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 MacCormack (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