Home	Nationals Regatta 10/6/19

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

Serenity, Jonesque Jones and Island Girl were at the Golden Gate Yacht Club docks on a beautiful Sunday morning.

One by one Cassiopeia, Windwalker, Highlighter, and Some Day arrived dockside at GGYC. Kapai arrived in the starting area just after 1100, but was hailed dockside.

A very light east wind barely moved the burgees, and off toward the Golden Gate Bridge a light westerly ruffeled the water. You could see boats sailing on the easterly to the east of Alcatraz, and boats under the GG bridge sailing on the westerly. The two breezes basically cancelled each other out with flat water under clear blue skies at the scheduled 11:30 warning gun. PRO Charles Hodgkins checked several weather sources and the prediction was there would be some wind by 1500. So, all skippers were called ashore and a decision was made to postpone until the wind arrived. Jonesque Jones was the only boat that wasn't able to stay for the late start.

With the change of plans, Bob Mulhern and his wonderful crew moved the celebration buffet up to 13:40 so all crews could come ashore and enjoy the meal before going racing. Good, and simple, Ceasar salad, hot dogs and french fries with the fixins, plus chili and eventually some cake for dessert did the trick.

After lunch the 7 Islanders headed out into a light but mostly steady north wind - most unusual. Charles called for his added course # 15 designed for a northerly: a short reaching leg to Mark X off St. Francis YC, then north to Harding Rock bell bouy, south to #6 off Ft. Mason and back to the finish - 4.5 mile. The wind gods held and it was mostly a good beat up to harding for most boats, but the wind backed westerly as the race went on. That made for a nice reach to #6 and a beat into the more traditional westerly for the short leg to the finish.

Having started so late, it was a 1 race regatta. Highlighter had speed at the start and edged out ahead of Cassiopeia. Highlighter held her lead all the way around and you can see the rest of the finish order below.

Because we had started so late, there was no gathering back at GGYC after the race. Some stopped at the dock to drop off crew members, while others crossed the finish line and headed directly for their home ports. In all it was a good day with 7 Islanders racing and 5 more participating for a total of 12 represented. Below are the participants list, the results and pictures.

Here are the Notice of Race , and Sailing Instructions

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

Welcome to ...	Golden Gate YC ...	Bridge looks ...	great.	Sunday morning ...
Serenity ...	Skipper Eric	Frank with ...	Island Girl crew.	Jonesque Jones
looking good.	Light easterly	Little wind aloft	Seagulls sit!	Island Girl
Jonesque Jones	Serenity	Cassiopeia arrives ...	and ties up.	Fireboat salutes ...
Fleet Week ship.	Windwalker arrives ...	Crew shot.	Highlighter arrives ...	Crew shot.
Some Day arrives.	Serenity lunch.	Another Fleet Week ship	Beautiful yawl.	RC is looking for wind ...
and relaxing ...	and waiting ...	and relaxing ...	in comfort ...	and style.
Cassiopeia crew	Highlighter crew	Some Day crew	Salad ...	Dogs and ...
fixins ...	fries and ...	chili.	Thanks Bob & Chloe!	Chow line in the ...
Oracle room.	Let's go race ...	Cassiopeia	Kapai	Highlighter
Island Girl	Serenity	Pelican fleet	Cassiopeia	Highlighter - Kapai
Windwalker	Serenity Island Girl	Slow going	Sizing things up.	Charles is ready ...
us too!	Kapai	Highlighter	Serenity	Some Day
Starting run ...	shaping up ...	30 seconds ...	Start.	Highlighter breaks free ...
Cassiopeia next ...	then Kapai	the rest.	Around the 1st mark ...	next pair.
Cake for the RC!	Ex-presidential yacht Patomic	Highlighter at last mark	Cassiopeia leads Windwalker	Short tack to finish.
Passing Alcatraz	Highlighter 1st	next to cross ...	Cassiopeia 2nd	Windwalker 3rd
Kapai 4th	Serenity 5th	Island Girl 6th	Some Day 7th

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