Home	Nationals Regatta at GGYC 10/14/17

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

Saturday morning was bright and clear on San Francisco Bay with a light east wind about 8 knots. Zenith had arrived on Friday evening, and Cassiopeia and Serenity docked at GGYC before 1000. The forecast had beenfor very bad air quality due to the wildfires in Napa and Sonoma counties (and some events were even cancelled because of the forecast)it was delightful at Golden Gate Yacht Club.

Zingara and Kapai arrived in the starting area a little after 1100 and we prepared for the 1130 warning gun. With the unusual east wind we seleted a course with Blossom Rock buoy, to the east, as the first mark. But the wind kept getting lighter and it was glassy calm for most of thetwo miles upwind. An ebb curreent was already running about 1.4 knots and due to build to 2 knots, and boats were unable to tack upwind and make anydistance to the east, so we postponed about 1123.

The wind died completely, then filled back in from the east between GGYC and the golden Gate Bridge to the west. We discussed an unconventional downwind start to the west to Blackaller buoy, then a beat back. The foleet agreed, and the postponemetn flag was dropped about 12:15. Fired the warning gun at 12:20, but again the wind died and three drifting boats were pulled westward, sideways, over the line by the ebb tide, so we postponed again in the last minute.

After another hour of drifting waiting for wind, we agreed within fleet we wouldn't start if there was no wind by 1400.

Just when it looked like we wouldn't get a race in, a westerly filled in from the Golden Gate and got to GGYC at 1350. We started the sequence at 1400, and had a good start at 1405. We chose course 6, West to Blackaller near the Golded Gate, then east only to mark "A" off St. Francis YC, then back to Blackaller, and then east, past GGYC, to mark 6, in front of Ft. Mason, and finally west back to GGYC to finish. But,mark 6 has been missing for a while, so we shortened course (flew flag "S" under "6") to just Blackaller (16), St. Francis (A), Blackaller (16) and finish, a 3.4 mile course.

The wind held at around 8 - 10 knots for a very good race, with boats finishing between 15:05 - 15:15. As you can see in the Mark Rounding Table, the racing was quite close. Zenith closed on Cassiopeia on leg 2, and the 3rd - 5th positions changed at every mark!

We then polled fleet and agreed to call it a regatta with just 1 race and called everyone in to enjoy GGYC's Nibbles & Celebration spread. Not fancy, but a Ceasar Salad, Hot Dogs with all the trimmings, and delicious Chili was hearty and satisfying. The usual, "I would have won if ...," stories flowed freely and everyone had a good time. Fleet Captain Eric Mueller handed out bottles of wine to all contestants and congratulated the winners, with a special thanks to GGYC for providing Leslie, Bob and Ray for the Race Committee, and to the GGYC team for friendly beverage and food service.

All in all, we had 9 Islanders prepresented. Below are the Participants list, Mark Rounding times, the results and pictures.

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

Light easterly ...	Saturday morning ...	Kit & Susan ...	Rig tuning ...	Eric's happy ...
crew too.	Kit and ...	Cassiopeia ...	and crew.	Zenith crew.
Nice morning	Race Deck Crew	Zenith heads out ...	Light easterly ...	getting lighter
Postponed. Fire smoke offshre	West wind arrives ...	starting to move ...	running the line ...	timing run ...
start approach ...

Started!	Serenity tacks ...	Zenith powered up ...	Kapai crosses ...
and tacks ...	Kapai Cassiopeia Zingara Serenity	Catching ebb current.	Leslie sets up scoring.	Around Blackaller ...
heading for "A"	Classic International.	Rounded "A" ...	heading west ...	Cassiopeia Zingara Serenity Zenith Kapai
1st - Cassiopeia	2nd - Zenith	3rd - Serenity	4th - Kapai	5th - Zingara
Back to GGYC ...	Zingara ...	and crew.	Kapai ...	and crew.
Cassiopeia Zenith	Serenity	Celebration time ...	Thanks Leslie ...	Bob, Melinda, & Sandy
Serenity table	Susan and Jocelyn	Father & son	Kapai table	Zingara bunch
Cassiopeia table	Wonderful servers!	A Wonderful day!

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