Home	3 Bridge Fiasco 1/25/25

We had four Islanders enter the 3 Bridge Fiasco this year: Cassiopeia, Kapai, Luna Sea and WindCatcher. They wound up among the 285 boats in the 330 boat fleet that were abandoned by the wind gods and did not finish. Here are three of their stories, and we'll add Cassiopeia if we get their story.

Luna Sea
Dan Knox

We were very late for the start and likely kept our engine running a bit longer than we should have in order to make the start. We decided to continue on and started within the 10-minute period. We had a video going so we could go back and look and see if we actually had the engine on longer than we should have. But I am pretty sure that we did.

Justin and I talked about what would be best for a course and we decided it would be best to follow Kapai (another I36 that was racing in our division) since they started a couple minutes ahead of us. But as soon as we saw them take off for Red Rock, we changed our mind. There was no way we thought we could even make it would the strong ebb in the middle of the Bay. So, we continued to Blackaller where things went didn't go well.

There was just no wind, and the ebb was just taking its toll. Many boats were anchored but we decided to continue on. A few boats had anchored near Anita Rock but many of them were in the restricted area and needed to retire.

We tried everything included putting our magic half ounce kite but even that needs a bit of wind. After about a dozen jibes, we found ourselves in the restricted area south of the south tower and had to retire. We probably should have retired when we ran our engine longer than we should have but retiring now seemed to reach us a lesson.

Oh, and when we finally got back to Marina Village a fuse blew on our pump that pressurizes the water tanks on Luna Sea. I swapped out the fuse and it blew again after 10 minutes. Anyway, now I have a troubleshooting job for next week!

Here's a link to our video of the day: Luna Sea Video.


Kapai
Commodore Rick Egan

Kapai double hander's Rick and son Blaine arrived at the start in plenty of time and lurked off Fort Mason before starting on starboard in the beginning of the ebb. Our grand plan was to cross the line and head for Red Rock having been sucked out of the gate in a race la few years back. This worked pretty well as we had a nice breeze that took us steadily to a spot between Knox and and Alcatraz.

We were in good company with a posse of Moore 24's that had the same idea. We used all the light air tricks we could come up with, but the wind died and the ebb was pushing us toward the gate and we finally gave up the ghost around 11am.

Great to spend time with son Blaine who moved up to Sacramento from L.A. Two photos below.


WindCatcher
Dan Throop

In my first attempt at the Three Bridge Fiasco...

The plan was:
Cross the starting line heading east and get under the Bay Bridge before max ebb. I figured fighting the current for a short distance from SF to the Bay Bridge was better than fighting the current for a long distance from Blackaller through Raccoon Strait to Red Rock.

The reality was:
Head east to the start line on schedule. Stall in 0 knots of wind and get pushed backwards by the current past Anita Rock and over to Crissy Field where I dropped anchor to keep off the beach. (It looked like one boat did not stay off the beach.) I did not cross the starting line.

The wind picked up a little bit but not enough for me to fight the current and get to the start line before the cut off time.

Lessons Learned:
1. I have a better picture in my mind of where the marks and prohibited areas are and how the current flows around them. 2. Don't hesitate to use a anchor.

Well, I can now say I have used my anchor in a sailing race.

I just looked at the results for the 2025 Three Bridge Fiasco. It looks like 330 boats signed up for the race and only 45 boats finished the race. That is brutal. And I still plan to try again next year.

Calm Gate

Rick & Blaine

Then again in a reminder that Mother Nature may have a humorous side, 24 hours later on Sunday, Luna Sea enjoys nice wind around the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island.

Luna Sea 1

Luna Sea 2

Luna Sea 3