with a masthead rig. It was soon obvious that she was fast. It was also obvious to the Moores that a boat with no interior had little market appeal, and that a real hull mold was needed. So, after her “sea trials” (where just about every sailor in Santa Cruz sailed her over the summer) she was brought back to the shop, the ballast removed, the stubby added (the keel was moved forward slightly to correct for lee helm) and a female mold constructed. To help accomplish this, Ron and John hired Bruce Clayton as their first employee. Dave Roberts and Dave Engels also contributed their labor in exchange for hull kits. Bruce worked under Ron’s tutelage and later went on to develop the “Un-30” (LOA 29’ 11 3/8”) based on scaling up Summertime’s lines plan which I had drawn for Ron. Bruce got the idea for the name from Seven-Up marketing itself as the “Uncola”. The hull later became the Wilderness 30 built by Gary Caballero’s “The Hull Works” with a different sheer and deck. As Summertime’s hull mold was being finished, Ron began thinking about the deck. Ron knew I did some drafting on the side, and asked me to make some sketches of different concepts. These ranged from Grendel’s original reverse sheer flush deck, to a Cal 20 style raised foredeck, to a Santana 22 style cabin. They were all very rough, because even at this point, there were no lines of the boat on paper. She had just sort of morphed into being.

So, by early 1973, there was a real need for a lines drawing of the new hull. As it happened, shortly after the ‘71 5o5 Worlds, my girlfriend Ruth (who would eventually become Karl Robock’s aunt), and I started racing my 5o5. We were too small for the boat, but we were competitive, and we really wanted a new jibing centerboard. So, we agreed to a “lines for centerboard” swap and spent spent many evenings sliding around the hull mold in our stocking feet with plumb bobs, levels, string, and a ridiculous amount of masking tape. Because Grendel’s plug had spread asymmetrically, we had a terrible time reconciling the port and starboard offsets, and finally just had to average some of the curves to make a few points reconcile, into a more or less idealized shape. I believe this lines-plan, drawn at 1” = 1’, in July, 1973, is the basis for most of the half models that have been made.

The lines plan produced an accurate sheer line which led to the current deck profile of the boat, which I drew. The profile is similar to Grendel’s, but not identical, since the sheer lines of the two boats’ actual hulls (where the rubbing strake usually is) are different. The rudder is quite different from today’s class standard. I can’t remember if that came from Summertime’s original rudder or not, but it is remarkably similar to the one currently on #2, in Hawaii, and to some of the Un-30’s.

THE RIG

George Olson did not design the Moore 24 rig. If anybody deserves credit, it’s Bill Lapworth, Jensen Marine’s designer of the Cal 2-24.

Summertime’s performance had attracted quite a bit of attention during her summer of sea trials. Several people were interested in purchasing a hull as a kit once they became available. Two of these were Dr. Robert (Bob) Wade and his son Rob. They were campaigning their family’s Cal 2-24 “Tootsie Roll” in MBYRA (Monterey Bay Yacht Racing Assoc.) and wanted a faster boat. By 1974, the first Moore 24 “kits” were appearing. I think #5, “Relma” was the first. These were all narrow cockpit boats that were rigged with recycled Proctor Tempest or Soling masts. One, #3, was “Quicksilver” owned by Andy Anderson. Andy and I were friends, and Ruth and I often sailed with him on the boat. Rob and Jack Halterman were often aboard as well. Rob and Jack had just won the National Intercollegiate Sloop Championship, sailing for UCSC in Shields sloops on the East Coast. They were very competitive.

By then, Rob had convinced his father that if you wanted to win races in a 24 foot boat the Moore 24, as it was starting to be called, was the way to go. But, what to use for a rig? At that point the Moores were not producing rigged boats. There was no class, so anything that would fit was eligible. Although Summertime sailed well with her masthead rig, the kit boats’ Proctor rigs were too flexible to support adequate rig tension. More importantly, Rob had a real affinity for the 15/16th rig on the Cal 2-24. It didn’t sacrifice too much spinnaker area, didn’t require jumpers or runners to get adequate headstay tension, yet still allowed some mains’l control. So, we borrowed Andy’s boat, stepped Tootsie Roll’s huge rig on her, and went Wednesday night sailing. This was not a setup that tolerated too many crew on the same side deck at the dock. But, in spite of being tender and overpowered, the boat proved remarkably fast. Wednesdays don’t feature long beats, and, feathering like crazy, we often rounded the weather mark with much bigger boats. I remember one race where we rounded overlapped with Xanthippe, the Simpkin’s Columbia 50, and left her behind on the run. Rob and Jack wanted to enter Quicksilver in that year’s Santa Barbara Race, but she didn’t go. Andy was on vacation and had left me responsible. I felt that, although the extra weight aloft of the 2-24 rig wasn’t much of a factor screwing around on Wednesdays, it would make the boat unseaworthy offshore. As it turned out, there was very little wind that year.

No matter. By this time it was pretty clear that the new boat would have a scaled down version of the 2-24’s 15/16th rig. More importantly, Rob’s dad, Bob, also liked that rig and he had the checkbook. I had the lines plan, my own copy of Skeenes, and knew how to make the necessary calculations. In consultation with the Moores, and Rob and Jack, I drew the sail plan for # 7, “Poltergeist”, as the new boat was to be called. Since the Wades could afford professionally made spars, they went straight to Niels Ericsson in Sausalito. I believe he built two rigs, one for Poltergeist and one for #6, “Ruby”, which was the first wide-cockpit, fully rigged Moore the shop turned out. She became the “shop boat” and the prototype for all the stock boats to follow. But, with North sails by Larry Herbig, Poltergeist was sailing earlier, because she had a race date to make.

EARLY RACES

The Wades’ goal all along was the 1975 Ano Nuevo Race, the opener in the MBYRA series. That race then started and finished in Monterey, encompassing a 40 mile beat and return. Poltergeist was finished in time, but barely. After a few shakedowns, Rob, Jack, and I sailed her across to Monterey on a Friday afternoon for the Saturday morning start. There had been a spring storm the week before and, as the front passed, a strong northwesterly filled behind. We did the 20 plus miles across to Monterey in two hours and change with a reef and # 3. We slept aboard Friday night in Monterey

marina, convinced by the boat’s motion and the roar of gusts through nearby rigs, that we were embarked on a fools’ errand. But, by the time Dr. Wade arrived the next morning with the victuals, the front was in Utah and wind had died to a whisper.

As one of smallest boats in the fleet, we knew the race was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. But the light air start favored us; on the long port tack back across to Santa Cruz, we paced a well sailed Cal 3-30 and Ranger 33. There were a lot of tacks between Santa Cruz and Ano Nuevo buoy, most of which I spent below, shifting sails and wedging myself up into the weather jump seat. Often overlooked today is the fact that, once a boat with lifelines is heeled, due to the hull’s tumblehome, a crew member perched in the weather jump-seat exerts virtually the same righting moment as one the rail.

We rounded Ano Nuevo buoy after dark in about 25 knots of cold northerly. Rob and Jack had helmed the whole way with Dr. Wade hunkered down in his gear on the rail. He was tough and quite fit for his age. He had boxed in college and, as a doctor, he knew the importance of pacing. This was good because, by the time we rounded, Rob and Jack both looked like they had just scaled K-2 during a solar flare. But, we had a fresh helmsman who was also an experienced 5o5 skipper, and a little red North star- cut, heavy air kite. We set. Control was fingertip. The speedo went to 10+ and never dropped below until Monterey’s lights were well within view. We passed more than a few of the bigger boats that had rounded ahead of us and easily won on corrected time. Poltergeist went on to win that year’s MBYRA season championship, and Santa Barbara Race. I was unable to make that race, but I was available for the next Ano Nuevo Race which she also won.

Her victory the second time around was largely due to an unforced navigational error on the part of her main competition. This was a new, very well set up Santa Cruz 27 named “Kurzwiele” owned by Randy Parker. This race was the design’s competitive debut and she was crewed to win. Shortly after the start, which was considerably windier than the previous year, we watched with dismay as she powered away upwind with six on the rail. We followed the same game plan as before, but by the time we rounded, they were long gone. We pretty much rhumb-lined it back to Monterey while they went offshore in search of more breeze. Way offshore.

The fog moved in. The breeze died away. We spent probably the last 2 hours slatting to finally finish around 2:30 AM. As we moped across the line, we were greeted with almost hysterical giddiness by Ruth, and Rob and Jack’s girlfriends, all three of whom were perched on the very end of Wharf No. 2. “Guess who won,” they shrieked. “Kurzwiele,” Rob replied. “No, YOU DID! She hasn’t finished yet!”

This was long before GPS. The RDF bearing from Ano Nuevo to Monterey virtually lines up with the axis of the Monterey Peninsula. But, when approaching from offshore, the signal travels over it. Kurzwiele followed that bearing in, and ended up off Carmel. Because of the fog, by the time she realized her error it was too late. While we were slatting, she was slowly beating back up around Point Pinos.

In the space of one year Poltergeist had won two Ano Nuevo races, MBYRA, and the Santa Barbara Race. Ruby may have preceded Poltergeist out of the mold, but it was the latter’s success that insured that she became the basis for the fleet that exists today.

Paul Tara, November, 2022

2023 Nationals return to Huntington

After well over a decade, the Moore 24 fleet returned to Huntington Lake for its 2023 National Champs.  21 boats from as far as Port Townsend, Seattle and San Diego ventured to the Sierras to this very special spot for many fleets, especially Moore 24s.  The event was organized and hosted by Santa Cruz YC, with essential support from the Fresno YC.  With a great deal of uncertainty due to the late opening of the campgrounds because of the excessive winter snow melting so late, Syd Moore, Santa Cruz fleet captain, put in enormous and essential effort to get everyone situated.  All worked out extremely well as the campgrounds opened up the week of the event.  

Huntington Lake provided nice winds throughout the event, albeit slightly lighter than usual, at 5-12 knots.  With the thinning of the treelines due to fires several years ago on the upwind shores, the typical scenarios for tactics and strategies that the Huntington "regulars" know well, didn't materialize, and the racers used the entire lake to make their moves.  8 races were sailed over 3 days.  Despite a tough race 1, Mooretician skippered by Peter Schoen seemed to be in great form.  Joel Turmel on Firefly also started with their drop race, but quickly improved.  Rowan Fennel on Paramour, Chris Watts on Watts Moore, Kurt Lahr on Safety Third, and Steve McCarthy on Ruby all showed top 3 promise.  Vaughn Seifers on Flying Tiger was super consistent with a 4, 5, 6, but, Mooregasm was consistently in the top 3 with a 1, 3, 1 on day one.  

As the regatta continued on day 2, DFZ helmed by Eric Kownacki started to settle in and move up the score sheet with a 6, 2, 3 after a rough day one.  Mooregasm continued to sail consistently with a 3, 4, 2 to extend their lead.  Firefly, Paramour, Mooretician and DFZ settled into a battle for the remaining top 5 positions.  With a solid lead and dropping a 4th going into the final day with two races, Mooregasm needed a top 5 finish to take the regatta.  After a rough start, we battled to the tail end of the front pack of 7, but managed to work up to 3rd by the finish to take the win overall, and let the teams battle it out in the last race.  Firefly, Paramour and Mooretician started day 3 virtually tied, with DFZ within striking distance.  Paramour battled Firefly in a super close final race to finish 1, 2, but Paramour needed to put a boat in between to prevail.  DFZ had a great final day with a 2, 3, but Mooretician was able to hang to 4th, with DFZ rounding out the top 5.  

This was one of the most competitive Moore 24 regattas ever.  10 different boats posted top 3 finishes during the event!  Speed was indeed important, but good starts and tactics could make up for a great deal.  The winds were lighter, but arguably more consistent, than normal.  Those who have raced at Huntington over the years are very familiar with the upwind strategy of starting low on the line and racing to the left side "to the Boy Scout camp" and playing the shifts up the left shore as the lake narrows.  But, starting high on the line and working the right shore proved to be ok and the winning move at times.  Our strategy on Mooregasm was to keep it simple - find clear lanes where we could use our height-mode, keep the boat pointed up the lake (lifted tack) and always, always try to line ourselves up for the next puff we could see moving down the lake.  Downwind, we focused on being patient, as the puffs would always bring boats behind forward, but if you didn't panic and kept your wits, you'd use those same puffs to extend back out again.  

Huntington Lake provided classic lake sailing conditions this time around.  Despite some frantic-ness and a few raised voices during boat-handling maneuvers, we did our best to keep our cool, and to remind ourselves that boats with leverage will often look great, but with lake sailing, change is a constant, and more often than not, shifts will come back.  Seeking out wind pressure was our primary focus, and crew Ali Fuwat Yuvali used his eyes and intuition to great effect both upwind and downwind.  Karl Robrock was fantastic in the cockpit; his tacking technique with the #1 up is absolutely the best there is, and this adds up to many boat-lengths on every best.  My wife Sarah Bourdow came out of semi-retirement to handle the bow with ease, as if she'd been racing all year.  While Mooregasm wasn't slow, there were many boats with better straight line speed.  We made many adjustments throughout the event trying to improve our speed, and did somewhat.  However, there seemed to be two modalities, boats that sailed higher/slower and boats that sailed lower/faster.  We realized that to continue to succeed, we would need to better position ourselves, relative to other boats, where we could use our ability to point well.  This enabled us to overcome several poor starts, including an OCS return, to stay in touch with the lead groups.  We will admit that the lake provided some quick comebacks through good luck, but that is always part of the game we play.  Thanks to all our fellow Moores for a fantastically competitive regatta.  There wasn't a single race under 75 minutes, and that's a ton of concentration, intensity, and energy to expend over 3 days.  

The hardest core yachties on Moorgawr

Huntington provides staging for Team Firefly

Team Watts wins the smiles contest

Nobody has been in the Saloon more times than Wet Spot

Expect the unexpected from team Lowly Worm

Newcomers on #90 are assured this is all normal

Protestors and Protestees share a shot ski

Family

A beautiful October city front

The city front delivered a beautiful weekend of racing, albeit not what we always expect in terms of big wind. Conditions both days were #1 and #2 conditions generally. We had 4 races Sat. and 3 races Sun, with 9 boats racing. Courses varied between 35 and 50 minutes, all double W-L variety, so boathandling and mark roundings were a major key to success.

Saturday brought fairly typical city front conditions, lighter and trickier early on, and a bit more stable as the wind built up, though it didn't fill in more than 15 knots, more like 12 on average. We saw building flood throughout the day, but not crazy, drawing most of the fleet to the wall upwind. On Mooregasm, we focused on shifts and pressure that would enable us to work our way in the correct direction. On the boat, we talked a lot about how variable the puffs and shifts were going to be, acknowledging that things could change dramatically. This kept things calm and allowed us to string puffs together and focus on keeping the boat moving and executing consistently good boathandling.

After winning the first race, we continued conservative tactics which did enable 11, 104, 64, 89 and others to edge out on us at times, but we felt that as long as we could stay close, we would find solid results. After a rough first race, Firefly once again proved to be very fast and we battled aggressively with them in races 3-4, losing out both times. But consistency put us in the lead by a point going into Sunday knowing a drop race was assured.

Firefly came out swinging on Sunday morning, as expected, but the wind was flukey in race 5, surprisingly holding to the right of typical city front wind direction, especially in race 6-7. Late ebb offshore and some big swings in race 5 showed that 89 and 104 were the hot boats on the day. Watts and team battled with Schoen throughout the day with 104 taking bullets in the final 2 races. Watts was super fast with that #2 up. #11 Spaulding team also showed many moments of speed and tactics on the day.

Karl, Ali and Karen worked together extremely well on Mooregasm, nearly flawless boathandling. Great tacks really clawed us out of several tough situations and put us back into races we could have easily slid way back. We used our standard set-up on the rig - 600 & 400 on shrouds, 341 on rake, leads well inboard sheeting firm with progressively more headsail twist throughout the weekend, lots of trim adjustments when things got light to keep the boat moving.

St. Francis was awesome to us, as usual, with great food and drinks, but the RC was just fantastic. The starting lines we superbly well set, with the best starting boats at both ends making it to the wall at nearly the same time. This is the right way to manage current on the city front and very hard to do. We were very impressed. What a great 2 days of tight racing in awesome conditions. We would have loved to have been a little wetter, but all in all, a great time!

Welcome fleet week

Fire boat clearly here to celebrate the start of race 6

A first at Chelan

When we moved to Lake Chelan from Santa Cruz late last year we were thrilled to find the Lake Chelan Sailing Association. Just for $40 per year and four hours of volunteer work our little family could make use of the many club boats that are conveniently located at the Lakeside Marina. It took us a while to figure out that there would be no sailing until June when the lake level comes up enough to launch the boats. When we first met Russ Jones at the boat check out late May, we were amazed at how laid back and inviting the whole scene was - nothing to sign, no politics, just good old sailing. That’s when he told us about the one and only regatta that LCSA holds each year, the weekend after labor day. For people who were used to racing almost every weekend, we knew we had to be there.

Lake Chelan is a heavenly destination with the Cascades in the background, crystal clear waters, hills of fresh fruit, and a quiet little town full of charm. Once Labor Day passes, the power boats, jet skis, flotillas and people in general seem to disappear, making way for sailboats to enjoy the lake wake and traffic free.

When everyone started showing up on Friday to launch, they were greeted by Russ, who diligently applies for the event permit every year and by some miracle gets the city to waive launch and parking fees for all the sailors. It was great to see the variety of boats which included Moore 24s, Tasars, Flying Scotts, Capris, San Juans and a buccaneer. A couple local people also took out the club Ranger 16 and Hunter 216. All in all, 19 boats showed up for this event, definitely more than we were expecting. 

Russ and his wife Debbie were by far the most hospitable people you could ever meet, letting us sailors camp out on their nut farm on top of the Chelan river gorge. It was awesome to see so many tents set up underneath big chestnut trees on plush green grass. The night was spent playing music, enjoying beverages and getting to know each other off the water. 

On the water, there was a great showing of people of all ages, even the famous sailing doggie, “Dakota” and one-year old baby Andrei. The marks were fixed going up and down the lake and the start/finish line was on either side of the Race Committee, the biggest sailboat on the lake, “Wild Cider”. We wondered how this was going to work out, but because of all the changes in wind direction, it was by far the easiest way for RC to get as many races in as they did. 

The wind here, which is usually shifty and variable, really allows sailors to show their skills, as almost every race presented a different set of challenges. We were lucky - there was great wind on Saturday, by Lake Chelan standards, a steady 6-8 knots with the occasional 10 knot puff. The race committee did an amazing job getting five races in - I only remember doing that many races in one day in the Laser fleet back in California. Some boats seemed to catch magic puffs and other somehow made big gains in the shifts coming off the hills. It made for some very competitive and fun sailing with the Corinthian spirit high and great sportsmanship all around. By the end of the day we were ready to jump in the water for a nice swim and crack a cold one. 

Sunday was not what we were hoping for but we all still made the best of it, getting one race off in before calling it a day. The funniest comment of the weekend goes to the Flying Scott who managed to stay up with the Moores that day. “I can’t believe a boat that slow makes it to Hawaii,” as he came up behind us. We all shared a chuckle and knew that while our boats may not be the same, we were all here for the same reason; to share fun weekend of sailing on the beautiful Lake Chelan. 

Come join us next year for LCSA’s 50th Annual Sailing Regatta!

Stay tuned at sailchelan.com

Mooregasm's Huntington

The High Sierras provided exactly what we Moore sailors have come to expect from Huntington Lake - sunshine and dependable breeze.  15 Moores ventured to compete this year, the largest fleet in the event by quite a ways.  The breeze rolled in at 8-12 knots 15 minutes before the first start on Saturday, right on schedule.  Tactics were pretty straight forward - start low on the line and work the left toward the boy scout camp, then up the south shore looking for big leftys to bring you out to the mark.  

Lowly Worm showed consistently good starts, excellent speed and height in the first race and led the way in that first race all the way around.  The Worm, Mooregasm, Wet Spot, Watt's More, Firefly, Mooretician, and Nobody's Girl all had top 3 finishes in Day one's 3 races, with Broken Lizard pulling consistent top-5 finishes to keep things super tight.  That's how tight the racing was throughout the whole event, with five boats sharing the top-3 finishes on Day 2.  

On Mooregasm, after a rough start in race 1 where we just tried to hang in there, we discovered the boat felt super fast and our crew work would be fantastic.  After a 3rd row start in race 1, we simply hung in bad air and made the best of things.  The fleet was keying in on the point on the left, prepping to short tack the upper left shore.  We got there in about 8th, so decided we couldn't play that game.  We found a good puff to take us out to the middle a bit more than the leaders, and a good shift to come back on leaving us just short of the leading 5 boats at the top mark.  

Our starts improved in subsequent races, but the lesson of not playing the left shore at all costs stuck with us through the weekend.  While we led to the point and that left shore in races 2-5 - we still looked for pressure and shifts that begged us to step out to the middle a little on the way upwind, and this often paid dividends enabling us to stretch out on the fleet in several races.  When in doubt, we committed to sailing toward and lining up for the next pressure/puff.  

Downwind legs required patience and a keen eye on where puffs were landing and how they were tracking down the lake.  Only in race 5 on Sunday, did the breeze go super light and try to turn the fleet inside out.  But even in that race, the breeze settled back in and was super steady and consistent for the most part.  

Mooregasm credits unexpectedly good team dynamics with the lion's share of our success.  The cockpit work and calm demeanor set a smooth and positive tone on our boat that caused everyone to up their games.  It didn't hurt that Mooregasm felt super fast and we had great height upwind.  This I credit to work we've been doing with our local fleet instilling some consistency and discipline in setting up our boats.  We've studied both the methods of measurement and differences in settings boat to boat.  This weekend, we sailed with a rake of 364" measured with main halyard to stern, 341" jib halyard to bow.  Rig tension was moderate, 400 lowers/600 uppers - though we know my gauge reads heavy so actual tension is 10-15% below those numbers.  We have our jib leads well inboard, trim the #1 and #2 quite tight, managing slot with twist via lead height.  From there, we play the mainsheet as needed to sail the boat as flat as possible.  

One high point came on Saturday race 3, when the day's best puff on the lower part of the lake allowed us to heat it up and get her cooking at 13 knots for about 30 seconds:):)  All in all, it was a great event with some great tight racing, beautiful weather, good friends and good fun.  We were thrilled to win and more thrilled to have Dave Josselyn present the Verutti Trophy to Josselyn until next year.  

Josselyn’s chest

Thanks everyone!  See you at Nationals!!

Steve

The gang

Mooregasm’s Sarah & Steve Bourdow, Ali & Karl

Team Worm, remastered, available on vinyl. These dudes party hard and sail harder.

Team Watts!

Two time past HSR champion Scott Sorensen sailed with his 15yr old son Spike, and friends Steve Carrol and Matt took 4th place.

Peter Schoen's Mooretician with team mates Roe Patterson and Erica Ryan proved once again that they could sail light and deliver.

Mooretician's DHF masterclass

This year’s running of the Doublehanded Farallones race was initially cancelled due to forecast high winds and a sea state with big swells at 8 seconds apart. Wisely, the race was rescheduled for June 18 and I must say that I like this new date – much longer daylight and warmer weather!

Our day started early, pushing off the dock in Sausalito at 6:30am to make sure we had plenty of time to get to the starting area off Baker Beach for a planned 8:20am start. Winds were light, as can be expected this early in the morning, but with just enough breeze to send off the first two fleets. The breeze proceeded to lighten and we struggled against a 0.5 knot flood current to get back to the starting area. The RC postponed our start time for 25 minutes until the wind built enough to start the next two divisions, which included us.

We started on a port tack close to the committee boat with our #1 up and had just enough way on to clear the committee boat. Snafu elected to start at the other end of the line, which was set pin high. Even though the pin was favored from a distance perspective, our strategy was to get to the remaining ebb in the middle as soon as possible and favor the north as we exited land’s end. Our strategy worked because we quickly built a lead on Snafu.

Accelerando in freshening breeze on the way to Bonita (Photo courtesy of H2O Shots)

Puffin, also ready for Pac Cup (Photo courtesy of H2O Shots)

(Photo courtesy of H2O shots)

By the time we got to Pt. Bonita, wind speed increased quickly to the point that we needed to change down to the #3 jib. Once the sail change was complete, we tacked on to starboard and headed toward SE Farallon.

The wind speed and direction were fairly consistent all the way to the Rock Pile. Winds were in the mid-teens with gusts to 20. However, the sea state was bumpy and made it challenging to keep consistent boat speed. With the ebb push, we made it to the SF Entrance Buoy in two hours.

Unfortunately, the wind never clocked enough to fetch the north side of the islands. After almost four hours on starboard tack, we came in just to the south. This year’s rules allowed us to round in either direction, and since we needed to tack to get up and around SE Farallon, we decided to leave it to starboard. It didn’t make sense to us to sail up to the north end of the island and then back down to the south thereby leaving the island to port – didn’t find any benefit in the extra miles sailed.

We were amazed that we were around the island by 1:45pm. This is also where we encountered Snafu coming at us: they were just beginning to leave the Rock Pile to port. After our brief encounter, we set the kite and aimed for the north side of the SF entrance channel. It was a comfortable beam reach back to the Gate, every once in a while surfing on a swell. At about 4pm, the wind switch kicked on. Winds built into the low 20s with higher gusts. We were just north of the SF Entrance Buoy at this point. This marked the beginning of the e-ticket ride we came for. We started surfing more and more, easily hitting 12, 13 and 14 knots. Just the conditions that the Moore excels in!

Gusts continued to get stronger as we approached Pt. Bonita. We could now feel the boat lurch as the puffs hit us. We were laser focused on staying under the kite and not wiping out. We ripped coming into the Gate, hitting a few 17s with a top speed of 17.8 kts!  We also punched through one swell that sent a two-inch sheet of green water across the deck.

As we closed in on the bridge, we could see that the water was flatter inside the Bay, so we delayed our gybe and waited for a “light” spot to complete our maneuver. The gybe was completed without much excitement and we were off again on a flat-water plane to the finish, a slow 13 kts in flat water. We finished at 4:45pm, which is the earliest ever for me in this race on a Moore.

Mooretician finishing in style (Photo Courtesy of Slackwater_SF)

Now that the race was over, it was time to get the kite down and enjoy a cold beer. After eight hours of sailing, we deserved it!

All in all, it was a beautiful day. For those familiar with my sailing attire (or lack thereof), yes, I completed the entire trip in shorts. That’s how warm it was. Of course, they were soaking wet when we finished. LOL. This year’s sail in from the approach buoy is on my top 10 list of all-time best sailing experiences. For those of you who missed it, this was one for the books!

The first entry of the wrapped kite parade (Photo courtesy of Slackwater_SF)

Just leave the darned pole up (Photo courtesy of Slackwater_SF)

Pac Cup practice includes kite untangling (Photo courtesy of Slackwater_SF)

The Santa Cruz 3-Buoy Fiasco

Inspired by the legendary San Francisco Bay 3-Bridge Fiasco race , the Santa Cruz Yacht Club has come up with its own version on  Monterey Bay.  This year’s  new and improved version of last year’s SCYC Fiasco clearly lived up to expectations for the crews that traveled from Marin, Reno, Ventura and even New Zealand. Four iconic local landmarks, SC Wharf, Natural Bridges, Cement Ship and Capitola Wharf made it easier to navigate, but also more challenging to cross through different microclimates. All of  Sunday’s conflicting  weather forecasts turned out to be correct, at differing times on the 14 mile course. However, the biggest unexpected game changer turned out to be sailing and escaping the kelp beds. 

Two invited one design classes attracted  11 Moore 24s and 7 Santa Cruz 27s.  Everyone liked that it was up to each boat to choose their order of rounding the 4 buoys,  which made the race a genuine fiasco! Under the enthusiastic leadership of event chair Sydnie Moore and PRO Christina Shaw, by the end of the race, many felt this could be a Santa Cruz classic (maybe even twice a year) and  perhaps to open it up to all double handed boats with a PHRF fleet. - Event Chair Sydnie Moore

The Moore fleet started first and everyone went to the Santa Cruz wharf mark, then upwind to Natural Bridges mark. The breeze was 6-8 knots from 200 degrees, so it was not the usual trip up the coast to Natural Bridges. 

Steve Bourdow and Dave Sheldon on Mooregasm (#36), won the start and led the fleet up to Natural Bridges. They continue to lead downwind to the Cement Ship buoy, favoring  sailing further outside ahead of Pegasus (#1197), Lowly Worm (#38), Mooregawr (#12), Tonopah Low (#88). 

However, Chris Watts and Karen Loutzenheiser on Watts Moore (#104), then Sydnie Moore and Mackenzie Cook on Nobody’s Girl (#84) with Tom Conerly and Ricky Garza-Giron on Wildfire (#10) chose to play closer to the shore. The boats outside never got knocked, the three boats on the inside got knocked right down to the tip of the kelp bed off Pleasure Point.  As we were getting there, a fog bank rolled in with a small increase of wind velocity to 8-10 knots and a shift left to 185 degrees. Visibility was about a half-mile. After passing Pleasure Point, the outside boats gybed in and took transoms on the inside. 

Pegasus (#1197), Tonopah Low (#88) and Lowly Worm kept going in and went to Capitola Wharf first. The rest of the Moore kept going to the Cement Ship mark, with Watts Moore two boat lengths ahead of Nobody’s Girl and Mooregasm just behind.  When the three boats took off for the Capitola Wharf, the breeze was down to 4-5 knots. About halfway to the mark, the fog rolled back out. Going into the kelp bed between New Brighton beach and Capitola, we were all reaching, basically dead even. While most of the boats got tangled in the kelp, Nobody’s Girl crash tacked and managed to stay free and reached Capitola Wharf buoy first.

As the boats cleared the Capitola buoy and tacked out along Pleasure Point, the fog came back in, but this time there was 200-foot visibility and 18-20 knots of breeze. The three lead boats had a big-breeze tacking duel, as we all headed out. It only took a couple minutes sailing on opposite tacks to lose sight of each other in the fog. The three lead boats worked our way up the kelp bed, basically “feeling” along the edge of the fog. 

Five minutes after clearing the end of the kelp bed, the fog lifted and the breeze backed down to 16-18 knots for the race to the finish line. Mooregasm finished first, and Watts Moore finished in second place. Nobody’s Girl was a couple minutes behind finishing third and  Wildfire a few minutes after that in fourth.  

The rest of the fleet struggled through a transition at Cement Ship, forcing gambles that did not pay out. Others had moments of brilliance and better luck which made the race more interesting. All of the double handed crews  were able to finish with  a sense of accomplishment and felt  that this was the best race of the year in Santa Cruz. Hope other Moores will join us for next year’s Buoy Fiasco.  - Mackenzie Cook

Mackenzie Cook and Sydnie Moore on (#84) Nobody's Girl first to Capitola Wharf Mark and finished 3rd

Graffiti in the harbor at midnight

Steve Bourdow and Dave Shelton (#36) Mooregasm lead to Natural Bridges and passed Chris Watts and Karen Loutzenheizer on (#104) WattsMoore and Mackenzie Cook and Sydnie Moore (#84) Nobody's Girl in a tacking duel to the finish.

Ian Sprenger (#73) Skosh and crew Bianca Sills all smiles - quickly got up to speed racing for the first time on Skosh.

Chris Watts and Karen Loutzenheizer first to Cement Ship on WattsMoore.

The iconic Syd smile

2021 Great Pumpkin Regatta

The first day of the regatta was scheduled to have three races around the cans with a decent turn out of 13 Moores. It was great to see some less frequent Moore's out giving good competition such as Rosa Mystica 136, Moxy 110, Moore Havoc 135 and Oxymoron with their newly acquired boat.

the harsh realities of missing the pumpkin

the most fun award on Moxy

Breeze was light to moderate out of a very southerly direction giving us the feeling that there were changes a coming.

Race 1 got underway without a hitch and Firefly led around the first mark, followed closely by Gruntled and Mooretician. Next it was just a quick race to the finish line…or wait, is it to leeward mark and then finish? In typical Firefly fashion we were headed to the wrong mark (finish) while leading because someone taped the wrong sailing areas courses to the cabin top. While the trailing boats were bringing more breeze down and the start/finish line being restricted, I felt my blood pressure rising just a bit as I quickly realized that I was the one that taped the course sheet down, so, My bad boys! We managed to stay just ahead of the fleet as a huge righty came in. We rounded the leeward mark and did not tack as quick as we should have. This was clear to me as I saw Gruntled putting a clinic on to how its done and taking the lead to the finish. Lesson learned 68, lesson learned.

Races two and three were certainly less eventful comparatively. The building breeze and RC moving the course gave all the crews time too contemplate a head sail change. I appropriately suggested the 2, and then the 3, then the 2, then maybe the 3… Understandable the crew informed me that “we’ll just wait then” to which I responded with “Fair”. Ultimately we ended up in the J2 and turned out to be the right call for us. Unfortunately for 68 and 6 the RC had them OCS, stalling their charge to stay in the top of the standings. The Flying Tiger took the win in race two sailing a super solid regatta!

Race three the breeze backed off a few kts. and we saw the fleet playing the vicious headsail change game again. We opted to stay in the J2. Overall plan for Firefly was to get off the start line with pace, but ended up getting flushed out the back and forced to tack and head the wrong way. Luckily my crack crew consisting of Hartwell Jordon, Chris Weis and Ben Mercer pulled us out of the hole and battled back to a second for the race with Gruntled taking the win again.

Day one turned out to be a great all-around day with everyone in the fleet giving fierce  competition. 

Pursuit Race day 2

Luckily making it out of the rowdy RYC party and awards we were in good shape to take on the day the following morning, We had one crew member change as Ben had prior engagements so Ryan Treais joined the gang. We honestly did not know which way we were going to go as there were compelling reasons to go either way. The issue with going counter as early as the start was, is there was no breeze that we could see on the Belvedere cove side of the river pushing through raccoon straights. The issue with going clockwise in our view was though the pressure was quite a bit better going clockwise, going through the raccoon straights against the ebb leaving the bay was going to be quite costly. As luck would have it the breeze filled by Belvedere cove and our decision was made. 

Firefly popped out the straights first with Mooretician and Ruby in close pursuit. Nearing the Alcatraz buoy a friendly J24 decided they did not want to let us through and camped on us. We were pretty sure we could hear Ruby and Mooretician laughing as they closed gauge.

the reach

The move around Alcatraz seemed to be to hug the southern side of the rock as close as you’d dare to ride the counter current and gybe immediately when exiting. The issue with that was there was a big wind hole on the eastern side so it seemed to be a case of first in first out IF the ebb didn’t push you back into the rock. We had an interesting conversation about when exactly to gybe between Hart and i that went something like,

H “Joel can we gybe and make it”

J “not sure Hart”

H “Joel Can we gybe now”

J “Not sure how this is going to…”  Hart yells “gybing!!” so I rolled the boat through the maneuver. LOL 

All went well and we were all off to the finish sailing the rhumbline with Ruby two or so boat lengths from our stern.

the other 100 or so boats in pursuit

Mooretician opted to taking a slightly more easterly route. Not exactly sure wether to fend off Ruby who was trying to roll us or cover Mooretician east we thought it best to just sail that little boat as fast as we could and get to that finish line. Success! 

mod 70 comes in for the final gybe to the finish

A nice ending to a great weekend sailing with good friends and a Moore fleet that seems more and more like family. 

SFYC Pacific Coast Championships

Regatta Report, October 5, 2021

Nine boats showed up last weekend for the Moore 24 Pacific Coast Championships -- 8 races over 3 days at the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, CA.  Vicki Sodaro and her crack Race Committee ran windward-leeward courses in light to moderate conditions under warm & sunny October skies, with a steady ebb providing an escalator ride up the course, between Angel Island and the Golden Gate.  Post-race beer and food helped the competitors wind down each afternoon in the shelter of the world famous Belvedere Riviera.

the dinghy fleet in tow

the lap of luxury

Racing was close, with one downwind finish just a matter of a half boat length separating 3 boats.  Starts got pretty crowded at the boat end as people prioritized getting out to the right side of the course.  Suerte got off to a strong start, winning race 1 in the light breeze, followed by Flying Circus and Firefly.  After getting waxed by boats on both sides at the first leeward mark and logging a 5, ORCA found her groove and took races 2 and 3, followed closely by Mooretician and Firefly with 2s and 3s, and Ruby and Wet Spot with 4s.

1, 2, 3

 Day 2 saw the arrival of Mas! (recall the 2016 overall Pacific Cup Champ!).  Suerte again showed her light air finesse with a 2 in the first race, and Wet Spot scored a solid win in the next, followed by Mooretician then ORCA, clawing back to a 3 after being OCS.  The triple-sausage long course was next up, with most boats trading down to the 2 or 3 jib.  ORCA – Flying Circus – Wet Spot.  Vax That Thang, with the youngest and farthest-travelled crew, liked the long course and scored a 4th.

Day 3 was all about Firefly – stepping up to win both races, with ORCA in 2nd and Suerte and Mooretician in 3rd.  Final regatta results:  1) ORCA 2) Mooretician 3) Firefly 4) Flying Circus 5) Wet Spot 6) Suerte 7) Ruby 8) Vax That Thang 9) Mas!

Sunday’s postponement party

Thank you Nick Dugdale for leading the charge to host PCCs at SFYC, thank you Vicki, Forrest and team for the stellar Race Committee and thanks to the great Moore 24 fleet for coming out for some fun competition.  See you next time!

Will Baylis, Rich Bergsund, Reid Bergsund, Andy Vare

ORCA/SFYC

ORCA Crew

Mooretician Crew

Firefly crew

2021 DHF and the next generation

OG Roadmaster Nobody’s Girl

Hard to say whether the growth in attendance of this year’s DHF was due to the 2020-induced explosion short-handed sailing, or just fleet momentum the last few years. Either way, nine Moores of 39 boats was a fantastic showing. So many (relatively) new boats in this near offshore scene:

Patrick Haesloop and Erik Jensen on Puffin, #62, which was Andy Hamilton’s former Pac Cup ride. Patrick often sails with Kelly Gregory, who is off sailing around the world

Nick Voss and Andrew Lorenzen on Enamored, #19, which is fully equipped for a Hawaii ride and has been doing double duty in both fleet racing and offshore

Mackenzie Cook, Sydnie’s new boat partner in Nobody’s Girl, and Stan Martin, took her up from Santa Cruz on her first trip outside the gate in 21 years (!!).

Erica Siegel and Robin Jeffers on Moorigami, getting ready for 2022 Pac Cup.

Steve McCarthy’s Ruby with Conrad Holbrook. Bolt on the VHF, borrow all of Conrad’s gear and get this stripped out bouy racer out there and win it.

… but the true stars of the show were Mark Moore and his 8-year old son TJ on Moore Havoc, ushering in the next generation, and bringing tears of joy to our eyes. What an incredible experience to sail this race at an age when most kids are stepping onto Opti’s for the first time.

TJ, showing us how it’s done

Look out for TJ at RYC Wednesday night beercans driving his Dad’s former Pac Cup boat, and give him a high five.

BAMA held the event in September again, which is just such a pleasant time. Is everyone getting old and soft? Did we just realize this should have been held in September all along? Easy for the Moores to laugh, as these boats are more enjoyable going 3.5kts than most anything else out there. The forecast was super unstable in the days leading up, and many of us were wondering whether we should even put the boats in the water. As much as it looks gloomy, it was warm, dry, and the breeze filled.

Nonetheless, the fleet started on port tack at the pin end in a 5-6kt southwesterly. Like those that won the other divisions, Ruby was launched off the start. The very tail end of an ebb let us out the gate. The breeze softened on the way to the farallones, and it was anything but classic conditions. Light and shifty. Down the rhumbline playing the shifts seemed to be roughly the right call. Snafu went the southernmost and parked it under a dark cloud.

The hilariously inaccurate HRRR model that just adds more curveballs to tactics

The flat water light air sailing was just beautiful, and the ocean was teeming with sea life. Seals fleeing sharks, whales breaching, jellyfish galore, the usual avian abundance. The light was flat, almost monochromatic, the boat quiet.

The shifts challenged even the most veteran among us. Big gains followed by big pains. Around mid-afternoon it really seemed like there was no chance we were going to wrap this race up. GPS ETA based on current VMG said something like Monday. But the wind filled as we approached the islands just about directly upwind, and then gave its last whopper of a 30 degree right hand shift about a mile from the islands. Those below took that lift right to the leeward side of the island and routed CW. Most of the fleet gladly took that lift right over the top. A few of us indecisive boats tacked on that lift and painfully crawled up to windward layline.

That pile of rocks

Mas! and Mooretician rounded clockwise, which Dave Hodges on Timberwolf found to be THE move of the day, opening up his lead over his main competition Jonathan Livingston and Andy Hamilton on Punk Dolphin. The rest of our fleet rounded CCW.

Erica on Moorigami was looking super fast, second around the islands behind Ruby, followed by Puffin and Nobody's Girl. On the back side of the islands was John Siegel, who came out to visit Erica in his rib - if that’s any indication of how chill it was. Felt like a big family reunion back there.

Happy sailors Erica and Robin on Moorigami

Bart in form

Patrick, looking for pressure

The run back was moderate, and some played high, some played low. The breeze was more westerly than usual, so it was a fairly deep kite run all the way back. The north shore re-entry was the correct call once again, against the ripping ebb.

The long race meant we were committed to sailing after dark, something we don’t get to experience out in the ocean very often, and another part of the type II fun that this race is.

The reentry on Enamored

Mark and TJ crossed the finish line at 23:35, before the midnight cutoff. A long day for that young kid. The consensus seems to be that we’re all more excited about TJ’s race than our own. Thanks all for coming out to play. Congrats to Steve and Conrad for a well-deserved win.

Results

Back on the cityfront / Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure

Although lightly attended by the Moore fleet the event provided some exceptional sailing.

Fridays’' Aldo Alessio long distance race had the full fleet on one line together for the single long race for the day. The race was a bit of a grind for the smaller boats with over 22 miles up and down the bay. The ebb tide provided some help on the beats. The highlight of the day was a windy reach across the bay with some ship traffic thrown in for extra excitement.

Saturday and Sunday brought 3 double windward leeward races per day along the cityfront. Plenty of short tacking up the shore in the morning flood made for some exciting racing. Fleets ended up mixing a bit which added another dimension to the 7 Moores crossing tacks. We mixed it up with SC27s, Knarrs, Folk boats, J88s, J105s and ORR big boats!! The RC managed to get 3 races in for all fleets and we were able to get back to the dock by 4pm to enjoy free food and beer at the YC. It was a well run event and hope the fleet considers it for the schedule next year if they will have us.

Bill Erkelens
Flying Circus #11

awesome drone footage all weekend

the usual short tacking battles

Huntington 2021

Awesome weekend on and off the water. THANK YOU Sydnie for beating the drum and keeping us all up to speed on the available camp sites and overall shoreside details. After an ominous drive through a few burn zones approaching the lake, we arrived to a full lake with nice afternoon breeze blowing Fri afternoon. We missed the practice session Fri but Joel Turmel filled us in on the breeze variations up the lake possibly due to the burn areas up the lake. After setting up camp at Rancheria we enjoyed the warm evening with a campfire cooked dinner and a few drinks to shake off the drive.

Sat am breeze filled on schedule and we managed to get 3 nice races in the middle to upper #1 range. We noticed a few #2s in the fleet which may have been faster in Race 2 and 3 but hard to say. Breeze was puffy and very shifty at the top of the lake.Sunny and warm so sailing in shorts and teeshirts- Magic
Top boat of the day was the mighty Rainbow Kitten Surprise (despite us feeding several stiff drinks to Scott fri night!). Top three boats within 2 points and the top 8 boats within 7 points.

Sunday showed signs of change to come with a little lighter fill in the morning and big grey thunder clouds over the bottom of the lake. We managed to get one good race off in the mid to low range of the #1.
We managed to draw even with the Rainbow Kitten Surprise so the second race would be all on.
Second race started in light breeze and fleet managed to get up to the weather mark and half way back down the lake before the wind shut down completely. Firefly had a solid beat to round well in the lead but first to run out of wind on the way back down the lake. We had a bad start and well back from the front at the weather mark. Scott covered us up the beat well ahead but we got bow even with them as the wind died on the run. The fleet spread out across the lake on the leading edge of the old breeze. Other fleets showed the new breeze coming down the lake at us to make us finish the run up wind. Was not clear if the new breeze would be from the left or the right so all bets were off until it settled in. We bet on the left and came out in the top three for the balance of the race. Scott came back into it from the right and finished just behind us. Great racing and we got very lucky in the end with the full roll of the dice.

Thanks to my crew, John Stewart, Keith Stahnke and Toby Ingrey for keeping the Flying Circus up to speed and in phase.

I am relatively new to the Moore fleet starting in 2007 but did have the honor and pleasure of crossing tacks with Joel on the 55. I hope that the fleet will continue to honor Joel by making the trek up the mountain to enjoy High Sierra Regatta for years to come.


William Erkelens
Flying Circus #11

Words from Ron

Ron Moore retired from boat building and closed up shop in Watsonville, bringing an end to an era. At 2021 Nationals, Ron was inducted into the newly established ‘Moore 24 Hall fo Fame.’ Here are some of his reflections on Morgan, Lester and the legacy he's created. Pretty solid off the cuff humor and endearing stories from the guy who accidentally created a legendary boat and generations of stories.

Nice work, Jerk!

They tell us that Gruntled won overall but how should we know, we were just focused on # 11, Flying Circus – for 68 miles and ohhh, about 8 hours. The fact that we were just about the last fleet to start must have helped us a ton as we had building breeze the whole way. This last start is commonly reserved for the big boats and it was great to upset the pursuit style races for a change as the earliest starters waited for us in San Pablo Bay. 

Though the new rules allowed for us to roar up to the line with our chute up, Bart decide it was too hard to judge crossing the line perfectly at the gun, so BANG, we hoisted on starboard as the furthest east boat, and we were off and running (hehee) on a gentle flood with the other 25 Moores. 

10 layers deep

San Pablo was a 5-knot affair with many lurking potholes of no wind that were gaping and trying to swallow us up, but we were stronger than that yesterday. Puffy low clouds formed over the coastal range and, to me, this meant the breeze was filling.  

Duel at the front

And fill she did. The Straits and then past the Explosive Zone were a 9-knot deal which is nice but not really enough to get the heart rate up.  Then, we had an explosion of our own. Having led the fleet to this point, our keel had an explosion with a sleeping mud lump. Luckily, this was mid-gybe and the boat flopped to the get-off-the-bank side and we were off again - but 200 yards behind Melinda Erkelens and Keith Stahnke on the Circus. To catch em, let alone pass em again, was an impossibility that I just left in my head, all the while verbally agreeing to “Just PASS EM!” as Bart screamed.

Green # 19 is a bit of a faker as its predecessor is 17A, not 17 so we were setup a bit early for the douse and reach, but a deliberate and unrushed turn was the way we were to pass em – for the first time. As is so often the case, building wind kinda sneaks up.  It could have been the jalapeno and lime chips or the thought of a freezing cold beer in the furnace that we had entered but the wind had snuck up on us all the same and we were now roaring along. Whatever the reason, it was honking, the borrowed/stolen jibtop was pulling hard and our boat speed was just about 12 so we were happyish. The ish because nobody likes following a Circus. We were still behind and had a jump on the other Moores so this race was ours to lose and we were winning at that. 

Time to bear away and hoist and, like one of those kazoo-type party favors that unroll to become suddenly rigid and noisy when you blow into them, we were off and they … weren’t. A slow unraveling of the bird’s nest that was their spinnaker was just what we needed - and we were BACK. 

Ship is the origin of the familiar and much used word shi&.  We know this because we screamed “Ship!”, just like they did on English naval vessels when a pirate ship was sighted. We screamed it because an outbound freighter was coming and we had to quickly make a plan.

When ahead, the trope is always don’t split with the Circus, but we could not pull this off and the Circus were able to work to other side and right back into the lead. Well SHIP! And %^$#@**! That was not the plan. My silent thoughts resolved that there could not be a better boat to lose to and I was spreading out the pillows so as to get comfortable with the reality that we were second and were surely going to finish that way. A lucky second ship encounter and the Circus let us hug the left shore while they went right and we slid past them to win our fabulous fleet by just one minute and eleven seconds. 

The highlight is, of course, that we are back out racing and gathering new stories that will draw a smile when we finally grow up and sit on the nice rocker on the porch - like most people our age.

Special thanks to Stockton Sailing Club, our RYC Yacht Club and the inspired people who built these wonderful boats some 45 years ago!

PS best sighting: Bloom County going warp speed with their green Asso kite pulling them out of Pittsburg as if their tail was on fire. 

PPS: The txt this AM from Melinda Erkelens’ husband, Billy (who was unable to sail the Ditch due to other sailing commitments in Spain) was just three great words: “Nice work jerk!”

let’s not get into that

my Bro’s got this

Delta Ditch: couple o’ friends and a some beers on a hot summer day

the Veterans

Nellybelly: the honorary Moore 24

Mr Clean

the Moore 24 Concourse d’Elegance winner

ants marching

the New Kids on the Block

proper Ditch form

2021 Big Daddy Pursuit Race

Sunny and warm with winds 0-17 from many directions.

We made the day a family affair with myself, my wife Melinda Erkelens, her sister Liza Trombi and our son Joshua Erkelens. With a healthy fleet of Moores we had our race within a race. We had not decided which way to go in advance as the tide favored clockwise and the wind forecast favored counter clockwise. 30 min before our start we decided that counterclockwise looked good as we could see wind in the straits. The starting line boat moved up wind and up tide to find more breeze for the on-time start. We started sailing up towards the new line while eating our race committee supplied cookies and soon realized that we had a bit of work to do just to make the line for the start on time. About 20 minutes before our start we were fully trimmed and fighting to get up to the line. We did manage to get to the pin end just in time to start in the direction of the straits. Being slightly out of position and slow but on time, we were soon rolled by Flying Tiger who nailed the start with pace also going to the straits. The first leg was sailed in slow motion as we jib-reached in light air against the ebb, trying to get into better current flowing through the straits. We went low road and Flying Tiger went high road. We all got lifted and we set early to sneak away towards the entrance to the straits. We found a little less ebb against us than Flying Tiger and got a small jump on them as we approached the straits. Several of us got stuck at the southern entrance to the straits fighting to get into the better current ebb river in the straits. We eventually made it into the good ebb and stayed on the North side of the straits. Many boats in the middle and south side of the straits looked strong early but all got stuck when trying to exit the straights close to Angel. The northerly stayed in the straits until we got to Belvedere Cove which I think made the westerly fill slow for boats coming from the other direction. From the northern edge exiting the straits we managed to drift towards Sausalito and pick up the westerly that was filling. One Wylie Wabbit managed to get his nose into the westerly just before us and the two of us were soon in 15knts of fresh westerly. We sailed high with the jib to get well into the new breeze then set the kite to reach down to Alcatraz. We met the front runners of the fleet coming the other way about half way to Alcatraz which seemed like a good sign. We gybed wide around Alcatraz and sailed low but pressured up, averaging always a little lower than the Wabbit ahead. The wind slowly dropped as we sailed away from the main Bay towards the circle. We sailed deep in the circle and came reaching up hard along the outer Richmond breakwater while the other boats approaching were trying to soak down in the light. We managed to reach in and gybe to finish just ahead of the Wabbit with the 3rd place boat being another Wabbit that went clockwise. It looked like most of the top boats were under 30’ so early start time seemed to work well.The key to the day for us was getting off the line on time and getting to the westerly before most other boats so a lucky starting time for us. We also managed to sail with the spinnaker almost the entire race which almost never happens on a bay tour course.

William Erkelens
Moore 24 #11
Flying Circus

2020 DHF

This was the year the Moore fleet was going to resume rounding the islands as part of the Roadmasters series. It has been a decade. The DHF, normally in March, was the first race casualty of 2020 pandemic, and the rescheduled September timing was tough, preceded by a month of the worst fire season in recorded history. The 47 boats, among which 4 Moores, were not going to let smoke and disease stop them. If anything was going to stop them it would have to be wind & current - the normal obstacles we battle.

The fleet had been working up to this with the Double Handed Lightship race last year, so the Moores that showed: Puffin, Topper II, Snafu and Oxymoron were already set up with all the required safety equipment. It’s a manageable effort the day before the race to switch from buoy to offshore mode, and a social scene I’ve come to love.

DHF 2020 monohull 1st place, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th occupy the RYC basin on Friday afternoon while preparing. Go RYC!

An unusually early 8am start - from Baker Beach! - was designed to help folks get out before the flood built too much. It almost worked. Clear air had breathed life back into the bay area a couple of days before the race, and a mid-seventees weekend unfolded. Everyone seemed stoked to be there.

Arriving at the starting area, Bart and I we were hemming and hawing over the sail plan. The forecasts we had seen were all over the map, from 3 to 11 knots at the start, making advanced planning difficult. What was known in advance was the current. And it was no joke this time!

We ended up starting with the #1 in about 5-7 knots of breeze, and chose the pin end, which was way up current, so we easily port tacked the fleet. The plan was to get out of the flood at Baker beach and into the remaining ebb, or slack in the middle of the straits. That was kinda right, except going north at that time was on a huge header, and the folks on starboard tack did better. We lost most of the fleet doing that, and eventually were trailing everyone that was headed north towards Bonita, including those that started after us. All Moores had dusted us completely. Oops.

It's pretty common for folks to want to exit the straits at Bonita, and may even take a hitch north shortly outside of Bonita because they want to be on the inside of the right-hand shift that occurs from the wind funneling into the bay, from the prevailing northwesterly, becoming westerly. Once you're past that shift, it's usually pretty straight sailing to the islands other than the breeze building. The risk is that it can be really tough to call the lay line from 25 miles away, so it's easy to be overstood. The current situation at Bonita was ugly though, and with light breeze, I could not for the life of me figure out what people were thinking. We opted to turn left and exit the straits slightly south of the middle. And just GET OUT before that flood builds any more. The credible forecasts also kinda showed the wind turning northerly later on, so we knew we'd get lifted. We sailed out, and watched the mayhem ensue. There was a huge hole on the east side of Bonita. It seemed like the entire DHF fleet was going backwards. Flushed. A third of the boats starting would never make it out the gate.

Current on the way out

Current on the way back in

We were just in awe as we watched everyone get smaller and smaller. Way back there we could tell that Conrad and a couple of others had made it out. We had a massive lead. At first it looked rough. We were 10 degrees low of the islands, in 7-8 knots of breeze. We had sagged about a mile south of the rumb line. It lifted rather abruptly some 20 degrees, so we followed it up until we got back to the rumb line and decided to crack off. The breeze teased with 9 knots, maybe 10, and then stepped quickly up to 14. Time to shift down to the 3. A couple of large boats rolled us and Andy Hamilton & Simon were on our heels in the Donovan 30.

As we approached the islands the wind kept going further aft that for a moment I regretted not brining the Jib Top; I was worried we wouldn't be able to carry the kite on the way home.  I was ready to put up the A5 above the islands, but the sage Bart curbed the enthusiasm as we monitored the depthsounder and looked for the edge of the northwestern seamount evident in the wave action.

Anyone who has sailed a doublehanded boat rigged for both symmetricals and asymmetricals at the same time knows it's kinda of a spaghetti factory. What’s on top of what, what’s inside of what, what’s around what. Add lifelines into he mix and Moore sailors are fully thrown off. We beared away and garbage-set the A5 that had been set up on starboard, and it miraculously went up clean. We gybed around the back side of the island and set a course home. The rounding is astonishingly quick compared to the 6 hour trip there.

The A5 was the. perfect. sail. Andy and Simon on the Donovan hoisted a Jib Top and it the wind was just a little too far aft and light for that sail plan. We slowly inched away from them. The long, long reach was champagne sailing and went by in a hurry and we hardly enjoyed it enough. It was a little on the edge at times, we did collapse and slap the A5 full a number of times, perhaps trying to keep it a little unnecessarily high. I think next time we’d actually consider a reefed main as is common to do with asyms. I don't think we ever saw more than 17 kt gusts.

As we passed the lightship we flipped on channel 13. A container coming from the south ship busted a rather aggressive 90 degree turn to calm the seas, picked up a pilot on the leeward side, and started motoring towards the channel we were entering. While a ship was also exiting. We had to make the call whether to peel north of the channel, thread the needle, or stay south. We made a sharp turn to the south and the ship rolled over the top of us. We took the opportunity to shift to the symmetrical. When the breeze came back, the Donovan had put up their kite, separated way to the north and was charging. We deliberated. Dave Hodges and serial badass John Kernot were ahead of us on the Farr 37, and clearly was going the southern route. We glanced at the current charts, but really had not studied them adequately or thought it through, and while trying to sail, critical thinking seems to be diminished. We committed to the south.

It was brutal. I knew exactly what Andy was doing. We've done it so many times before. I had never tried to take the southern entrance in an ebb, but the appeal of going inside mile rock being allowed this year was tempting. Never. again. We watched as Andy went hot to the shore, gybed twice in the relief outside Bonita, and rocketed in along the north shore. They passed under the GG bridge as we arrived to mile rock.

We then fought and fought against insane current inside mile rock, as we could see Conrad rolling in towards Bonita. The wind even turned from the south and we were reaching on starboard for a while. When Conrad was trying to get through Bonita alongside a Soverel 33, it apparently seemed too light on the inside and they both chose to cross the straits. Whew!

We finally got into the countercurrent at Baker beach and stopped looking behind us and instead got distracted by the naked beachgoers. The ebb at the bridge was unlike anything I've ever seen, I would have guessed 5 knots+ locally at the south tower. We pointed in the current under a loaded kite, and crabbed our way North making zero progress. We jibed, hotted up and made it through. The wind, predictably, built in the bay and we had the fastest run all day on the way to the finish.

We estimate that wrong choice cost us 45 minutes. I heard stories from the Express fleet of similar leads squandered from entering on the south side rather than the north. In retrospect, looking at the current maps it is pretty clear that the north shore in this stage of ebb involves less time going directly into the current, and north had hotter sailing angles on the breeze vs aiming south. The uncharacteristically light winds and uncharacteristically strong currents made the difference enormous. We finished 8 minutes behind the venerable Carbon Antrim 27 ‘io on corrected time, getting us a first in our class and 2nd monohull. Overall this year went to the multi’s, who finished 3.5 hours before us at slack tide.

What's great about this race is that there's so much strategy, and so much room for learning. It is also a race that Moores were accidentally optimized for - light air upwind starts and catching waves on the way home. Reaching sails and asymmetrical kites only close that performance gap in reaching conditions vs the purely asymmetrical ULDBs. And they’re fun.

Hard not smile with a post-race beer and sunset cruise home

Results. Thanks Dave Wilhite and BAMA for running a great race, Bart for sailing, and Moores for representing.

Karl / Snafu

2020 Nationals @ RYC

Just getting to the starting line was a victory for the 16 Moores that, despite it all, made it out. Right till race day it seemed quite likely that some unseen spanner would stop the works … but it didn’t, and we had a good old time. 

Masks in place, the preparations were completeish and we were as readyish as we could be. Three days of solid wind in the slot tested every part of us and every part of these chipper boats that just love all that the Bay can dish up. There is a toughness and kindness in both the Moores and the people who sail them, and this is addictive. At one time both rivals and friends, fresh and weather-beaten, pointers and footers; we love em all. The fleet is strong because we know these little boats are still stronger.

Friday was a bouy race then a distance race on a big flood. Everyone agreed that hitting the city front was the call and we slogged our way up to Backaller Bouy, but how to get there first was interesting. Good thing we could find our way along the familiar waterfront because nothing much showed up under that grey sky. Will Baylis’ #85 Orca (Ex Eight Ball) reached off the line just clearing Treasure island and we thought nothing more of them while we were leading the rest of the pack out on starboard, all the while looking to see if someone would opt to play the Cone on the way to the relief on the piers. Orca hit the thin river of favorable current first and made sure to tack on us the whole way up – of course we passed this favor onto Joel Turmel’s Firefly and they passed this onto Michael O’Callaghan’s Wet Spot until Firefly found the very hard bottom right at the end of the spit at StFYC. The run down past Blunt was epic and we passed that slippery black and white Moore only to foul them while we were gybing to the leeward mark; they were surging and we were slowing up a wave-face and we couldn’t get across them before the feared “protest” rung out. Circles done and we salvaged a third. Firefly would be back to fight, but there was much physical damage and psychological too. Joel put his heart into making this regatta happen and there was just no space left to really boat race after their sounding. 

Saturday was a day to just leave the #1 on the dock, crawl into your wet foulies and make the best of it as it was honking and the waves were pleasantly huge. We checked in and we were off racing again. Everything was a shade of grey, the boats vanished, and the marks vanished, and we all pounded and then surfed back to repeat. The fleet was so tight that it was hard to find space to slide a wet sheet of grey 8.5” x 11” between the dull hulls. 

Everyone was upping their game from Friday and the upwind slogs were interesting as there are now three ways to sail these boats: the fat is fast, the flat is fast and the new big twist is fast. We are fat-fast but the twist-fast boys are nipping. 

Sunday grey again and with a four-point lead heading into the final day there was pressure but, as we kept saying, we just have to sail like we always do and this is ours to lose and ohh, we were to come sooo close.

First race great start but then two blasts and a general recall. Okayish on the restart but lucky that the course is long ‘coz we have some passing to do. We got hung out to dry by a boat stuck at the weather mark and things looked grim, really grim. My heart burst but I hid it and pulled those strings like my life depended on it. We have been here before, and we have pulled many a rabbit out of the hat in our 22 years together as Gruntled partners, but this was impossible. We gybed away from the fleet and tried to at least get inside on the fleet at the leeward mark. We caught some great waves and were working in sync and came in about third but … we were roaring in and lost our trusty bow babe as we took the boat out from under her and then shrink-wrapped her in a wet spinnaker. This was getting serious and as I pulled and pulled the wet cloth slid over her face and she was blue then white then blue again and finally there was Claire. I ripped her out of the water, plopped her feet on the deck and we salvaged a sixth that would become our throw out. 

Last race and we HAVE to finish behind Will to win, a boat between us would mean a tie and they would win the breaker. We planned a nice conservative start close to the boat but on our dip down to the line a certain black and white Orca roared in and we were OCS and dead last. That’s it, that’s how it ended – in my head. I was speechless. Rob Dubuc was roaring “c’mon guy’s, that is in the past … we can still win this!!!”. I was defeated, Claire exhausted, Rob cheering us on, and Bart was just doing his thing on the tiller. The first weather mark comes, and we are in about 6th in good company with Vaughn, JV, Conrad, Wet Spot, Ruby BUT Orca was leading and Steven Bourdow on Mooregasm is in second – our spot if we are to win. One lap to go and we work the 40 year-old Gruntled HARD and she responds. 

As I rotate in at the last weather mark’s layline I feel a BANG as my back blows up. The pain surges and nausea saps any remaining strength. I can’t breathe but I can still half pull. We round the last mark in SECOND  and tack. Will, with boarded jib and flogging main, comes over to team race us to the finish. He has to hold us back and is trying to sail us left past the finish line. Mooregasm splits and plays the right. I’m half dead and 7/8 defeated. 

Now there are things to hide from a skipper (We now see that the seam on the luff of the #3 is splitting) and then there are things that are harder to hide (Claire is attached to Gruntled, but she is not ON Gruntled) and then there are things to hide from all (I just blew up my back). 

We are sailing fast in Will’s dirty air. He is soaking down on us and Bourdow tacks over onto starboard to setup for his finish. We SPIN the boat onto port and reach to break cover. Will can’t react and now we have a boat race… Gruntled gathers her speed, Will finishes first but we beat out Steve to finish second by ½ a length and Gruntled’s name is on the trophy for the 7th time!

One day later: Rob is in therapy, Simon is in gravity boots, Claire is baking her way out of trauma and Bart is doing his thing.

#27 Less is Moore: Scott Lynch, JV Gilmore and crew

#6 Ruby: Steve McCarthy and crew

#68 Gruntled: Bart Hackworth and crew, and #85 Orca: Will Baylis and crew

Left to Right: Gruntled’s crew Claire Arbour, Simon Winer, Rob Dubuc, Bart Hackworth. Photo: Ornaith Keane

Huntington 2020