Home	The Nationals Regatta October 14, 2012

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

Thanks to the great work Fleet Captain Dan Knox did to get so many signed up, we had an impressive 11 boats on the starting line. That's a HUGE credit to this fleet and to each of you individually! When you count up the additional boats represented by their skippers crewing, working the race, or cheering, we had a full 18 boats represented by a total of about 65 people. The venerable Islander 36 fleet is alive and well!

OK, OK, so the Weather Gods played Trick Or Treat with the fleet all day. First it was the no-wind-in-the-starting-area south of the Bay Bridge trick. We tried setting a line, and even shortened the course with the windward mark now Alcatraz Island instead of Blackaller Buoy. That shaved 3.4 miles off the rhumbline course, from 15.2 to 11.8. But still no wind.

So we moved north of the bridge and tucked in along the side of Yerba Buena Island. But by now the ebb current was really starting to build. It grabbed the starting mark and dragged in north. By the time we got to it, it had firmly lodged itself in a new spot, so we just set the line where it was.

With the wind light and the current running across the line, everyone stayed well to the south of the line before the start. Then it was off to the races with a nice 10 -12 knots of wind. The smart money headed west using the lift caused by the west wind bending south around the San Francisco City shore towards the Bay Bridge to have a favored tack toward Alcatraz. Once near the shore, a tack to port gave a lift, again toward Alcatraz. One more leg west on starboard, then a tack to port to round Alcatraz.

An artistic drape of fog hid most of the Golden Gate Bridge, tongues of white and grey stretched past Angel Island, and even some wisps curled over and around the northern edge of Alcatraz. It was like a fleet of ghost ships as the Islanders steamed around to start their return run back under the Bay Bridge and down the Estuary to the finish line at Encinal Yacht Club.

We had declared two divisions, spinnaker and non-spinnaker, and now it was time to make the choice. Four boats set chutes: Cassiopeia, Windwalker, Freedom Won and Mischief. All looked great as they posted good speeds heading for the Bay Bridge, even against the ebb tide which was now pushing toward a max of 4.8 knots under the Golden Gate, and up to 3.3 knots under the Bay Bridge.

But it was time for another Mother Nature Speed Bump. She sucked the life out of that one mile stretch between the Bay Bridge and the Estuary. With a dying wind and current against you, the glorious ride to the Bridge ended with a whimper. Only Cassiopeia managed to slowly crawl into the Estuary where a gentle thermal and little current allowed them to finally reach the finish line at 16:56:57. One by one as the afternoon slipped away, all the other boats dropped out somewhere in the dark hole just outside the Estuary.

Yes, the wind evaded us - both at the start (which we finally fixed) and toward the end. And, a special thanks to the wonderful support of Encinal Yacht Club, and in particular PRO (Principal Race Officer) Michael Andrews and I-36 GGYC Race Committee and Americas Cup Course Marshals Gary & Pat Salvo who dashed around to set marks, find wind, and get pictures. It was a treat to sail in the Nationals with an inspiring beat to windward on the shortened course around Alcatraz (hey, kept you out of the fog-that-never-cleared at the Golden Gate), a glorious broad reach back to the Bay Bridge, and a warm and friendly gathering with nibbles and beverages on the upper deck at Encinal Yacht Club. A great way to wrap up 2012 Islander 36 racing.

We'll add perspectives from different boats if they come in.

Pictures, so far, by Roy Samuelson & Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

For original picture images, email Rick Van Mell and include the picture number and caption.

Boat	Sail	Owner	Finish	Notes
Cassiopeia	6763	Kit Wiegman	1
Califia	6774	Tim Bussiek	DNF
Fantasy	801	Eugene Novak	DNF
Freedom Won	447	John & Nanci Meton	DNF
Irish Rogue	553	Gary Connors	DNF
Kapai	438	Rich & Kathy Egan	DNF
Mischief	28383	Charles Hodgkins Kathryn Munn	DNF
Orion	211	Ray Duran	DNF
Some Day	580	Roy Samuelson	DNF
Windwalker	57307	Rich Shoenhair	DNF
Zingara	484	Steve & Jocelyn Swanson	DNF
Luna Sea	420	Dan Knox & Myphi Alloy	DNC
Bella Luna		Robert Daprato		Crew on Kapai
Diana		Lou Zevanov		Crew on Cassiopeia
Woden		Bob Knickerbocker		Crew on Freedom Won
Ophira		Gary & Pat Salvo		Race Committee
Vanishing Animal		Rick Van Mell		RC & Pictures
Natural High		Dennis & Judy Bush		Cheering Section!

Ready to launch ...	Tucker's ready too!	It's time for ...	Kapai to ...	change to a big jib.
Natural High & Califia	Twins?!	RC boat ready.	Where's the wind?	Dock talk.
Tim is ready ...	& under way.	Kapai too.	Some Day is ...	happy too.
PRO Michael Andrews ...	looking for wind.	Down the Estuary	Catching up with ...	Fantasy
Blurry!	Cassiopeia waits ...	Irish Rogue	Freedom Won	Mischief ...
up close ...	and ahead.	Light on the City	Waiting ...	Where's the wind?
Painted ships?	Now what?	Some Day	Fantasy	Orion
1st try to ...	set the pin ...	but still no wind.	More waiting.	Moved north of Bay Bridge
At last some wind.	USCG streaker ...	shot past.	Pre- start	Get back here ...
Going against tide	Fleet compresses ...	for the start.	Across at boat end.	Windwalker upwind

The Start

Cassiopeia leads	Rounding Alcatraz ...	Cassiopeia, Kapai, Windwalker	with The Rock!	Freedom Won
Fantasy	Leaders aim for Yerba Buena	Zingara	Fantasy leads	The Fleet
Mischief	Kapai & Windwalker	Cassiopeia	Happy crew	Fog astern
Kapai & Windwalker	Chutes astern	Kapai	Windwalker is ready ..	to set the chute.

The Leaders

Cassiopeia

Mischief & Freedom Won	looking good.	Pretty ...	and bright.	Mischief
Some Day	Fantasay	Zingara	On to Bay Bridge	Spray flies!
The 4 Spinnakers	Catching Kapai	Done.	Mischief	Kapai
Windwalker	Cassiopeia crew ...	is happy.	Nice curves!	Angel fog astern
Looking good.	Golden Gate peaks out.	Nice background.	Alcatraz.	New east side Bay Bridge
In the Estuary ...	is SLOW.	Gave up ...	ditto ...	ditto ...
ditto ...	ditto ...	but happy!	Big iron ...	heads in ...
Still drifiting ...	Gave up	but happy.	A glassy end ...	to a sparkling day.
Also drifitng ...	but not for long.	The sole survivor ...	at the Finish!

The Finish

Return to Main Menu