YRA Race Chronicles
The YRA Offshore Series Race Committee #1 headed out the gate on Saturday, August 2nd. 15 boats made the trip out to the Duxbury Reef Buoy and back to the finish in front of St Francis Yacht Club. Scroll down to read the full race day recaps from some of the competitors, including Nick Grebe/Wildcard, John Arens/Reverie, Andy Newell, Ahi, Brian Turner, CruzSea Baby, Evan McDonald/Greyhound and Truls Myklebust/Caliente!
Wildcard, Santa Cruz 37, RYC, Skippered by Nick Grebe
Nick and his crew took top honors in the PHRO 1 fleet, correcting out to almost 20 minutes ahead of the the 2nd place boat- a good race day for sure!
From Nick: “I really enjoy the Offshore Series and last weekend’s RC’s Choice race was no exception. I do think Wildcard is aptly named as we never quite know how any given race is going to go. After an absolutely brutal upwind slog in the Half Moon Bay race where Wildcard hit a UFO (unidentified floating object; we’re guessing a subsurface whale or large debris; we never saw it before or after the collision but it hit the rudder hard enough to stop the boat) while just trying to survive in stormy conditions, we were forced to miss the Jr. Waterhouse race while KKMI put Wildcard’s steering back together and repaired some unrelated developing keel issues. So the crew was very happy to get back out on the water for the RC’s Choice race. We originally had 12 of our regular crew that wanted to go on this one, but after explaining that 12 might be a bit crowded, we ended up with seven of our core crew, including my 16 year old daughter Kaelyn, who has quickly learned to trim Wildcard’s large main like a pro, and the majority of the Mercer family with Brandon, his son James, and his 17 year old daughter Addison do pit, tactics, and bow respectively. Beej Cronin and Dante Guazzo brought their talents to the mast and trim spots.
When Wildcard does well in races, it starts with online discussions days before, frequently checking each new forecast and running simulations in a variety of programs. While the accuracy of the forecasts seems to be deteriorating of late, Saturday’s forecast was pretty much spot on which allowed us to realize our plan of hugging the coast both upwind and downwind. A plan that really pay off. We were the easternmost boat for both legs and really took advantage of the extra breeze in by Rocky Point and Stinson Beach. We were careful not to chase too much of a good thing and overstand, tacking toward the Duxbury buoy a tad early and consolidating with much of the rest of the fleet.
As such a light racer/cruiser, Wildcard has such dramatically different performance upwind vs downwind and it is always a challenge to find the right conditions that let us do well. The moderate breeze and relatively flat water really helped us upwind, and we were happy to be in contact with Defiant and Swiftness at the weather mark; two boats that are both really competitive and normally much faster than us upwind. A really smooth jibe set got us ready to work Wildcard’s magic downwind and got us back on the side of the course we wanted to be on. We had just enough wind to allow some good moderate speed surfing, we really focused on making the most of our asym angles and staying in better breeze near shore.
Both Swiftness and Defiant kept us looking over our shoulder the whole way back, but by the time we passed back under the Gate and radioed in a heads-up to the race committee, we were tickled by Defiant’s VHF comment that they were “almost to the Bridge too” as we had built a comfortable lead. We were prepared for a quick douse and reaching up with the JT, but had a smooth finish under the A2 after playing with a few of the South Tower Demons, hitting boat speeds in the 14s and 15s, and dodging the J22s match racing on the finish line. Then we just had to wait and see where Revere would correct.
We were already celebrating a great day and planning on an afternoon pizza party for the crew before the results were even published. I summed up what I was feeling in a message in the crew the following morning:
“I had so much fun yesterday. I wanted to thank you all again. Winning is nice, but it was so much more than just how we placed. Yesterday was the magic of sailing that I love so much. The boat felt alive with everyone’s skillful crew work and the focus and comradery were just so enjoyable. The mental game of planning where to go and seeing what was working and adapting when it didn’t was just so satisfying to me. Yesterday had it all. 10 out of 10. Highly recommend. Thank you.””
Reverie, J109, CYC, skippered by John Arens
John Arens and his crew have been sailing together for over 5 years, and have Reverie dialed in. They came in 2nd place in the PHRO 1 division.
From John “On the upwind leg, Reverie did really well. We thought that the inside route was not good because it seemed lighter inside. But as it turns out the inside course was the way to go.”
They felt they did well on the downwind leg too, the boats that jibbed right after the windward mark didn’t fair as well. John also reported that some of the boats took off on big angles and that did not pan out- it seemed they couldn’t sail deep on port tack because of the wave angle.
They may have sailed too far on the jibe to Baker Beach, which gave back some gains to the other boats, but otherwise did well on the downwind leg.
Ahi, Santana 35m, RYC, Skippered by Andy Newell
Andy, who is also the chair of the Offshore Series, and his crew have been sailing together for many years and have put their experience to good use over the years, almost always finding themselves near the top of their fleet. This race was no exception where Ahi took 1st place in the PHRO 2 fleet.
From Andy: “We thought it was going to be a big wind day and so started with the #3 jib. Ahi, Cruzsea Baby, and Quantum all had similar courses approaching the Golden Gate and up the Marin Shore, staying pretty much in the middle of the channel. The wind diminished as the boat approached Bonita and Ahi changed up to the #1 jib in the lighter wind. After turning north and up the Marin Headlines Ahi chose to stay further from the coast then the competition as Andy felt there was more wind offshore. Ahi was shy of the Duxbury buoy on their initial approach and had to make a short set of tacks to get around mark.
After rounding the Duxbury buoy, Ahi took a more offshore course, compared to the competition. Ahi also stayed further north in the Golden Gate channel and gibed just of the Marin shore before crossing under the Golden Gate. After gybing on the Marin shore, Ahi needed no more gibes to cross the finish line in front of the St. Francis.”
CruzSea Baby, Beneteau 10R, SCYC, skippered by Brian Turner
Brian had some pick-up crew for this race, but missing a few regulars didn’t slow them down too much. They were able to sail a pretty solid race, with good communication, to a 2nd place finish in the PHRO 2 division.
From Brian: “First tactical decision at the start was could we carry the #1 from the start to the gate. With only 4 on board we were kind of short on rail meat but as it got closer to the start we realized that although there were good puffs coming through, we would risk it and go with the bigger sail (#1) as long as the crew was ok with doing a headsail change on the way to Dux. It worked out fine and we would have been way under power around Pt Bonita if we had the #3 up.
We got through the head sail change without any drama and lead our fleet around Dux and set our A2. Watched some of the first fleet boats gybe in towards Marin shore and kind of follow their lead. Rounding Pt Bonita we then had the challenge of figuring out what the current was doing under the gate. It was scheduled to be flooding but when we got to the channel, we were still observing ebb. So, pick a side, chose the Baker beach side looking for early flood.
Next decision was do we carry the A2 to the finish or change down. The pessimists in the crew observed some cruising boats standing upright under the gate and we rolled the dice. First jibe under the gate was coordinated just in time with a large gust and resulted in a quick roundup/recovery. We are now racing the PHRF clock to give us enough time to correct out, but it wasn’t to be, finishing first, but loosing on corrected time by 35 seconds.”
Greyhound, Farrier F22, BYC, Evan McDonald & Ross Stein aboard
From Evan: “Onboard I was joined by Ross Stein, DH. All the tris had good starts, within a few seconds of the horn, which was nice to see. Our plan after the start was to take advantage of the current along the SF waterfront, but as we tacked out it didn’t seem to fulfill the Saildrone prediction of being stronger along the edge. The middle was flowing too, so we opted to keep going. It was in the direction we ultimately wanted to go (north).
We stuck to our plan to stay along the Marin shoreline, without going too far in the bays where there were eddies to avoid and lighter air. Keeping an eye on the wind speed and current speed and direction was useful to know when it was time to tack, as well as the compass. There were some big headers to take advantage of along Marin.
Our plan when we reached Pt. Bonita we planned to ride the current slingshot around the corner, take it north a bit and then decide whether to sail inside, the middle, or outside. The monohulls were all a bit in front and to windward of us, so there was something to gauge by. Many were taking what I would describe as the middle track, about 1/2 mile further out than Greyhound. Round Midnight was further out than that, but we couldn’t see them in the fog to gauge the wind, and we didn’t bother looking at the AIS. As we headed north on the inside track we were moving really well for moderate wind. The water was very smooth inside, and I think that the current piled up in the Bonita channel and was stronger there. The knot-meter showed 1-1.5 knots of current, and despite the wind seeming rather lackluster, between 7-12 knots, we were really moving, so we opted to watch the middle track boats for signs of more wind and keep going.
The other indicator that inside was right was we saw one boat, very far inside, who was leading the monohulls by a large margin. I asked Ross to find out what boat it was on the AIS and when he said Wildcard, I knew we should follow suit. It’s been a well sailed boat in all the offshore races that I’ve been in this year so far, and their progress was impressive against the rest of the fleet.
We tacked out a couple of times to avoid hitting the coast, but we essentially stayed inside all the way to Stinson Beach. It was particularly nice to sail in close enough to see the people on the beach. The fog had lifted, and we had a million-dollar view of the beach and backing coastal range.
We were sailing close to Caliente at that point. When it was time to lay Duxbury he tacked, and I opted to overstand by a bit. I’m not sure it really costs one to overstand a bit given the speed increase in the boat when we crack off to absorb the overstanding. This would be a good debate in BAMA. I have been choosing to sail a little wide when laying marks lately because I think tacking twice is really slow.
We rounded and hoisted, no issue, and went with our idea of staying further out on the way back. Our thought was to avoid the northerly current that pushed us into Stinson. We quickly noticed that the inside boats were also going faster on the way back, so we jibed in, and got in the mix. It was windier inside after rounding.
The rest of the race was focused on making sure we were always pressing the boat and sailing fast in trim.
Once we passed Bonita it really picked up, and we had a very fast run under the gate, hitting 16 knots once. After jibing at Baker Beach, we finally passed a large group of monohulls that we had been chasing up the coast. We crossed under the bridge near the middle, picked our spot, and jibed for the finish. Our course put us right in front of the St. Francis as we crossed, so we jibed at the horn.
Our choices ended up being good ones. We corrected out on top of everyone, with three boats beat us on elapsed time: Round Midnight, Caliente and Wildcard.”
Caliente, Explorer 44, BAMA, skippered by Truls Myklebust
Truls and his crew have been sailing in the offshore series for a long time now, and is yet another offshore racer with tons of experience to put to good use. This race saw the big multihull take 2nd place in the Multihull fleet.
From Truls: “Greyhound, Round Midnight and Caliente were on the start line for the sixth race of the YRA Offshore Series yesterday. The forecast was showing light wind at the start, but we had plenty of breeze to get away expeditiously, and the race committee sent us on course 1, to the Duxbury Reef buoy and back again. On Caliente, we had a crew of five: Jim Struble, Nils Schlupp, Philip Styne, Alex Kent, and me.
The multihulls had the last start, and all three of us were trying to do the same thing at the A mark for the St. Francis Yacht Club. Round Midnight and Greyhound were side by side just ahead of us heading towards the mark, and we thought that we might get locked out, so we dove down below Greyhound. However, as it turned out, Round Midnight ended up just in front of Greyhound, and both Round Midnight and Greyhound were a bit early, so we all ended up sailing parallel to the start line, tacking at the horn, and we had about even starts, all three of us.
Slack was just before the first warning, and it was supposed to be the beginning of a weak 0.5-knot ebb, but there was still flooding current in patches on our way out through the Golden Gate. Greyhound hugged the Marin headlands, while both Round Midnight and Caliente tacked more through the middle on the way out to Point Bonita. Hugging the shore worked well for Greyhound, and they crossed ahead of us when we met just inside Point Bonita, after we had fought a patch of 3-knot lingering flood current.
The forecast models were showing a steep wind gradient offshore, with lots of breeze further out, 24 knots gusting to 29 knots according to the HRRR model, eventually strengthening to gusts into the low 30s. So we tried to get further offshore to get into the good breeze. That turned out to be a big mistake. First of all, there was no extra breeze offshore (and it seemed like we never really saw more than perhaps 12-14 knots all day, except perhaps right near Duxbury reef). The good wind was actually inshore, and secondly, there was a sharp wind shift line, and we managed to straddle that line perfectly for a while, so each time we tacked, we sailed into a major header. And our track up to Duxbury Reef was horrendous, with a couple of tacks offshore that show us just coming back to the original track we were on before tacking. Oof!
Greyhound tacked up along the shoreline. I had looked at what they were doing and I thought “there’s no way that’s going to work!” But it did, and they got way ahead of us, and crossed in front easily as we finally got inshore and found the better and more consistent breeze there. They crossed ahead of us again when we tacked for the mark. However, we had called the lay line just about exactly right from almost 2.5NM out, and Greyhound continued a little bit further before tacking and overstood the mark by a bit, and as a result, we ended up rounding ahead, but with Greyhound fairly close behind.
Round Midnight had rounded about 20 minutes earlier, and had sailed a bit of a middle path, not quite inshore, and not quite offshore. After rounding, they had not had our bad experience offshore, so they sailed offshore looking for wind, while we had learned from our mistake, and immediately jibed around the mark and headed back inshore. We had a bit of a mishap with the spinnaker. Given the forecast, we were not sure which spinnaker we would set, and we had waited until we were on approach to the rounding mark to set up the biggest spinnaker, and we had run the sheets wrong, through the lines that are attached to the ATN sock collar, so that had to be straightened out, and it took us a bit to get the spinnaker fully deployed.
However, that inshore path was best again, and by the time we got to Point Bonita, we could see Round Midnight crossing in front, but not all that far ahead.
We tacked immediately around Point Bonita and found more of the good breeze that Greyhound had seen in the morning, and after jibing in Point Bonita Cove, we had a really fast spinnaker reach down to near the South Tower. A couple of quick jibes to get around the South Tower, and that put us on the path to the finish, where we managed to get in less than six minutes behind Round Midnight, easily enough to correct out ahead. Greyhound was just six minutes behind us and thus corrected out way ahead for the win. Nice job, guys! That inshore path both ways was clearly the best call!”
