Home	2013 InterNationals Regatta Sausalito YC August 24-25, 2013

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

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Islanders truly rose to the occasion for the Islander 36 Association's first ever InterNationals Regatta on August 24 & 25, 2013, beautifully hosted by the Sausalito Yacht Club. It was almost an All Islander event for racers, with an I-36 group and a Freeport 36 group. There were 8 boats racing on the water and a total of about 50 people representing a total of 15 Islanders & Freeports. We sailed two races on Saturday (while those hot-shot AC 72s across the bay only sailed one Louis Vuitton Cup race), and another one on Sunday. The weather was beautiful and typically San Francisco Bay: Blue skies, up to 2.5 knots of flood tide, winds between zephyr and gusts about 30 knots, and even a curtain of fog. That fog was over the America's cup course and pretty to look at, but not over our course! Each boat represented a country and told their story at the (delicious) Saturday night dinner. So the gods certainly smiled on this very fun event. A special thanks to Tim Bussiek (Califia) for putting it all together. Now here's the rest of the story.

The fun began on Friday evening as several Islanders arrived to take up moorings in front of Sausalito YC, or slips farther up Richardson Bay. Califia, Luna Sea, Bella Luna, Lean times, Dayna Marie(F-36) and Love Song F-36) were all represented Friday evening.

By Saturday morning, we'd added Zingara and Osprey, plus those driving in as Crew, Race Committee or spectators: Vanishing Animal, Laughing Matter, Finally, Petit Sirah, Freedom Won, White Horses, and Celebration. Celebration easily gets the prize for coming the farthest - it's Ken and Miriam Rappolt from Honolulu, Hawaii. We've got a call out to the skippers to fill in the rest of the crew names for the table below.

A nice southwest wind funneling in through the Golden Gate made for a good upwind start from the Knox corner of Angel Island up to Yellow Bluff. Sausalito Race chair Bob Braid and his excellent Race committee team chose a fun triangle, windward-leeward course of about 7 miles for the first race starting at noon. The 12 - 15 knots of breeze was much appreciated to battle the big flood tide sweeping down the course. It was strong enough that the fleet may have been aiming for a committee boat start, but was pushed well down the line by the current.

The strong breeze made for photogenic mark rounding at the weather mark. Lean Times was first around followed by Luna Sea and Califia. It was a romp of a reach out to Harding Rock buoy, which is about the very back edge of the spectator fleet for the America's Cup Louis Vuitton Finals race going on across the bay along the San Francisco shoreline. Love Song was the first of the Freeports around, followed by Dayna Marie.

By the time the fleet was completing the windward-leeward, the RC realized that the leeward #4 mark had started on a journey of it's own. The mark boat dashed to retrieve and re-set it. It was the first of what would eventually become 5 tries by the end of the day.

For the second race, with a 1410 start, the committee chose a shorter course with just the triangle and no windward - leeward. Again, the leeward mark would not stay put, even after 4 tries. Finally the mark boat, with the mark tied astern, simply held station against the current, flew the "M" flag, and got pictures as the fleet rounded close aboard on their way to the finish.

Bella Luna ripped her jib, and Osprey suffered a jammed traveler after a gybe, and then her engine wouldn't start. The mark boat came alongside and helped her tie up to an SYC mooring and ferry her crew ashore. And after getting all squared away, she hoisted sail and sailed back to her home slip at Marina Village.

Meanwhile, everyone else gathered ashore for libations and dinner. Tim welcomed the fleet and thanked Sausalito YC for running good races. Just under 50 of us filled the dining room for a delicious fresh carved Tri-tip buffet. At the end of dinner, each boat got up and said what country they represented and why. We had Mexico, Germany (2), Sweden, Italy, USA (2, and the British Virgin Islands. You see the BVIs were once a pirates lair, or at least that's how Glenn Zimmerman explained the big pirate flag at his stern. Michael Daley was representing Scotland and had a silver cup that his great grandmother won in the 1912 Tobermory Regatta from mainland Scotland to the Isle of Mull.

Sunday dawned clear on the north side of San Francisco Bay, but had a blanket of fog right down to the deck on the south side. Those that watched the Kiwis finish off the Italians in the Louis Vuitton Cup repeatedly heard the announcers talking about the fog. But gentle winds and and Island Tour course were on tap for the 1100 Sunday start. Again a flood tide was building at the start and helped the fleet once they rounded the weather mark. that is, until they came to the fateful decision point at the northeast corner of Angel Island. the last two marks before the finish were Southampton Shoal and Buoy 8 between it and Angel Island. Then there was a choice on how to beat upwind against the full flood current to the finish. The shortest, and most direct route was straight up Racoon Strait between Angel Island and Tiburon to the right on the mainland, then hang a left to the finish line on the west side of Angel Island. 2.34 nm if you didn't have to beat. The alternative was to go back around Angel going south and then west. 3.08 nm in a straight line.

Aboard the Committee boat, we were wondering what had happened to everyone. We finally noticed, with a big pair of binoculars, Califia sticking her bow out of Racoon Strait. She didn't go quite far enough, and when she tacked to come south toward the finish line, she was swept back east before she could clear the end of angel and had to tack back west again before finally getting clear and on her way to the finish. About this same time we noticed two Islanders, with good breeze, approaching from the south side of Angel, aimed at the finish line. If that breeze both would have easily beaten Califia across the line. But the wind went light and the current started to sweep them south around the western edge of Angel Island. It caught Luna Sea first and she tacked to starboard and headed south. Lean Times was coming along on port and it was going to be very close. Luna Sea pinched up to enforce her starboard tack advantage, and Lean Times pinched up on port. In the end, Luna Sea couldn't quite get there and fell off below Lean Times' stern. But now both boats were very slow and bouncing in light air with the current against them. As they each bore away to gather speed, Califia came charging up with strong wind and a full head of steam to cross the line first. Her elapsed time was 2 hours and 15 minutes for the 10 mile course, or 4.4 knots, though she probably sailed at least a good 12 miles through the water against the current. It was an exciting and fun finish and you can watch the video below.

Next we were waiting for the Freeports to return from the far side of Angel Island. Freeports are wonderful, comfortable boats, and safe and secure for cruising bays and open water. They are not, however, known for going upwind easily. So we waited some more. And more. Even thought about getting in the mark boat and finding out where they were. Again the binoculars found our prey. Tucked among the many sails struggling to get out of Racoon Strait against the current, there was Love Song. But, just like Califia, she didn't stay close enough to the north shore and get far enough west to cross the flood current. Three times she was swept back behind the island and out of view. And just like the I-36s, we now saw the other Freeport, Dayna Marie, coming along the south side of angel headed for the finish. The committee boat was just at the southwest corner of Angel, and the flood current split strongly to the north between us and the shore. Dayna Marie sailed into the current and began to be swept south. Instead of tacking to the south before the worst of the current, she held on trying to get to the port tack lay line. She was carried almost half a mile from the finish line before she finally tacked for the finish. With a little stronger wind, she sailed across the finish line and earned the gun. Elasped time was 3 hours and 54 minutes for the same course as the I-36s.

You can read the results below, but this was less about grizzled old racers duking it out than celebrating four boats that had either never raced before or very little. Neither Freeport had raced, and Osprey and Bella Luna very little. A mighty cheer to all of them who came out, had fun and really enjoyed themselves.

A few last thoughts before you dash down to the results and pictures. Thanks to Tim Bussiek (Califia) for organizing a fun and fine regatta. Again, a special thanks to all the folks at Sausalito Yacht Club for their hospitality, from the manager and bar staff, to Bob Braid and his fine Race Committee. You should take a minute to swing on over to the SYC regatta results page to see the impressive job they do, and to see that each boat's country flag is proudly flying! SYC Results.

Pictures

Since this may be the first time several of the participating boats have had lots of pictures taken of them under sail, you are all reminded that you can get copies of the original image files. (Web images have been significantly reduced in size.) Here's how.

A special thanks to Danie Lupovici who is an avid photographer and shot pictures all day Saturday. Her pictures are the ones with "DSC" in the file name. If you'd like an original image, note the file number and email Danie Lupovici.

The "IMG" files are from Karsten Windt, and you can get his by emailing Karsten Windt.

You can get the captioned by noting the caption and image number and emailing Rick Van Mell.

Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Great welcome!	1st race pre-start ...	tacking ...	lining up ...	here they come.
Fuzzy line.	count down.	Off and racing.	Heading high	Osprey

Lean Times	Bella Luna	Crossing	Dayna Marie ...	Avast!
but pretty!	Race Committee ...	is reeady ...	Danie clicks!	Love Song
Passing Islander	Trim!	Sneaking past.	Blast reach	Weather mark.

Osprey tack ...	and around.	Bella Luna tacks ...	and around.	Love Song ...
rounding ...	pretty!	Bearing away.	Dayna Marie ...	go Glenn!
2nd race pre-start	Califia reefs ...	looks good ...	go Tim ...	driving ...
close attention.	Close quarters	Luna Sea	Zingara	Dayna Marie
Love Song	Sparkling	Lean Times ...	crisp ...PICT5595	happy ...
and fast!	Are you ready?	Bring it on!	Califia rounds #4 ...	then trims.
Love Song ...	concentration.	Dayna Marie.	Bella Luna at dock	Love Song & Luna Sea
Nanci, Rob, Ruby, John	Damien, Karen, Michael	Coming ashore ...	tying up ...	Hi Dan!
Happy crew	Great afternoon	Ken & Miriam and friends	Tall tales ...	and stories.
Damien & Beth	All smiles.	Lean Times	Tim is the MC ...	Fun on Rick ...

one more word.	SYC Race Chair Bob Braid	Tim wraps up.	Happy table!	Bella Luna
Smile John	Jocelyn's cookies ...	passed around ...	and enjoyed.	Dayna Marie/Zingara
Lean Times	Dinner crowd.	Good Night!	Victor's turn ...	Robert's turn ...
Tim's turn ...	Dan's turn	Jocelyn's turn ...	Glenn's turn ...	??? turn ...
Michael's turn ...	1912 Cup! ...	Ken's turn ...	Tim wraps up.	Sunday morning
Lean Times	Luna Sea ...	Rob drives	Light air	Califia
Luna Sea	Lean Times	Start approach	Lean times ahead ...	line crossing
now Califia	Freeport 36s	Nice start	Big beauty ...	sets sail ...
closer ...	find the people ...	who's steering?	building a bone ...	Gate shot ...
Kiwi?	long gone!	Zingara ...	headed home.	Inching toward finish ...

closer ...	Bella Luna ...	hail Italia!	Finish bound ...	getting close ...
finish first!	Power yacht takes out finish mark!	Bridle gone ...	ripped tabs too.	the Trophies!
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