Home	Plastic Classic 7/13/19

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

Our latest adventure was the ever-popular Plastic Classic Regatta. This race is only open to boats designed at least 25 years ago. Since the Islander 36 first came off the line in 1970 that makes us eligible (WooHoo!). The race is sponsored by the Bay View Boat Club which had the distinction of being called by my father when I was quite young "a drinking club with a sailing problem". He was the first person I heard use the phrase and it is still in use to this day. If you have ever been there you would immediately understand why he called it that. It is a bar for serious drinkers that happen to like to play around in boats. Over the years since they have done more boating. Dave who is a member was saying that things are changing to a more active sailing group.

The race start was late enough that we could leave at a reasonable hour. While we were setting up, Sweet Grapes next to us was setting up to do the Interclub race in the same area!! Mark, one of the owners of Sweet Grapes, was rather irritated that the races had been planned for the same day as they like to do the Plastic Classic but were committed to the Interclub series.

With Dave, Greg, and Doug there to have some fun, we set up the boat with the small jib after the previous Wednesday clocking above 30 knots. Sweet Grapes had an earlier start and beat us out of the marina. We were fighting a flood so kept inside. We motored up keeping inshore to stay out of the current feeling very good about the sail choice and decision to rig up for a double reef as the wind clocked up over 30 knots by the airport.

We split up the helm duties with Greg, Doug, and Dave taking most of the fun. We took the chance to grab a snack and plot out the start. We actually cut in so far that we ended up inside the entrance channel to Brisbane. We put up the sails just past the entrance and sailed up towards Hunters Point then the start. Once around the corner it wasn't looking as heavy as the hurricane by the airport would have indicated, but I was sure it would pick up.

We found the W mark which is a race committee set mark and sailed by it to add it to the chart plotter. We ended up in the start area with a small jib and a double reef staring at 12-17 kts of wind? That couldn't hold up with that huge amount of wind down south so we started with what we had, keeping our fingers crossed. We got an OK start in fleet four just behind the main line of boats. Windwalker, Kapai, and Renaissance of Tahoe had bigger jibs up and took off.

It soon became apparent that it wasn't going to fill in fast, so half way up the first beat we shook out the reefs to give us a little more power. I did not want to kill us by trying to swap jibs and having the wind fill in. My mistake. The entire race except for one point going up wind we were underpowered. By the time it was apparent it would never fill in I figured screw it lets just go with what we have and enjoy the sail.

There was a huge wind shift about 2/3rds the way up the first beat that we were able to take advantage of and catch up a little bit even with our small sails, but we were still a bit behind the majority of the fleet. Coming up to mark AS is an adventure as you have to stay far enough off the Navy RORO ships at the end of the pier and still make it around without tacking. The wind hole found us a little bit. We went around AS and headed by the T mark and a bevy of folks cheering us on from the boat serving as the mark.

It was a reach to W then a deeper reach downwind to NAS2 on the other side of the bay. We rigged a second line to the rail to open the throat of the jib which helped a lot! All in all pretty good considering we had a small jib and elected not to go spinnaker (haven't yet for the season so why start now :).

The jobs were passed around with Greg taking the main a lot and Doug, Dave, and Greg switching off the human reaching strut duties. We were shadowed through the changing winds and light air by of all things a dingy with 4 or 5 people on it and an Olson 25. Once we got around the mark there was enough wind for us to go fairly well and we were out pointing most of the boats around us. The wind went light in a couple of places (all right I SHOULD have switched to the 135). But we were still having fun.

We ran across Kapai who had run into light air to the north and took a tack to the south to an area that unfortunately for them went dead. They went right by us. We managed to play the shifts thanks to the amazing crew work by Dave, Doug, and Greg. Doug was acting as photographer and the wonderful shots you see are his.

We finally got close to the windward mark and saw Windwalker going the other way. Our avoidance of the wind hole was much better and we had a great line on the AS mark. A big Beneteau First 42 Savoir Faire was coming in on Port at the mark and we called starboard. They tacked in front us about a boat length and a half from the mark forcing us to have to head up to avoid them. I informed them that it was a rather rude maneuver and would be protested in a real race. They ignored us completely. I made a note to keep an eye out for them in the future as they obviously do not understand the rules.

Well we cleared AS and then passed T mark on our way back to NAS2. The lovely people on T mark lived up to their reputation as they obviously had more to drink and were using the opportunity to express their freedom.

With another nice downwind with variable wind causing us to jibe back and forth and more human pole work. Once around NAS2 started back up towards the finish in variable winds. I kept expecting Kapai to come roaring by us but we never did see them. We made our final run past AS and the T mark finish with their adventurous displays still going strong.

From there it was a nice trip home with the winds picking up (where were they the rest of the day?). Beers were opened and remaining snacks distributed. The wind hole south of Hunters point was there and once we were through it we saw those 30 knots of wind until we got home. Greg was having a blast at the helm in the heavy winds. All in all a great day of racing where having fun was the rule of the day thanks to the amazing crew work of Dave, Doug, and Greg who were amazing the entire day. Thank you to Doug for the pictures.

Remember we have the Giants game coming up on August 10th and the Coyote Point Rally on September 14th. We would love to see you there. For the Giants game you can sail or meet us there.

Eric Mueller
3I6 SV Serenity

Pictures by Serenity crew member Doug. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Starting Area Warriors new arena, background in white	Mark "T" Lovlies	Happy Camper	Concentration
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