| 30.Aug.03 | The photography is in. Please click here. If you want to make prints of any I can e-mail you the originals. If you want me to check whether I have any more of your boat, also let me know. E-mail Nelson.
|
|
| 17.Aug.03 | I was here four years ago for the NAC when we sailed three days.
This year we sailed four days. If those seven days are any
indication, this is one of the finest places in the world to sail,
at least in August. At race start time the wind is 8-12, consistently.
By the end of the racing the wind is 18-22, consistently. There is
chop, but no big waves. Not unlike what I experienced last year in
Bermuda -- big wind, small waves. I'm sure it varies with the season,
but this is truly great sailing.
The RC initially set up west of Alcatraz intending to sail up to the Golden Gate Bridge between the shipping lanes. But we quickly moved south to Aquatic Park to again sail up along the shore in the building flood. We anchored at 37 49.22N and 122 25.74W. The breeze settled in at about 250 with the weather mark along the shore at 240. But the lifts off the shore were coming at more like 230. In the first race there were two general recalls. After the first the RC moved the boat back by 50 feet due to a right shift. After the second, they moved the pin up to further favor the pin end. The third start (under the "I") spread the boats across the .35 nm line and only one boat (Wet Paint) was over early. Nantucket Sleighride started at the boat and quickly tacked to port. The boats split almost evenly going right and left at slack water. NS was only a point out of first, but by the time they got to the weather mark they were in the bottom half, essentially ruining the chance of winning the regatta. At the top it was Zuni Bear, 007, Nirvana/Flame, and Angry Beaver. By the first leeward it was Zuni, Good Timin' and Angry Beaver. By the finish of the seven legger, GT won their first and only race of the regatta followed by Zuni and Nirvana/Flame. After the first leg, the boats played the shore to avoid the flood and came back just offshore to get the early flood. In race 2, a three legger, the RC set the line with a 12-15 degree favor for the RC boat. This was because the shore was heavily favored due to the current at max flood. Bald Eagles jumped the gun at the leeward end and returned to restart. Zuni decided that the favor was too much to overlook and started at the boat and rode over all the other boats going into the shore. They were never challenged. Bold Forbes and Good Timin' battled it out for second with the latter winning by less than a boat length. The sail tale (number of main/jibs and top ten finishes): Quantum: 20; 1,2,4,5,6,8 North: 10; 7, 10 Ullman: 8; 3,9 Doyle: 1; Quick observations: o Almost all the boats sailed with six and many had women on the crew. o Gary Kneeland (ORION) sailed with seven and four women. o Every boat finished each of the seven races. o To pull off a regatta like this you need one or two great project managers and about 50 volunteers. o To win a regatta like this (no throwouts) you need to avoid double digit finishes. Only one boat sailed both fast and conservative. o There were two sets of three brothers. The Kelley brothers were bowmen on three different boats. The Perkins brothers were all with the winning boat. I would be remiss if I did not thank all the Fleet #1 folks, particularly Jaren and Eden for their hospitality while I was out here and placing me on the RC in the best seat in the house. Tony Chargin and John Craig ran the races with the utmost professionalism and with humor. Every race sequence started at 11 a.m. GPS time on the dot. They were constantly tweaking the marks to achieve as close to perfect racing as was possible. And they gave the racers a good test of sailing skill over seven races. All the volunteers I worked with were great. And I met many fabulous J/105 owners. Ta ta for now. Hopefully, I'll have some great photography next week. |
|
| 17.Aug.03 | I need to say a few words about the city of San Francisco (in case you've
never been here). It is a very hospitable and livable city. Clean and safe. I'm staying
with a friend on Sutter St. I have a short walk, bus ride on Fillmore, and short walk
to get to the Club. I pass "Japan town" on the way to the bus. The bus goes
up and then down some
huge hills. If you've seen "Bullet" with Steve McQueen, you know what I
mean. The bus takes a short detour off Fillmore because the hills are too
steep for the it. Then at the bottom I walk on Cervantes through the Marina district.
This district was largely reconstructed since the last earthquake and the
homes and condos are really beautiful. Each house tries to outdo the next
in the flowered landcaping in their limited area out front. I'll try to include
some photos in my album when I get back.
Today saw one long race (26 miles) along the cityfront. We started just west of Treasure Island at 37 49.52 N and 122 22.97 W. With a 0.35 mile starting line and the weather mark set at 240 degrees at 3.8 miles, we had a seven leg course plus a short leg back to the St. Francis Yacht Club with a finish off their back deck. The 11 a.m. start was at slack tide with the flood coming. There was a single general recall and then a clean start under the "I" flag. Most of the boats jammed up at the leeward end, but at the boat end it was Aquavit and Jaberwocky getting the best starts with Nirvana coming in late and tacking immediately to port. Half of the fleet went North of Alcatraz and the others went South, with the boats going North getting the best of it. For much of the race the RC was computing the likelihood of the fleet finishing within the five hour time limit. Despite the 20 knot winds, the winning boat made it in about four hours and fourty five minutes. At the first weather mark it was Nantucket Sleighride, Zuni Bear, and Irrational Again. NS kept the lead through the first six legs, but surrendered it to Aquavit on the last upwind leg. She was also passed by Zuni Bear who took third. During the second and third legs the boats tacked up the cityfront avoiding the flooding current as much as possible and were on a screaming reach coming back downwind. Blackhawk, Masquerade, and Good Timin' followed at the finish. Bold Forbes finished fourteenth to surrender first place in the regatta to Good Timin', the third leader in three days and the only boat without a double digit finish. After a dock party sponsored by Svensen's Marine, a group of us headed to Tiburon, across the bay, in a group of three Protectors. Fleet #1 Captain, Eden Kim, regaled us with the story of how he obtained the bandage on his nose. On Friday he was driving his Protector at 30 knots and snagged a fisherman's line on his antenna. The story seems to get better with each telling, but after the line wrapped three times around the antenna, the sinker at the end of the line made its way through a crew on five on the Protector and through the forward windscreen to hit Eden squarely between the eyes. He proceeded to drive his 105 on Friday and Saturday, but managed to accumulate more points in this regatta (after only five of seven races) than he had in the entire 2003 season. At least he has an excuse now. The boat's name -- WHISPER. After drinks and pizza, a group of us made it back to the Club, even with Eden as the driver. |
|
| 15.Aug.03 | There are yacht clubs and there are YACHT CLUBS. Let me tell you
a bit about St. Francis. The first thing you notice is the doorman
who opens the door and greets you at the entrance. Then the next
thing you notice is the posting inside the door, which says that
gentlemen are not permitted to wear caps in the Club. And they
enforce it. You are also not permitted to use cell phones in the
Club. Like many clubs they have the commodores photos and paintings
from many years in the past. Unlike many clubs they have huge, beautiful
models of Americas Cup boats and other yachts that have been donated
by members. The view from the back deck is to die for. From the
Golden Gate to Alcatraz to the City Front. It's gorgeous. Today's first race started on time again at 11:00 a.m. The RC set a 1.6 mile course to 220 degrees. The wind was 8 kts at the start of the flood. Nirvana-Flame won the committee boat and immediately tacked out to the right. The right must have paid big dividends since they were first at the first four marks going up the right and back downwind on the opposite side. At the first weather mark Alchemy was second and Bold Forbes third. By the first leeward mark the wind picked up to 12 kts. It was Nirvana-Flame, Alchemy, and Bold Forbes. By the second leeward, Nirvana-Flame still had the lead with Bold Forbes, Charade, and Tiburon. But Bold Forbes made the pass on the last upwind leg, with Nirvan-Flame second and Alchemy moving in the three slot. On the second downwind leg the wind went right 10 degrees and for the last upwind the RC reset the finish to 230 magnetic. In the second race the wind was a steady 18 at the start and 22 by the finish. The course was five legs to 230 degrees. The first start was a general recall when Wonder stuck her bow over early and everybody else followed within a second of the gun. The leeward end saw a half dozen boats over that could not be identified. The second start was under the "I" flag and everyone behaved. At the first rounding it was Bold Forbes, Short Skirt, and Nantucket Sleighride. At the first leeward we had BF, Short Skirt, and Wind Dance with boats evenly spit among the left and right gates. At the second weather mark it was BF, Short Skirt, Masquerade and Charade (Tom Coates owns both boats with Jim Sorensen skippering the former). The final was Bold Forbes taking her second bullet of the day and the lead for the regatta. Short Skirt was second followed by Masquerade. Charade was close behind, but took a 360 before the finish and let 007, Nantucket Sleighride, and Good Timin' slip in ahead of her. Protest are still pending. There's a fancy dinner tonight. Gotta go. Talk tomorrow. Almost forgot. There's a brand new Weiderman. On the Ides of August I got the call on the water that my son and his wife had a daughter, Maya Louise Weiderman, 9 lbs. 4 oz. Mother had a rough delivery, but all are doing well now. Our fifth grandchild and second girl. |
|
| 14.Aug.03 | I hope ya'll in the east have computers with power to read this great
commentary ;-). Here in SF it was cloudy to start the day, but later it was bright and windy. And we had power. The first race of the series started right on schedule at 11:00 a.m. For those with GPS-oriented mapping software, we were anchored in the Treasure Island Racing Area at 37 51.88 N, 122 21.80W. The weather mark was set to 1.7 miles at 225 degrees. Both races were five leg courses finishing upwind with no changes in the location of the marks (other than the starting pin). The wind speed was 13 kts and the flood was just beginning. Speculation on the RC was that the lee end was favored to stay behind Treasure Island and avoid the current. The start was clean with boats spread across the line. At the boat end, Zuni Bear got the best start, followed by Flame and Blue Max. At the first leeward mark it was Aquavit splitting and going to the south (right) gate and Nantucket Sleighride going for the north gate just ahead. Zuni Bear followed in third with most of the fleet going for the north gate. At the second leeward gate it was Nantucket, Aquavit, Zuni, followed by Arbitrage and Good Timin'. At the finish it was Zuni, Aquavit, and Nantucket. In the second race there was more wind and it kept building through the race. At the start it was 16-18 kts, but was gusting to over 20 by the end. The first start was a general recall and the pin was moved upwind to straighten the line with a slight shift to the right from the first race. In the second start (without "I" flag), the fleet lined up perfectly within a half boat length of the line. Race Office Manager John Craig said "there was no sag and no second row in that one." Good Timin' was with all the other boats at the start about 8-10 boats from the RC, but after three seconds they were "launched" a boatlength out from the rest of the boats. At the first leeward mark Blackhawk was first around the North gate with Wind Dance quickly following around the South gate. Short Skirt was third around the leeward marks. At the second weather mark it was Wind Dance, Blackhawk, and Short Skirt. After the final lap it was Blackhawk and Short Skirt passing Wind Dance. Finally, a word about the St. Francis Yach Club Race Management Team. One had to be impressed with the team of twenty with five boats. The RC boat is a purpose-equipped Grand Banks 32. Four support boats (two inflatables and two hard boats) each had 200 hp Yamaha engines. On the RC boat was a computer which was receiving transponder data from the four support boats, each with their own GPS. With a mouse click, you could find the name, location, speed, direction, and distance of each of the support boats. They have high speed wireless connection back to the Club. Nice setup! Ed Dailey (Fleet #14 Captain), please work on this for next year in Marion. As of this posting I do not have daily results, but I am told that they will appear first on www.stfyc.org. |
|
| 13.Aug.03 | I made it. Plane was 30 minutes early with an unusual tailwind coming west. I arrived at the St. Francis Yacht Club around 1 p.m. and immediately found Don and Jeff Trask finishing up their measurement duties. There was a rigorous measurement regime to bring all boats to conformance with National Rules. Only one issue remained by the time I arrived and it was fairly easily resolved. The thirty nine boats were ready for action starting on Thursday. I got to meet with owners Jim Sorensen, Barry Brown, Jaren Leet, Bruce Stone, and Jim Doane among others. Many boats were out for practice on the Bay with good 16-18 knot winds. It may not be a new record for boats participating, but the competition should be fierce. At the skippers meeting, Jaren Leet introduced all the out-of-town owners. After an introduction by the St. Francis commodore, he called on the PRO, Tony Chargin, to talk about the racing. There will be three starting areas on the different days of racing. The jury will be headed by Tom Roberts with a team of five. John Craig will be Race Office Manager. At 7:30 Mark Rudiger gave a briefing of the local conditions including the substantial SF currents. Some of you will be surprised to learn that the Class Association really got its start only four years ago here at St. Francis YC. It was at the 1999 North American Championship that Jeff Johnstone and a small group of us hammered out our first Constitution and elected our first full set of officers. So even though our first boat came off the assembly line in 1991, it has only been four years that we have had a serious class organization. It has served us well. Tomorrow more about the racing. I'll be hanging out on the RC boat with a good perspective of the action. |
|
| 12.Aug.03 | Hey, I'm still in Rhode Island. I get on the plane the first thing tomorrow.
|
|
Visits: 3092