Thursday July 1st, 2010

THE SAN FRANCISCO NOOD REGATTA REVIEWED

The Corsair 24 fleet enjoyed an exciting weekend of high-wind racing on the grand prix stage. Among the 175 boats spread out on four course venues were Olympic veterans and racing luminaries. There were lavish gratis dinners at the St Francis Yacht Club (no hats can be worn inside!), oceans of free alcohol, rowdy F-18 sailors and kite-surfers, and swag raining down on the competitors.

The overall winner (a J/105, the only DNF-free class, which scrubbed the multi's) won a Sunsail trip for 5 to Antigua Race Week where he will compete against the 7 other national NOOD winners. Now, why does that sound better than a trophy?

Our race committee set all the marks for perfectly square courses, including separate start and finish lines, windward offset marks and leeward gates, and had an armada of ribs under its command. The StFYC even made a course flag for us with the C24 logo which flew proudly from the Committee boat (see attached). I wanted to stand and salute during the prestart. So this is how the other half lives!

We sailed on the Berkeley circle, with winds of 15-35 kts, and big surfable rollers coming in by the end of the afternoon as the wind built. Origami was reefed for three out of five races, and still had power to burn. We saw 17.5 kts on the speedo numerous times, and were often planing to weather. Hoisting, gybing and dropping the chute in 25-30 kts of breeze is a thrill that Bill Pace and Henry van den Bedem executed flawlessly over and over—we had a least a dozen hoists over the weekend, and each of their tacks was crisp and tactical calls were clean.

The Melges 24s and J/105s were also on our course, and in the afternoon races they were rounding up, broaching, and taking knockdowns as if on some kind of drug. This made the explosive C24 bear-away’s between the windward and offset mark, and the spin drops in the gate crowded with boats, very tricky. They would suddenly roll over on their ear, round up and point their proboscis at us while completely out of control. All legs were less than a mile long and so boat handling and hitting the upwind and downwind laylines were key.

We were constantly sailing through other fleets, usually going different directions. We threaded through the Weta tris so often I thought we might mate.

There was no course chart but instead very cryptic and "undecodable" Sailing Instructions in a glossy booklet filled with ads for gear, shoe and vacations. The RC hosted a red flag to indicate port roundings, green for starboard. I am sure the RC got tired responding to my many VHF requests for clarifications during the regatta, and still I didn’t get it. Some courses had downwind finishes. It was the shortest line I’ve ever seen—we almost had to fold to finish. Some

courses were marked ‘upwind finish.’ But the leeward gate was upwind of the Committee boat, so we sailed through the gate, then around the finish pin and crossed the finish line in the upwind direction. But they tooted no horn! In fact, the RC tried to shoo us back upwind, which made no sense to us. What we didn’t understand is that ‘upwind

finish’ means that they had a second committee boat and finish pin located on either side of the windward mark, even though the windward mark was not indicated as the last mark on the course. So, after sailing the 3rd race on Saturday in just brutal conditions (Angel Is showed 34 kts gusting to 39 kt during that race), none of us finished it properly. The other classes eat these instructions for breakfast and understand StFYC etiquette, but it was all new to us. We felt like country bumpkins!

Yes, there was some carnage in our fleet, too. Bill Cook’s main disintegrated, and Blown Away’s jib blew away. There were some shrimped spins and other humbling time-out’s. We broke the cover on our reefing line and the strop on our main clew (just love those big bangs coming from the rig). Luckily, we could jury-rig repairs both times and keep going. Our treasured out-of-towners Rick Hall from San Diego and Richard Allen from Monterey sailed great races, displaying both speed and skill, and gave the locals a run for our money. They smiled in the face of adversity, and adapted to the conditions. But still, it's rather cruel to treat your guests to a gale. The Benicia gang once again showed their prowess, with Pete Adams and Dan Mone in Gaijin sailing relentlessly strong races doublehanded(!!) How could they do that with only two on board?

 

We had some very exciting leeward gate crosses with Gaijin. Gary and Adam Helms (Corsair Marine's Dealers from Helms Yachts in San Francisco) threw some weight in their 750, reefed the main and joined us, too, and it was great to have a father and son team with us. Brett Nelson was on call and was unfortunately needed at the Kaiser ER on Sunday; didn't they realize we needed an ER doctor on the course more than the hospital did?

The NOOD was a high-water mark for the Corsair 24s. One design racing is the best, and we hope to do it again when the NOOD returns to the Bay. Next time we'll even know which way to go. The F-27s should consider giving it a try, too. Think Antigua!

Ross Stein
BAMA Race Chair
Corsair 24 #357, Origami

Photo: (c) Tim Wilkes. To see many more photos of the regatta and of the C24's, click onto Tim Wilkes' website.

Additional photos can be found by clicking here.