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