Home	I-36 Nationals Regatta 10/3/15

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

We got lucky! With a forecast for Gale Warnings outside the Golden Gate, and the Offshore race cancelled for the day, we got off a terrific I-36 Ntionals Regatta just before Mother Nature blew the doors off the hinges. Seven Islanders sailed two good races for an outstanding 2015 Nationals Regatta held off Golden Gate Yacht Club on Saturday, October 3rd. Counting up the crews and Race Management, we had 51 people and 15 Islanders represented, that's including Bella Luna crew David Chiodo's Freeport 36.

A nice 10 knot breeze started the day off gently. Dennis Bush & Gary Salvo explained that we would start with Course #7, a triangle with the windward leg off the starting line up to Blackaller buoy, then northeast across the Bay to round Harding Rock buoy, then southeast to the #6 buoy off of Fort Mason, and a beat to the finish at GGYC, 5.4 miles total rhumbline distance. (For the Low Slerners in the group, Gary noted over the radio that the course number was between 6 and 8.) The Warning Gun would be at 1130, with the start at 1135. The fleet was requested, if possible, to stay clear of the National Match Racing regatta that St. Francis was holding about a third of a mile directly upwind of our starting line at GGYC.

This year we continued, consistent with our motto of "Safe, Fun, and as Fair As Possible," using different ratings to reflect the most obvious speed-potential differences between boats. To encourage those with fixed props, we gave an allowance of 10 seconds per mile for a 2-blade fixed prop, and 15 seconds for a 3-blade prop. For those that only had headsails larger than our 135% standard jib,, we added a penalty of 6 seconds per mile for jibs over 140%. Though we allowed Tall Rigs without a particular penalty for this regatta, they could not get prop allowances. The table below shows the adjustments for the Nationals Regatta. Prop designations are : Fixed, Folding, Feathering.

Sail #	Boat Name	Skipper & Crew	Prop	P-Allow	Jib	J-Allow	Rating	Crew
6763	Cassiopeia	Kit Wiegman, Dan Primus, Lee Krasnon, Michelle Diaz, Jason Murray, Bill Nork	2 - O	0	135	0	144	6
484	Zingara	Steve Swanson, Dave Nace, Dave Trollope, Fred Soelter, Tim Marsolais					144	5
580	Some Day	Roy & Melinda Samuelson, Ron Samuelson, Carlos Flores, Mike Rotsby, David Miller, Philip Atkinson	2 - I	10	135	0	154	7
82659	Serenity	Eric Mueller, Greg anderson, Ali Sholer, Peter Ahittall, Ryan Hogan, Russ ?	3 - E	0	110	6	150	6
67074	Califia (Tall)	Tim Bussiek, Luc Simard, Adrian Chan, Ashworth Kakhaudiki	3 - E	0	155	-6	138	4
211	Orion	Nina Riehs, Tm Allegretti, Dennis O'Hanlon, Daniel Margules, Pam Prentice, Chris Naughton, Jon Sheller, Ryan Bruinaton	3 - I	15	135	0	159	8
6697	Bella Luna (Tall)	Robert DaPrato, Gene Gehlbach, Danie Lupovici, Dave Chiodo	2 - I	0	135	0	144	4
Race Management & Other
396	Ophira	Gary & Pat Salvo	3 - I	15	135	0	159	2
11543	Vanishing Animal (Tall)	Rick & Sandy Van Mell	3 - I	0	135	0	144	2
629	Natural High	Dennis & Judy Bush						2
	Finally	David Chiodo (Bella Luna crew)	(Bella Luna crew)
447	Freedom Won	John Melton						1
	White Horses	Rob & Ruby Blenderman						2
472	Zenith	Bill Nork (Cassiopeia Crew)	(Cassiopeia Crew)					2
	No Boat	Phil Atkinson (Some Day crew)	(Some Day crew)					1

Meanwhile, back on the race course, Cassiopeia rounded Blackaller with a nice lead followed by a tight pack of Some Day, Zingara and Califia. A bit farther back were Serenity, Bella Luna, and Orion. The final results were in that order. The adjusted ratings didn't change the finish order.

The second race started at 1310 on Course #1, a shorter 3.4 mile windward leeward course. The breeze had picked up and was increasing throughout the race, with over 20 knots in the puffs before it was over. Bella Luna wasover early at the pin end, and did a quick gybe to quickly follow the fleet after their start. You can see that in the video clip of the second race start. Cassiopeia led at the weather mark and quickly set up a wing and wing run out into the flopod current before gybing down to Fort Mason, with others slow to follow suit.

We had a very unique scoring situation for the remaining six boats. Each pair of two boats swapped positions in the two races, so Zingara and Some Day each had a 2nd and a 3rd for 5 ponts total; Serenity and Califia traded 4th and 5th for 9 points each; and Orion and Bella Luna swapped 6th and 7th for 13 points each. In a two boat regatta, the tie goes to the leader in the final race.

All of the boats and crews came ashore and joined the celebration at GGYC. Once again GGYC laid out a simple but satisfying salad, chili and hot dog spread with all the trimmings. Thanks to Pat Salvo and Judy Bush, there was even a small ice cream cake to celebrate Rick's 74th birthday (actually on 10/3.) It was one terrific afternoon of good sailing fun and friendship. A great way to end the 2015 racing season, with good promise for 2016!

There are a number of good individual boat pictures, so iIf you want an original of any of the images (these are only 800 x 600 web versions), email Rick Van Mell with the picture caption and number.

Results			Race	Race	Points	Place
Sail #	Boat Name	Skipper	1	2
6763	Cassiopeia	Kit Wiegman	1	1	2	1
484	Zingara	Jocelyn & Steve Swanson	3	2	5	3
580	Some Day	Roy Samuelson	2	3	5	2
82659	Serenity	Eric Mueller	5	4	9	5
67074	Califia (Tall)	Tim Bussiek	4	5	9	4
211	Orion	Nina Riehs	7	6	13	7
6697	Bella Luna (Tall)	Robert DaPrato	6	7	13	6

Pictures (so far) by Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Golden Gate Yacht Club	First Islanders ...	from above.	Bella Luna ...	shipshape.
Erci helps Robert ...	Serenity is ...	looking good ...	doing stuff.	Finally (F-36) ...
Dave working ...	setting up lines ...	nice transom.	Welcome Califia ...	setting up ...
crew aboard.	Leslie, Dennis & Gary ...	Pat & Judy	John & Dennis	Gary at computer.
Light fog	Starting line	Alcatraz Island	Some Day ...	arrives.
Kit sets up	Pretty bows	Serenity crew ...	gets under way.	Califia crew ...
under way.	Bella Luna crew ...	under way.	Cassiopeia crew ...	under way.
Zingara crew ...	under way.	Some Day crew ...	under way.	Orion crew.
Race Deck Crew ...	Sandy too.	Master Geek	Som Day	#2
#3	Serenity	Califia	Serenity	Orion / Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia	Race prep ...	shuffle ...	nice breeze ...	making the turn ...
heading away ...	now what?	Zingara	Serenity ...	about to tack
test run ...	6 of 7	traffic.	Race 1 start ...	#2
#3	#4	Cassiopeia tacks	#5	#6
#7	Zingara / Orion	Cassiopeia / Some Day Califia	Rick gets birthday card	1st Race finishers ...
great breeze ...	passing Alcatraz ...	rail meat ...	ready to tack ...	Angel I. background ...
parallel lines ...	tacked for line ...	1st finish Cassiopeia	Some Day ...	finishes 2nd
Zingara 3rdP1130884	Califia ...	tacks for 4th.	Serenity ...	tacks for 5th
Bella Luna ...	tacks for 6th	Orion is 7th.	Gary calls time.	2nd Race prep ...
more breeze ...	great sailing ...	Zingara	All 7 Islanders	lining up ...
against the flood ...	here they come ...	confusion?	Bella Luna is early.	They're off ...

Race 2 Start

3 pair ...	sorting it out ...	making tracks ...	for the shore ...	nice line ...
time to tack ...	to avoid the rocks ...	Cassiopeia carries on.	Bella Luna	Orion
Cassiopeia is ...	1st to finish.	Zingara 2nd	Some Day 3rd	Serenity 4th
Califia 5th	Orion crosses Bella Luna	& finishes 6th	Bella Luna 7th.	Cassiopeia docks ...
furls sails ...	winning crew!	Some Day returns	Orion returns ...	happy crew.
The fleet is in!	30 minutes later ...	30 knots of wind ...	flags are starched!	Keeper trophies ...

30 Knot Winds

1st, 2nd and 3rd	with a history!	Checking in with Pat ...	Nibbles time ...	gourmet dogs.
Time to relax ...	get a bite ...	smile ...	happy crew ...	Tell some tales ...
take a sip ...	last of line ...	great afternoon.	Hear Ye, Hear Ye ....	3rd to Some Day
2nd to Zingara	1st to Cassiopeia	Pat blabs to all ...	yes, it was.	That's all folks!

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