Some Had A Better Day Then Others.........

April 25, 2009......Weekend #2 of the 2009 WBRA Season, and SF Cup Qualifying for the local guys. 12 Boats answered the call; OK some of us were so late you may say, we returned the call after letting the call go to voicemail. The wind looked promising for a quick sail to the Berkeley Circle, and some of us may have lingered a little too long, before raising the sails and leaving the dock, but half way there the wind and current made progress to the start difficult to say the least. Lucky for those of us that left late, the wind was light on the course and the race committee choose to postpone the start for upwards of an hour.

The wind came up some for the start of the first race. 10 knots, out of the west; right where it should have been. I went for the wrong side of the line, starting at the boat and tacking to port. The boats that went left, did it correctly, and were way ahead at the first mark. Eric Kaiser, in US122, followed by David Wilson in US106, then came in a large group consisting of US113, US121, US109, and US112. Downhill, seemed to be a battle between 122 and 106 in the front, while there was what, at least looked like a full out war for 3rd thru 7th. The second upwind leg proved to be more of a crap shoot, then anything else. Half way up the leg, the wind shifted south approx. 45-50 degrees, giving the boats to the left of the course an advantage. I was deep in the back, and opted to bang the corner. Well, it worked somewhat. It at least got me closer to the group ahead of me; allowing me to gain ground on the following downwind run. I was too far back to see any of it, but I hear that there was quite the battle in the front at the finish. The top 5 were:

1. US 106
2. US 109
3. US 122
4. US 121
5. US 107

The second race was more of the Berkeley Circle standard. We started a little late, and the race committee decided to shorten the course to one time around. Not a bad idea, considering most of us had to head back to the city front. At the start I had decided to go for the pin end of the line, along with quite a few others. A small wind shift seconds before the start, and I was unable to make the line. I threw in a jibe, and headed back up the line looking for a hole. Well, turned out to work in the end, at the first mark it was US122, US106, US113, US111 and US 109. As in the first race, 122 and 106 were duking it out for the lead, while 113, 111, 109 had our own little race going on. I had a little mishap at the leeward mark with my pole and jib sheet, and Mike took full advantage of it. (I don't blame him !!!) Once again, there was a dog fight in the front, but this time 113 got into the mix. The top 5 in race #4 were:

1. US 106
2. US 113
3. US 122
4. US 109
5. US 111

The weekend wasn't a green one, but instead more of a blue/green. Team Wilson proved to be the dominate boat on the course, and from what I saw (and heard) they earned every bit of it. Congrats guys....... Maybe a little more wind, but other then that it was a beautiful day. For those of us that headed back to the city front, we found the wind. It was hiding just on the other side of Alcatraz. Gusting to at least 30, with a strong ebb tide, made for a quick trip home. The next race on the schedule is the first of the Weds. Night Series on May 6th. 12-14 starters for the weekends is great, but hopefully we can get a couple more for the mid-week racing. Good luck to everyone, and see you all out there.