The YRA summer #3 race sent us from Knox out under the Golden Gate to Pt Bonita and back via YRA 8. Since the race was sailed on a flood tide, the whole way out was a trade-off between current relief to the right and more wind to the middle of the channel. We started together with “Santa Maria” in approx 10 kn of breeze and sailed board on board to yellow bluff. There, we short-tacked close to the shore towards the north tower. “Santa Maria” went a bit further into the current than we did, and we managed to gain a few boat lengths. The flood was ripping under the Golden Gate, and we got dirty air from a Yankee 30 that had started 15 minutes before us, which put us a bit close to the north tower for my comfort, but all went well. Out under the Gate our strategy was to go left until we hit a tideline and slowed down on the GPS, tack, and go right until we ran out of water. The wind got lighter and shifty when we went further out and we saw “Santa Maria” venture much further into the channel in search of wind. Apparently, they didn’t find enough to make up for the 2 kn of flood, and we saw them falling behind. At the Bonita buoy it was very light and we started overtaking bigger boats that had started before us and we rounded with two Islander 36’s.
On the ride down the wind got progressively stronger as we came in under the Golden Gate and we hit some great speeds on the GPS. Now the trade-off was finding as much flood while dodging container ships. We rounded YRA 8 for a wet ride back to the finish and for the first time in the season we got the gun! Time to pop open our “Byte Size Beer” homebrew IPA for a celebratory drink!
Cecile Holweg, Keay Edwards, Thijs Kaper, and Anna Alderkamp
“Byte Size” #801 |