Sailing Blog
2010 – Year in Review »
October 20, 2010
The sailing season is not completely over for 2010, but October and November are the quiet months and the bulk of sailing for the year has already been completed. With a few weeks at home with Jenny and Lily, I have been able to reflect a bit on the previous season; the great events, the tough ones, the distant venues never visited, and the venues you love to return to. Even with the hectic schedule and sometimes crazy racing, when the schedule quiets and the dust settles there are a few constant, concrete themes that emerge at the end of every season.
First, the challenges in the sport of sailing present themselves in different forms and at times when you least expect it, and regardless of how much effort you put forward, there are no guarantees to success. In the past year, there were events and races where it seemed where we could do no wrong, and there were other times, where you wonder after 20+ years of competing on the water, how can you be so far off from where the leaders are. But I guess it is a combination of the two that make this sport so great; when you reach your goals, there is no better feeling, and when you get kicked around and come up short, you are left with a hungry feeling to not let it happen again. There was a good mix of both feelings in 2010, and the lesson learned is to not get too high when things go well because you are always one mistake away from a shocker, and don’t get too low when you have a tough day on the water…the next race is just around the corner and anything can happen.
Second, the characters and scene – Whether it is the Melges 32, 24, 20 classes, or the numerous scow fleets, there are unique people that you get to know like an old High School buddy. I always wonder to myself if this is how other sports and activities do it; do they all gather after a long day of competition with good friends and people they just met, share a few beers and cocktails at a bar overlooking a gorgeous evening at some lake, harbor, or ocean? For the car racers, golfers, and stamp collectors, I’m sure there is a great sense of camaraderie, but you can’t beat being on the water. Regardless of how great or terrible your day was, there is always a good party, a cold beer and a great atmosphere at the end of a day of sailing. I could get into some classic individual stories, but fearing reprisal, I will do the honorable thing and keep them to myself…expect for the time when a Samba teammate pegged a passing car with several oranges from the 4th floor balcony of our hotel in Cagliari, that was pretty entertaining.
Lastly, the venues – 2010 allowed for travel to a few far off venues that I can tick off on my sailing destination list like Lake Garda, Italy and the idyllic town of Harbor Springs, MI., and the return to great sailing venues like San Francisco Bay, Biscayne Bay and Newport, RI. The great travel destinations are not with out the pains of jet lag, exhaustion and time away from the family, but the reward is hitting the water on a different corner of the globe. With that, here are some memorable moments from the 2010 racing season –
Best Race – When the Mistral rolled in on the final day of the Melges 32 Europeans in Cagliari, the racing was, and I hate to utilize this overused word, epic. The RC sent us out at 7:30 am and with the breeze already pumping at 25-30, we thought it was merely a formality to get us out on the water. At 9am, a warning signal sounded and it was clear the RC was not messing around even with spray easily getting blown off the top of waves. This video from the Italian team ‘Brontolo’ captures a great downwind ride…
Harshest Race – OCS in the 3rd race at the E Scow Nationals in Little Egg Harbor in very difficult conditions to battle back. Just getting back to 25th would have given us a shot at the title headed into the last race.
Best Event – Winning the E Scow ILYA Champs on the M42 with Chrisy, Tony and Lynn. For those outside the ILYA, it is hard to appreciate how special winning an Inland Championship is, with all of the history and great competition in the class it is hard fought every year.
Toughest Event – Melges 32 Worlds. After a long year of training and preparation on the Samba, we failed to show up against the best competition in the world.
Best Competitor – Tough to call, but how John Porter and his team on Full Throttle took the Melges 32 class by storm this year was impressive. Jonathan McKee called tactics and with several of John’s sons and legendary Scow sailors onboard, they were one general recall away from a World Championship.
New Racing Experience – Going offshore with the Bella Mente…powerful boat with a great team to have my first offshore experience with.
Best Competitive, Laid-back Racing – M and M sailing with Mary Anne and Bill Ward on the Melges 20. Great winter circuit in Miami with 2 extremely fun and motivated people.
Best Venue – Lake Garda, Italy. Fantasy camp for sailors.
Special Thank you to the following people who allowed another great year racing and coaching – John and Catherine Kilroy and the Samba team, Mary Anne and Bill Ward, Pat and Chrisy Hughes, Tony and Lynn Jewett, Hap Fauth and the Bella Mente team, David Weinberg, Steve Bernstein, Brian Burdick, George Gamble, Carl Zinn, Vince Driessen, David Ferguson, Rick Hartfiel.
32 Worlds Video and Photos »
October 6, 2010
Despite that the Samba did not have the overall result that we were hoping for, there is no disputing that the racing during the 32 Worlds was some of the best I have ever experienced. With mark roundings sometimes going 5 boats wide, the fleet ripping downwind at 17-20 kts shoulder to shoulder with other 32s, and crash scenes reminiscent of a NASCAR pileup, it will be hard to replicate this type of racing in the future. Sure, the talent will be back and the numbers in the fleet will probably grow, but there is no place like San Francisco Bay to race these awesome boats. Below are some videos and photos that help to capture in the week of the Melges 32 Worlds:
Photos below from JOY.
Sharon Green has her usual great photos which are featured on her site.
Videos of every race and interviews with top competitors can be found on the Sailgroove site. Race 1-6 are pretty entertaining…
Italian Ice Served to Melges 32 Fleet »
September 27, 2010
With a bit of redemption on their minds from the 2009 Melges 32 World Championships which took place in Puerto Cervo, Italy with an winner from the USA, the all Italian on B-Lin sailing made sure they would represent the European Melges 32 fleet well and bring the World title back to Italy. It was not easy however, and with a strong push from 2 American teams on the final day, B-Lin found their 2 pt lead they had with 2 races remaining disappear, and they were now on the outside looking in with 1 race remaining.
In the first race of the final day, the team on Rougarou continued their dark-horse march, won the race handily and waited anxiously to see where the 2 boats ahead of them on Full Throttle and B Lin would finish. FT would sail well to pass boats in a very shifty race for a 4th place, and the boys on BLin would recover from a tough first beat and take a 9th place, hardly the finish they would have liked to secure the championship. With a 2:30 pm limit on the Race Committee to get in a final race for the regatta, they did their best to get the fleet organized, and a race course laid for the new westerly breeze that was settling in from the Golden Gate bridge. With 1 race remaining, the world title boiled down to the following boats –
1). Full Throttle – 42 pts
2). Rougarou – 43 pts
3). B-Lin Sailing – 45 pts.
With time ticking, at 2:18 the RC fired a warning signal and hoisted a Z flag (20% penalty of over early) in an effort to ensure the fleet would get off cleanly and allow for a final race. This time of day was also when the Ebb tide would be the strongest, not helping to keep the fleet behind the line, and as the starting gun went, it was followed by a General Recall flag. As the fleet headed back to the starting area, everyone waited quietly to hear the boats that were visible to the RC. Even though a start is a general recall, if it is under a Z flag, or a black flag, the boats visible will be penalized even if they get off cleanly on the next start. If you are poked out, or near the pin or boat end, chances are you will get nailed while the boats who are over early buy not visible, do not get penalized. The PRO came over the radio and announced the numbers of the boats who would carry the 20% penalty into the next start…”The following boats were OCS…Bow 77 (Roxanne)…Bow 49 (Full Throttle)”
2 Boats? That’s it? You call a general recall and can only get 2 boats out of 32, one if which is currently leading the regatta? With time ticking down even further, the RC scrambled to get the boats back to the starting area in time for the 2:30 deadline. One more general recall, and a race could not be started and Full Throttle could forget about the Z flag and be crowned World Champs. At 2:28, the RC fired the warning signal for the final race with a Black flag (DSQ for being over early) hoisted instead of a Z flag.
3, 2, 1, Gun. The fleet made its way upwind and waited for a call from the RC… “All, clear.” Full Throttle would now need to add 6 pts to their finishing score. All 3 contenders made a break for the left side with Rougarou and Full Throttle going deep into the left, and B Lin eventually getting to the top right. The left side looked decent before the start, but as the race progressed, the left did not pay and Rougarou and FT would struggle to be in the top 10 at the top mark while B Lin made out big on the top right side of the course and would sail away to a 3rd place finish in the race. FT battled hard to take 11th (17th with ZFP penalty), and with a final reminder of how hard this fleet is, Rougarou ended the regatta with a 31st.
When the final gun sounded, B Lin crossed the finish line shortly after and from our position mid-fleet, we could see the celebrations beginning to take place with the sails on the Italian boat fully luffing as they exchanged high fives and hugs in front of a mass of photo boats. What a feeling. Quiet, silent envy on our boat. Complete, delirious satisfaction on their boat.
I would have liked to have been typing this blog with the Samba being one of the main characters, but it was not meant to be. With more questions at the end of the event than we ever could have imagined, it is time to re-tool, re-group, learn from this event and move forward to the next one. There is no doubt it takes a massive effort to win a world championship, and that is one thing we were not lacking on the Samba. From the shore team, to the sailors, full effort was made by everyone for an entire year to give ourselves the best shot to win. That is why a World Championship is so special…you can do everything it takes to win, and still end up mid fleet.
Stay tuned for some media from the Worlds. There are some awesome video and photos of the great racing, and of same big collisions.
OCS, ZFP…WTF »
September 24, 2010
With high hopes of ridding ourselves of terrible finishes on Days 1 and 2, we entered Day 3 on the Samba feeling good about our ability to have a good day and have a respectable finish to an otherwise frustrating regatta. Up to this point throughout the season, we have always had above average speed both upwind and downwind and when it came to have inches you need to cross a boat, or being bow out at a mark rounding, it has never been a problem. Either everyone in the fleet has become a lot faster in the last 3 weeks, or we have slowed, but whatever the answer, we do not have our normal wheels that we are accustomed to on the Samba, and it has made for a very frustrating, difficult week of racing.
In an effort to get an edge on the rest of the fleet in Race 7, we were especially aggressive on the starting line and found ourselves punched in front of the fleet by a 1/2 a boatlength and charging up the beat. The only problem was that we were over early, and with a “General Recall” occurring in the previous start with a “Z” Flag hoisted, not only would we need to clear ourselves from being OCS (On Course Side, prior to the starting signal), but we would also suffer a Z Flag Penalty (ZFP) which meant that in addition to being in dead last after restarting, that we would also incur a 20% penalty of the total fleet added onto our score for being over early after a general recall. We managed to sail a good race and get back to the high teens, but with an additional 6 points added to our score, it was not pretty, nor encouraging where we were at after the first race on day 3.
The second race of the day would provide another opportunity for us to return to our usual form that we have raced at many times this year, but as we rounded the first mark in 4th place with plenty of room around us, it is just plain and clear that we do not have the speed we are used to. And when you are racing against some of the best sailors in the world, you better have speed because calling tacks in this fleet is not easy. After rounding in 4th, we slowly declined both upwind and downwind to finish an frustrating 9th place and another mediocre finish to another day at the worlds.
The head scratching continues on our boat and the questions get bigger as to why we have been one of the fastest boats all season, and with the flick of a switch, we are all of the sudden below average when it comes to speed. Yes, there is no doubt that the fleet has become faster and better, but at the very least we should be just as fast as the rest of the group. I am out on answers, and I am now left with more questions about our upwind and downwind speed than I ever could have imagined.
The good news is that being a competitor in this fleet is that we get an up close view of what is happening at the front of the fleet. With only 2 races remaining, the World title will come down to who beats who with B Lin and Full Throttle. With good friends on each boat, it will be great to see this battle unfold on the water, but I cannot help give the nod to my midwestern, American friends on the FT who have been sailing great, loose and fast to secure the title.
As for the Samba, we are already looking forward to improving for the 2011, 32 Worlds in Palma, Spain and hoping that the full moon this week is the answer to our poor performance. Melges32.com for full results. Off to the Horseshoe…maybe being a bit dusty tomorrow will help our performance.
More Collisions, Bumps and Bruises on Day 2 of Melges 32 Worlds »
September 23, 2010
After 9 days of sailing and another long day of with a 6pm arrival into the harbor after racing, my mind is spent, and my body is feeling like a balloon slowly losing air. To make matters worse, after 6 races the mental and physical fatigue becomes even harder when you are only shooting to make the top ten, instead of winning the title like we had originally hoped.
Our day started off ok with a 7 place, which in this fleet is more than a keeper. We were very encouraged by the second race when we had a bad start and rounded the first top mark in 25. After a first solid run, we were able to pass a bunch of boats and managed to sail a great last lap to take another 7th place. The vibe on the boat was starting to feel like a typical Samba day and we had a great feeling headed into the last race of day 2.
On the final start, we got of the line with some pace, tacked to the right side and were punched with the majority of the boats who had flopped early. We arrived at the top mark in 4th place, set and exited cleanly from the mark, leaving behind a massive fray at the top mark. I personally thought from here we would be able to look forward and focus on winning the race. Once again, I would be mistaken.
At the first bottom mark, we had a messy take down which would linger longer than any of us could have imagined. As we continued on port out of the left hand gate, our speed was struggling and we could not get our usual speed numbers. The boats on our whether hip started to look better and better and we were scratching our heads (with a bit of expletives mixed in) as to why we were going so slow. When we got to the starboard layline, we tacked and when we got settled onto starboard, we instantly found a solution to our speed problem; our tack line had been sucked out during the takedown and we had been dragging 60 ft of line behind our boat for over 6-7 minutes. Once we got the tack line re-rigged, the boats that we had extended nicely on during the run had closed the gap and we were now in the back of the front pack and battling for a decent finish.
The final top mark, the first 3 boats rounded cleanly and ahead of the pack, and from there it is amazing how close the racing is in this fleet. Boats are overlapped 4-5 boats wide at the top mark with port tackers calling short laylines hoping the ebb tide will push them above the mark, often creating traffic jams worse than a NASCAR pile up. The front boats get to experience a rich-get-richer scenario while the boats in the middle of the fleet are stuck battling it out, colliding, and eventually slowing each other down. Our cleanest exit from the top mark was to do a bear away set and do a one gybe and in to the bottom mark. As we approached the bottom, we again were overlapped with 4-5 boats, but did manage to get on the inside which was good, until the wheels fully came off.
Once the call was made to drop the spinnaker, the boat slowly started to slow down as the boats around us got further and further away until we eventually came to a full stop just underneath the mark. All it took was one quick look to the leeward side to see the spinnaker was getting sucked into the water very quickly and there were healthy shrimp in SF Bay, we could have made a lovely dinner with how far our kite was underneath the water. With the kite fully gathered after 1-2 minutes of being stopped, we lost 10 or so boats and the mood on the boat went from being optimistic prior to the start of the race, to drastically quiet, and we slogged our way from 4th to finish 19th. Knowing we would have to eat this on our scorecard, the frustration began to settle in on how many points we have left on the water the last few days and the already long sail from the Berkeley Circle got exponentially longer…Alcatraz even began to look friendly.
While we had plenty of our own issues on Day 2, there were several collisions including a big one at the end of the day with Bronco and Red. When Red set on the final downwind, they immediatly wiped out and rounded-up in front of Bronco who was storming down on a full plane behind them. It looked like Bronco did their best to avoid the collision, but could not and hit the bottom of Red’s hull near the transom and put a nice sized hole from their bowsprit. It was rumored there were some injuries on both boats, but I do not know the details.
B Lin, Full Throttle, Star and Warpath all had good days and with 4 more races remaining, this regatta is still wide open for the boats in the front group. Check out full results at melges32.com.
Mixed Bag on Day 1 of Melges 32 Worlds »
September 22, 2010
Day 1 of the Melges 32 Worlds ended up like the practice race finished, with huge San Francisco breeze and great racing conditions. With the fan turned on and fully pumping many teams would find themselves in collisions, wipeouts and carnage type situations, and many contenders would end the day with high scores, and a few darkhorses have found themselves leading the regatta.
With a solid 18-25 kts of breeze, Race 1 would go to the Kiwi team led by tactician and good friend Andrew Wills. The Kiwis have been getting better with each event and they clearly have found good wheels in the breeze. The most impressive performance in race 1 however was from the Full Throttle team who found themselves OCS and battled back all the way to 3rd place by the end. They pegged the right side of the course hard each time up wind, made massive gains and sailed cleanly downwind to sneak into the front of the group. On the Samba, we were shot out the back on the start and had to bail out, hanging in there for a 9th place.
In the 2nd race, we had a great spot in the front of the group at the top mark, pulled off a nice gybe set, only to find ourselves getting to the wrong side of a shift in a slightly dying breeze. The boats who did a bear away set made big gains downwind and we lost at least 7 to 8 boats. There were plenty of collisions, but there were also some injuries as the team on Arethusa found out when one of their team member’s ankles got wrapped in a spinnaker retrieval line from a nearby boat attempting to take down their spinnaker. Having someones ankle wrapped in a take down line as the other boat is pulling like mad and the boats are separating at a high rate of speed…not a good scenario.
Up to this point, we had found ourselves sailing ok, not great, but we did not have any “majors” up to this point and we were feeling good about having a solid race to finish of the day. One lesson to learn is when you let your guard down on SF Bay, you often get punished. When the gun went, B-Lin and Q nailed the pin, port tack the fleet and rounded 1-2 at the top mark. We muddled around in 10th as we went for our first hoist and as we pulled off a nice gybe set, we unexpectedly got rounded up and were on our side. With a quick look back, we discovered the bow sprit of Warpath was speared through our leeward stanchion and making it impossible to keep the boat going. Once we seperated, we lost a few boats and continued on to the bottom mark.
The final set of the day, we called for another gybe set and as we got ready to bear away to go around the offset, the breeze caught the head of the spinnaker a few seconds early, pulled it our of the hatch and our kite was hoisted sideways. At the same time, we got caught in the quarter wake from the boat in front of us, lost steerage and wiped out with a total yard sale at the top mark. Not a good look with plenty of helicopters and photo boats snapping pictures. We finally managed to get the kite back into the boat, re-set and hung on to beat 4-5 boats…needless to say a tough end to a very average day.
Breeze if is forecast to be a bit lighter tomorrow and with our throwout already used up, we will have no more room for error as we battle the next 3 days. Check Melges32.com for full results.
Battle Looming on SF Bay – Melges 32 Worlds »
September 21, 2010
After a long week of preparation on San Francisco Bay, and even a longer year of regattas, training, sail testing and crew work, today marks the beginning of the Melges 32 World Championships. With some of the best pro and amateur sailing talent competing in this regatta, there are a handful of teams that can walk away with the title, but it wont be easy. Not only will the winning team have to have a great display of speed against other teams who have spent months perfecting sail plans and rig tuning scenarios, but they will also have to have great boat handling in what will almost certainly be a breezy regatta. And for those who have sailed on a 32 know, if there is a hole in your boathandling, it will be exposed in a place like San Francisco.
The Pre-Worlds concluded on Sunday with the Italian Team on B-Lin Sailing taking the title, and a nice new Rolex watch, with a few points to spare. Despite that the racing we saw last week was not very similar to what we will see in the Worlds with respect to the course location and wind speeds, the Italians did a good job of sailing clean, smart and letting their speed do the work. There were several other teams like Star, Full Throttle and defending World Champs Bliksem that showed flashes of why they have a shot at the title by winning races and finishing in the top 5.
On the Samba, we had a bit of a roster change on Monday when our tactician for the last year, Stu Bannatyne was swapped for John Kostecki who is fresh of his successful bid at the Americas Cup and a knowledgeable San Francisco Bay local. It is never easy to switch out a team member who is an extremely well respected leader, sailor and friend, but we are going to do our best to continue to compete at high level, and having Kostecki step in tactician is never a bad thing when going head to head with a fleet loaded with world class sailors. We are feeling good about chances being able to contend going into the last race of the regatta, but we also we know we have a lot of hard work between now and then. All of the groundwork has been laid with sails, rig tune and crew work, and now it is time for the real thing…no more dress rehearsals.
32 teams are here to line up for the first warning signal at 12pm pacific time. 10 races are scheduled in total over 4 days. Live video can be found at the Sailgroove site. Up to date results at Melges32.com. And stay tuned to 42marine for daily updates.
Final Results from Melges 32 Pre Worlds and Rolex Big Boat Series »
September 20, 2010
After 4 foggy, light air days on SF Bay, the pre-worlds concluded with the Italian team of B-Lin sailing taking the top honors. Full Results can be found here.
It looks like the front that has had a grip on the pacific Northwest for the past week will finally pass through by racing on Wednesday the 22nd which will be a welcome relief to a lot of the teams hoping to race in some nice SF breeze. Stay posted for updates from the worlds when the begin in a few days!
Looking for the Silver Lining on Day 2 of the 32 Worlds »
September 17, 2010
Day 2 of the Melges 32 Pre-Worlds/Rolex Big Boat series started out similar to the 1 day ended…covered in fog. After an evening filled with protests and redress hearings from other fleets racing in the regatta concerning boats that did not round marks properly due the fact they could not see them, the race committee wisely postponed the start of race 3 by a good hour to let the haze clear. It looked for awhile that the fog was only getting thicker and that we would not be going anywhere, than like someone blowing smoke from a candle, the skies cleared and we got underway.
With 28 Melges 32s on the start and a line that can hold about 29, we found ourselves getting shut out at the boat end, tacking immediately to the right side and finding a clear lane to new pressure. Once we approached the top mark, we were in very good position just behind the leaders B-lin and a few others who managed to call smart laylines and sneak up from underneath us. After benefitting from great pressure on the right side going upwind, we made the call to gybe set, pulled of the manuvuer, got on a plane and blasted off towards the leeward mark. We positioned ourselves well in the drag race to the bottom of the course with the front 5 boats, when all of the sudden the boat stood upright and we watched our spinnaker float softly on top of the water.
It took us moment to figure out what had happened, and as we looked up to the top of the mast, all we could see was the halyard connected to the head patch of the spinnaker with the luff and leach tapes dangling absent the body of the spinnaker. The back up kite was quickly loaded on deck and we did a good job of swapping to the new sail, but with 32s going high and low of us on full plane, we had now found ourselves in the back of the pack battling to get into a respectable position. The silver lining is that hopefully we are ridding ourselves of this kind of bad ju-ju when the Worlds start on Wednesday.
We did exhibit good speed and were able to get back into the top ten and at least feel ok about what could have been a terrible result. Bob Hughes’ Heartbreaker went on to win the race followed by Full Throttle.
Just like Day 1, the morning race was conducted on the Circle and the afternoon race took place on the Cityfront course. Our gameplan was similar to yesterday which was to tack shortly after the start, and leave Alcatraz to port as we made our way up the 4 mile windward beat to the whether mark near the Golden Gate Bridge. We had a poor start to race 4, and did manage to find a clear lane heading to the right side, but as we progressed up the course, the boats on our hip to whether who we looked good with off of the start, now begin to show a big left shift and we were clearly on the outside of the pinwheel. The boats who elected to sail between the City and Alcatraz made out pretty well and once we got to the top of the course we had a to eat a sizable header and limp our way around the top mark beating only 4-5 boats.
The downwind would be tricky with big veins of pressure making their way down the course and combined with a dwindling ebb tide, there were lots of gains to be made. Every boat with the exception of one left Alcatraz to port on the downwind and battled it out with each other to the bottom gates. Roxanne, who rounded behind us at the first top mark, went to the other side of Alcatraz and made huge gains, rounding 6th at the bottom mark. Whether it was a current or wind gain, they definately found something the rest of the fleet did not. We managed to pick off a few boats as well which we normally would have been encouraged by had Roxanne not stolen our thunder.
The last upwind was just as tricky and we did a nice job of playing the shifts and picking off a few more to finish 15th. Not a great result by any means, but a decent comeback from our position at the top mark in very difficult conditions for passing boats. The team of the day was Full Throttle who always seemed to be in the right place and going fast taking a 2nd in first race, and getting the bullet in race 2. The are a perfect example of how scary this fleet is and when somebody gets hot, they can really get going. There are so many talented teams racing it is no surprise to see a team like Bliksem win the day handily on day 1, followed by a totally different team on day 2.
With a weather system making its way from Alaska and put the clamps on the pacific NW, we are likely to see more unstable, foggy and uncharacteristic SF conditions for the next 2 days. Just like our sailing at times today, hopefully the bad weather is clearing out so when the Worlds arrives, we will have the typical daily 18-25 we have been hoping for.
Full results can be found here.
Cloudy Vision on Day 1 of 32 Pre-Worlds »
September 16, 2010
Typically regattas are known for things. They are known for big breeze, great or bad RC work, and after Day 1 of the Pre Worlds, this regatta will not be shrouded in controversy like some events are known for, but fog. As teams gathered at the docks of the St. Francis Yacht Club, blue skies were already present and it looked like it would be a stellar SF sailing day. By the time teams pushed off however, the fog had started to roll back in and would thicken at the fleet of 28 Melges 32s made their way down to the starting area in the Berkeley Circle.
After a general recall in Race 1, the fleet got off to a clean start and made their way up the 2 mile beat in 11-14 kts of breeze. About a 1/4 of the way up, the fog thickened even more to the point where you could only see the boats immediately around you, and it felt like you were sailing in a circled enclosure 10ft in diameter. For teams who had coaches trying to get footage of other boats, if they pointed their cameras at a white wall for a few hours they would have had similar footage of the sailing today. On the Samba, we looked to be in decent position on the halfway up the beat, but once we got to the top mark, a huge right shift benefited the boats the crossed behind us early in the beat and extended right, and we found ourselves in the middle of the fleet getting bounced around and unable to get to where we wanted to be.
The fog would clear mildly throughout the race to the point where you could see the leaders and the marks of the course, and we would discover that our tuning partners from earlier in the year, RED, had jumped out to a massive lead over Bliksem in 2nd. The Samba would continue to battle it out in the middle of the pack and settle for a tough 15th place.
With the Pre-Worlds being part of the Rolex Big Boat Series, they often conduct the racing on seperate parts of the Bay for each race. The morning race was on the Berkely Cirlce and the afternoon race would take place on the City Front course. The Cirlce is relatively straightforward, but the City course provides a few more elements as Alcatraz becomes a big factor in playing the current, as well as the shoreline of the City when current relief is needed. Just prior to the start of race 2 the fog looked to be clearing and it was looking to be a fun, breezy race 2.
After a great start, we made the decision early to leave Alcatraz on the port side en route to our whether mark just off of the Golden Gate Bridge. Once passed Alcatras with Star and Bliksem on our hips and looking in great position, the fog rolled back in and we were now totally clueless as to the whereabouts of the windward mark. We did our best to stay in touch with the two boats around us, and once we could see the St. Francis Yacht Club emerging from the mist, we knew we were probably close to the port layline. After a close tack onto Starboard with Star at the top mark, we tacked on a thin layline, and quickly found out that while the rest of the bay was still in an ebb current, the top inshore portion of the bay had started to flood which promptly pushed us into the top mark…not a good look. With a quick 360, we hoisted and blasted off downwind with Bliksem, Star and now B Lin in front of us.
Once at the bottom mark, the fog had thickened even more and we would do our best to even get a look at the boats around us. After being on port tack for about 10 mins, our legs were getting numb and we began to question where we were headed after we lost sight off all the boats around us. All we could hear was the horns and honks coming from fishing boats and ferries who continued to blast around the bay despite total lack of visibility. Once we did finally tack over on to starboard after a very long period of time, we could hear the horn coming from the Golden Gate Bridge and figured we were close to the top mark. After a few minutes on starboard, we could see a clump of Melges 32s down to leeward a hundred yards or so, and we had clearly overstood, by a lot. We reached into the top mark on an angle that would not allow us to set which would allow 4 boats to get around us. With a quick set, we headed to the finish at the St. Francis Yacht Club in 8th place with Bliksem taking the bullet followed by Star.
Overall a tough, confusing frustrating day on the Samba as we never really got a good grasp on how we were going…or where we headed. Hopefully the conditions will permit for more of a ‘normal’ San Fran day tomorrow and we can hammer out a few quality races.
Standby for day 2. Results can be found at Melges32.com