Home	I-36 Summer Sailstice COVID-Compliant Rally Saturday, June 20, 2020

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

What a Blast! Ten rugged Islander 36s with a total of 26 crew aboard assembled for a COVID-Compliant Summer Sailstice Rally around Angel Island. Mother Nature provided a rigorous test of seamanship with gusts up to 30 and two boats sailed a shortened course and one retired. But everyone had fun and we devised a crazy points system to encourage families to let kids and non-sailing spouses skipper, and added points for submitting pictures and carrying "Virtual Crew." Virtual Crew are other I-36 owners who volunteered to "crew" aboard the participating boats. In all we had 9 Virtual crew for a grand total of 19 Islander 36s represented for summer Sailstice. We had 8 boats submit a total of 123 pictures and 9 provided a paragraph from their perspective. We "scored" the rally counting the various "points" as seconds per mile for a rating adjustment. Below you will find our Rally Instructions, the data for awarding "points", the crew lists and the results of the "Raw" score (closest to an actual race), the Corrected Score for alternate skippers, Virtual Crew and flying the I-36 Burgee, and finally the Fun Score adding points for submitting pictures for this web page. Below the Results you will find the experience from each boat and a selection of their submitted pictures. It sure felt great to be back on the water and waving to friends. We tried set up a post-Rally Zoom session to further share the friendship of the fleet. Maybe later this week.

It was no surprise to see Cassiopeia, Luna Sea and Kapai at the top, but Green Flash moved into 2nd in the Raw Scores. Luna Sea and Island Girl sailing Course B which was 0.3 miles longer than Course A. Though Luna Sea sailed the longer course, she finished just 33 seconds behind Cassiopeia. Some might have expected Vanishing Animal to do better, but Rick made a deal with Sandy that if it was gong to blow 20, we'd sail under jib only (hey, we can see 80 years old just around the next mark.) Islander Girl was also in the mix until reefing line troubles suggesting retiring while close to home port Sausalito was the smart, safe way to go. New member Morning Star got a late start, but competed the Rally course in 1:51, between the times of Zingara and Vanishing Animal. Jonesque Jones got a late start, but sailed around Angel Island and saved some backtracking by returning to Berkeley Marina before crossing the finish line. Bella Luna started strong, declared victory, and sailed a shortened course around Treasure Island and home. Serenity, the 11th boat signed up, may have had some outside forces working to preserve her. When the morning alarm didn't go off, Eric no longer had time to get her the 3 hours from Coyote Point to the starting line, but then, Eric was going to try to single-hand Serenity around the course. Talk about saved by the bell! The amazing part is that even with outlandish rating adjustments, there was only about 8 minutes separating those that started on time, and even as little as 11 seconds between places. Several participants commented that it was really fun, had a great turnout, and maybe we should do more like this.

And finally, here are the course chart and two short videos from Liz Munnelly on Green Flash:

Rally Courses

Clcik to enlarge

Blasted at Angel Island

Slow Motion Burgee

Rally Instructions

With the Bay Area opening up parks and businesses to allow permitted Outdoor Activities, including recreation, your Islander 36 Association Board is scheduling the family-focused I-36 Summer Sailstice Rally for Saturday, June 20, 2020. This will be an opportunity for members of your household or living unit to safely get out on the water and enjoy your boat with an organized rally with some fun options. It's intended to celebrate the longest sailing day of the year and have some fun along the way.

To participate you may choose one of two courses, and if you choose to be timed while doing it, there are six ways you can gain extra points. We will use the US Coast Guard Rules of the Road, not the Racing Rules of Sailing. That's intended to promote distancing and lower the stress level. Above all, have fun, be polite, play nice and stay safe. Under usual conditions the Rally will take 2-3 hours.

We'll assemble, socially distanced, just south of the center block of the western span of the Bay Bridge, and use the shadow of the bridge on the water for our 12:00 start of the Rally. For maybe the first time in your sailing life you can actually see the starting line on the water!

All current and former I-36 Association members are invited to participate, Racers and Cruisers alike, particularly those who have focused on family first. If you haven't participated in a while, now is a great time to come out. If you can't get your boat to the Rally, you can join as a Virtual Crew - and that includes our members outside the Bay Area. Let's see how many I-36s we can round up! And it's free - no entry fee.

Rally Details

The I-36 Association Summer Sailstice Rally on Saturday, June 20, 2020 will comply with the Social Distancing and Face Covering requirements of the counties where your marina is located. Participating boats may only be crewed by members of the same household or living unit. Face coverings must be carried by all people and worn when transiting between parking areas and your boat if you cannot maintain a 6' distance between your household and other people.

Rules
We will use the US Coast Guard Rules of the Road, not the Racing Rules of Sailing. That's intended to promote distancing and lower the stress level. As a reminder and enhanced for our Rally:

Starboard over Port. Windward boat keep clear.

If you are overtaking another boat, you must stay at least 1 boat length to windward or leeward. You are the Give-Way vessel under the Rules of the Road and must keep clear until you have passed the boat you are overtaking.

If you are being overtaken by another boat, you are the Stand-On vessel. You are to maintain course and speed. (No luffing.) At any rounding point you must stay at least 1 boat length away from the other boat.

Rally Starting Area & Time
Gather on the south side of the western span of the Bay Bridge between the center block and the next east tower at approximately 11:45. (Section C - D on the chart.) Use VHF Channel 72 to check in with the Rally Coordinator. When you check in the Rally Coordinator will confirm:

A. which course you plan to sail
B. if you want to be scored or not (i.e. you care about how you do around the course, or are just out for a nice day of sailing)
C. if you are flying an I-36 burgee
D. who will be your skipper, and
E. count of Virtual Crew (from registrations)

This is a good time to wave to your friends and start taking pictures.

The rally starts at 12:00 and the starting line is the shadow of the Bay Bridge on the water. For maybe the first time in your sailing life you can actually see the starting line on the water! Use GPS or cell phone time to time your own start. All boats must stay at least 20 feet apart.

Courses
Rally Course A: The course is to round Angel Island to starboard - northeast through Raccoon Straits and then pass east of Treasure Island to the finish line which is again the shadow of the Bay Bridge between TI and Berkeley. This course would typically be a series of close hauled and reaching legs.

Rally Course B: The course leaves the following to starboard: GR "BR" Blossom Rock buoy, Alcatraz Island, GR "AZ" Alcatraz buoy, R "4" at Pt. Stuart Angel Island, Angel Island, and then pass east of Treasure Island to the finish line which is again the shadow of the Bay Bridge between TI and Berkeley. This course would typically start with a beat to get around Alcatraz, particularly since there will be a mild flood current at noon.

Boats wishing to be scored are to record their finish time using GPS or cell phone time and report it on VHF 72 as, " I-36 Fleet, has finished at HH:MM:SS and is leaving the Rally." Wait to be acknowledged by the Rally Coordinator. For safety, boats not being scored simply report they have crossed the finish line and are leaving the Rally.

For those wishing to be scored, there will be three scores.

Raw and Corrected Finish Score: Using a 12:00 start time, course distance (A = 11.2 nm; B = 11.5 nm), Boat's I-36 rating as adjusted per the Boat Information section below and in your registration, and finish time to give a Raw Finish Score, and add adjustments 1, 2 & 3 below for Corrected Finish Score. The target is to email this to the fleet by Saturday evening.

Fun Corrected Score: Using the various criteria below, a boat's Corrected Finish score will be adjusted to arrive at a Fun Corrected Time. This will be calculated after 6 pm Sunday evening to allow boats time to earn credits 4, 5 and 6.

1) Skipper Adjustment: If a boat has one of the following skipper the whole race they get a rating credit as follows:
    a) Child between 18 and 21 6 sec/mile (A = 67 seconds; B = 69 seconds)
    b) Child below 18 8 sec/mile (A = 90 seconds; B = 92 seconds)
    c) Non-Racing Spouse 10 sec/mile (A = 112 seconds; B = 115 seconds)
    (Leaves out Kathryn on Mischief; Liz on Green flash; Pat Salvo, and Sandy Van Mell, but Nanci Melton and Maria DaPrato qualify.)
    d) Single-Handed Skipper 10 sec/mile (A = 112 seconds; B = 115 seconds)
2) You get 2 seconds per mile credit for each Virtual I-36 member boat you have on board. (Past or present I-36er who registers to be counted as sailing on your boat.) (Limit 5 Virtual Crew)
3) You get a 1 second per mile credit if you are flying an I-36 burgee.
4) Photos of other boats gain you 1 sec per mile. (limit 5 seconds.) But more appreciated.
5) Photos of your boat and crew gain you 1 second per mile. (Limit 5 seconds.) But more appreciated.
6) Drone videos of the fleet gain 3 seconds per mile per whole minute of video.
Note: To receive credit for Adjustments 4, 5 & 6 pics/vids must be emailed to the Rally Coordinator by 5:00 PM on Sunday, June 21. Then everyone heads to their home port. There are no prizes, no raft-ups and no parties. But plenty of congratulations along the way. Maintain Social Distancing and Face Covering protocols when leaving your boat and going to your car.

Above all, have fun, be polite, play nice and stay safe.

Below is the Participants list with their various points for the Adjustments listed above. The Raw Score column is how the boats would have been scored if this were a regular race. The Corrected Score is the Raw time with Adjustments 1, 2 & 3 added (things we knew during the race), and the Fun Score is adding Adjustments 4, 5 & 6 which required boats to send in pictures or videos after the finish.

Participants List

	Course	Score					Std = 135%			Raw		Skipper	Virtual		Correct.	Pics	Pics	Drone	Fun
Sail #	A/B	Y/N	Boat Name	Skipper		P-Allow	Jib	J-Allow	Tall?	Rating	Skipper	Adjust	Crew	Burgee	Rating	Others	You	Vid	Rating
4469	A	Y	Bella Luna	Bob DaPrato	I	15	135	0	-6	153	Me	0	0	1	154		4		158
6763	A	Y	Cassiopeia	Kit Wiegman	O	0	110	6	0	150	<18	8	6	1	165	5	5		175
	A	Y	Green Flash	Liz Munnelly & Mike Patterson	I	15	110	6	0	165	Me	0	4	1	170	5	5		180
533	A	N	Jonesque Jones	Peter Kacandes	I	15	100	6	0	165	Me	0	0	0	165		4		169
438	A	Y	Kapai	Rick Egan	E	0	125	0	0	144	NRS	10	0	1	155	5	3		163
283	A	Y	Morrning Star	Michael Infusino	I	15	135	0	0	159	Me	0	0	1	160	1	4		165
11543	A	Y	Vanishing Animal	Rick Van Mell	I	15	135	0	-6	153	Me	0	6	1	160	5	5		170
484	A	Y	Zingara	Jocelyn Swanson	O	0	100	6	0	150	Me	0	0	1	151	5	5		161
57449	B	Y	Island Girl	Frank Burkhart	E	0	135	0	0	144	<18	8	2	1	155				155
420	B	Y	Luna Sea	Dan Knox	E	0	135	0	0	144	me	0	0	0	144				144
82659	B	Y	Serenity	Eric Mueller	E	0	135	0	0	144	Single	10	0	1	155				155

Crew & Virtual Crew

Boats Listed =	11
Boat Crew Total =	26
Virtual Crew Total =	9
Boat	Real Crew	Virtual Crew	Boat Name	Home Port
Totals:	3	3
Cassiopeia	Kit Wiegman	Roy Samuelson	Some Day	Alameda Marina
	Naiomi	Lou Zevanov	Diana	Alameda Marina
	Yvonne	Steve Zevanov	Diana	Alameda Marina
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	2	0
Kapai	Rick Egan
	Kathy Egan
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	4	2
Green Flash	Liz Munnelly	John Robbins	Chance	Portland, OR
	Mike Patterson	Mike & Karen Finch	Willow	Gresham, OR
	Sam Majors
	Grayson Poe
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	2	0
Luna Sea	Dan Knox
	Cindy Surdez
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	2	0
Zingara	Jocelyn Swanson
	Steve Swanson
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	2	3
Vanishing Animal	Rick Van Mell	Bert & Carey Vermeer	Natasha (BI 30)	Sidney, BC
	Sandy Van Mell	Ken & Miriam Rappolt	ex-Celebration	Honolulu, HI
		Bill & Terry Ray	Exit Strategy	Lake Texoma, TX
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	4	1
Island Girl	Frank Burkhart	Zorza	Elizabeth Bishop	Marina Bay (SF Bay)
	Lynn
	Will
	Luc
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	2	0
Bella Luna	Bob DaPrato
	Maria Santiago
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	2	0
Morning Star	Michael Infusino
	Andrew Loxley
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	2	0
Jonesque Jones	Peter Kacandes
	Athena Kim
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -
Totals:	1	0
Serenity	Eric Mueller
	- - - - - - - - - - -- - - -

Raw Score Results (Most like a real race)

Scratch Rating:

144

Course A =

11.2

Course B =

11.5

Start:

12:0:0

Decimal Second =

=1/86400

Course

Score

Finish

Elapsed

Raw

Raw

Raw

Correct.

Correct.

Correct.

Fun

Fun

Fun

Sail #

A/B

Y/N

Boat Name

Skipper

Time

Time

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

6763

A

Y

Cassiopeia

Kit Wiegman

13:45:43

1:45:43

150

0:1:7

1:44:36

A

Y

Green Flash

Liz Munnelly & Mike Patterson

13:49:54

1:49:54

165

0:3:55

1:45:59

420

B

Y

Luna Sea

Dan Knox

13:46:14

1:46:14

144

0:0:0

1:46:14

438

A

Y

Kapai

Rick Egan

13:48:0

1:48:0

144

0:0:0

1:48:0

484

A

Y

Zingara

Jocelyn Swanson

13:50:43

1:50:43

150

0:1:7

1:49:36

11543

A

Y

Vanishing Animal

Rick Van Mell

13:52:35

1:52:35

153

0:1:41

1:50:54

283

A

Y

Morrning Star

Michael Infusino

14:38:0

2:38:0

159

0:2:48

2:35:12

4469

A

Y

Bella Luna

Bob DaPrato

DNF

153

0:1:41

533

A

N

Jonesque Jones

Peter Kacandes

DNF

165

0:3:55

57449

B

Y

Island Girl

Frank Burkhart

DNF

144

0:0:0

82659

B

Y

Serenity

Eric Mueller

DNC

144

0:0:0

Corrected Score Results

Scratch Rating:

144

Course A =

11.2

Course B =

11.5

Start:

12:0:0

Decimal Second =

=1/86400

Course

Score

Finish

Elapsed

Raw

Raw

Raw

Correct.

Correct.

Correct.

Fun

Fun

Fun

Sail #

A/B

Y/N

Boat Name

Skipper

Time

Time

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

6763

A

Y

Cassiopeia

Kit Wiegman

13:45:43

1:45:43

150

0:1:7

1:44:36

165

0:3:55

1:41:48

A

Y

Green Flash

Liz Munnelly & Mike Patterson

13:49:54

1:49:54

165

0:3:55

1:45:59

170

0:4:51

1:45:3

438

A

Y

Kapai

Rick Egan

13:48:0

1:48:0

144

0:0:0

1:48:0

155

0:2:3

1:45:57

420

B

Y

Luna Sea

Dan Knox

13:46:14

1:46:14

144

0:0:0

1:46:14

144

0:0:0

1:46:14

484

A

Y

Zingara

Jocelyn Swanson

13:50:43

1:50:43

150

0:1:7

1:49:36

151

0:1:18

1:49:25

11543

A

Y

Vanishing Animal

Rick Van Mell

13:52:35

1:52:35

153

0:1:41

1:50:54

158

0:2:59

1:49:36

283

A

Y

Morrning Star

Michael Infusino

14:38:0

2:38:0

159

0:2:48

2:35:12

160

0:2:59

2:35:1

4469

A

Y

Bella Luna

Bob DaPrato

DNF

153

0:1:41

154

0:1:52

533

A

N

Jonesque Jones

Peter Kacandes

DNF

165

0:3:55

165

0:3:55

57449

B

Y

Island Girl

Frank Burkhart

DNF

144

0:0:0

155

0:2:6

82659

B

Y

Serenity

Eric Mueller

DNC

144

0:0:0

155

0:2:6

Fun Score Results

Scratch Rating:

144

Course A =

11.2

Course B =

11.5

Start:

12:0:0

Decimal Second =

=1/86400

Course

Score

Finish

Elapsed

Raw

Raw

Raw

Correct.

Correct.

Correct.

Fun

Fun

Fun

Sail #

A/B

Y/N

Boat Name

Skipper

Time

Time

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

6763

A

Y

Cassiopeia

Kit Wiegman

13:45:43

1:45:43

150

0:1:7

1:44:36

165

0:3:55

1:41:48

175

0:5:47

1:39:56

A

Y

Green Flash

Liz Munnelly & Mike Patterson

13:49:54

1:49:54

165

0:3:55

1:45:59

170

0:4:51

1:45:3

180

0:6:43

1:43:11

438

A

Y

Kapai

Rick Egan

13:48:0

1:48:0

144

0:0:0

1:48:0

155

0:2:3

1:45:57

163

0:3:33

1:44:27

420

B

Y

Luna Sea

Dan Knox

13:46:14

1:46:14

144

0:0:0

1:46:14

144

0:0:0

1:46:14

144

0:0:0

1:46:14

484

A

Y

Zingara

Jocelyn Swanson

13:50:43

1:50:43

150

0:1:7

1:49:36

151

0:1:18

1:49:25

161

0:3:10

1:47:33

11543

A

Y

Vanishing Animal

Rick Van Mell

13:52:35

1:52:35

153

0:1:41

1:50:54

158

0:2:59

1:49:36

170

0:4:51

1:47:44

283

A

Y

Morrning Star

Michael Infusino

14:38:0

2:38:0

159

0:2:48

2:35:12

160

0:2:59

2:35:1

165

0:3:55

2:34:5

4469

A

Y

Bella Luna

Bob DaPrato

DNF

153

0:1:41

154

0:1:52

158

0:2:37

533

A

N

Jonesque Jones

Peter Kacandes

DNF

165

0:3:55

165

0:3:55

169

0:4:40

57449

B

Y

Island Girl

Frank Burkhart

DNF

144

0:0:0

155

0:2:6

155

0:2:6

82659

B

Y

Serenity

Eric Mueller

DNC

144

0:0:0

155

0:2:6

155

0:2:6

Pictures by all the boats with numbers in the Pics columns! Boats are listed in the order of their Fun Score. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

If you'd like an original of one of the pictures (these are 800 x 600, while originals are more like 1.5 MB), email Rick Van Mell with the caption and picture number.

Pictures and Stories

Luna Sea

Before we get on with our rally details a special thanks to you Rick for putting everything together. Well done Rick!

It stated on Friday when I went over and rigged the boat. I wanted everything to be ready as I was really looking forward to the event. I took down the Rui sail, which is on its last legs, and put up the Joycelyn Nash sail, which has a few more regattas left. And of course, added a lot more lines and sheets. Even setup Luna Sea for a kite because that makes her happy and well you just never know.

My plan was to get to the boat by 9 the next morning put some ice onboard go over a few things and then meet Cindy at 10 and push away from the dock. Well driving over on Saturday morning I remember I didn't have the right kind of Cindy beer on board, so I stopped and picked some up. I also got some lunch, including some bananas. I knew Cindy would give me the devil because bananas are bad luck, but that is what the beer was for!!

With a little toot after fixing our horn with a wrapper from an empty bag of Fritos we pushed off. Put up the main and motored out the estuary. Once out of the estuary, we sailed with the main only over to the lee of Yerba Buena Island and had lunch. There Island Girl came over to say hi. She has a gray painted deck and cabin top and all I could think of was that Pilot was going to wipe us out again. Anyway, we finished our sandwiches and followed Island Girl out to the course. After a quick radio check in with Rick, we went up to the start line which you could actually see and did a few practice starts. Our plan was to start on starboard and head over to the City Front to get out of the flood, but it became obvious that that was not going to work. First only the eastern one third of the start line was not blocked by the massive footing in the middle of the bridge and there was no way you could start on starboard and not have the current take you right into the footing. So we were going to have to start of port. Next we talked a little about the start line. Was it like baseball where touching the line is safe or is it like basketball where touching the line was out? And it was a big fat line! Cindy finally said in is a Rally and who cares just don't run into the damn bridge! Good call Cindy!!!! So we looked at a GPS clock and at five minutes until noon we turned off the engine and sailed back across the line and pretty much did a Vanderbilt start. We hit some part of the line right at noon and off were went.

The new plan was to sail just a few minutes and then tack into shore to get some relief from the flood, however given that both Cindy and I are getting closed to 70 we really wanted to limit the amount of tacks and had agreed that there was going to be no short tracking anywhere on the course. The 10-minute rule was in effect. Every tack would be slow, and we would go at least 10 minutes between tacks to give us time to recover. Anyway, after just a few minutes it because clear we had a good shot of clearing Blossom Rock on at port tack. The wind had a lot of south in it and with each gust if we could head up a bit and we could make the first mark without tacking. The puffs kept coming with each one we got a bit more westward and then it become clear we might have a chance to clear Alcatraz on this same tack as well. So I concentrated on putting distance in the bank and Cindy called out the puffs so I could be ready for each one. We cleared the Alcatraz buoy by about five boat lengths. Yahoo! We stayed on a close haul course until we were sure we had made enough westward that the flood would not be any problem and then reached off, switched to a second set of sheets and were zooming along on almost a beam reach to Angel Island in 20 knots of wind. Doesn't get much better than that.

When we got to Angel Island, we had some options on to what to do. But we were zooming so we decided to just continue on a deep reach over to an area where we could gybe once and then start a reach back to the finish. That seems to be the easiest so that is what we did. The only thing we needed to worry about is the shallow water as I have run aground way too many times in Racoon Straight not to know this could be a problem. The gybe was a bit stressful as the wind was close to 20 but we pulled it off and at that point we were headed to the finish line with only reaches in front of us. From there we only wanted to make sure we sailed far enough away from Angel Island not to have our wind blocked. Then we saw a large ship headed north in the shipping channel and although we were going to clear it we decided to be safe and sail a deeper reach to cross the shipping channel at a right angle. This would require us to sail a longer distance at a slower speed, but it would get us across the path of the ship faster and well, safety first. Next there was a large barge and a pusher tug coming south and we were not going to able to safely cross, so we headed up to sail a parallel course until she passed us. Now we were going fast in the wrong direction . . . and as Cindy says that is never a good thing. However, the tug gave us a break and changed course to go above us. Thank you. We then eased the sheets and headed straight at the finish.

About this time, we saw Kit for the first time and had no idea where he came from. He was to windward of us. So we waved and just enjoyed a wonderful reach all the way across the slot and down past Treasure Island to the finish at the Bay Bridge with Cassiopeia. For the most part the two boats were over lapped and maybe three boat lengths apart the entire time. Kit would move a bit ahead and then we would catch him and then he would move a bit ahead again. And it was all like that all the way to the finish. Just great. We crossed the finish line together. It was impossible to tell who was first. Probably for the best. Thanks to all that came out. And special thanks again to Rick. One of our best days sailing ever.

--Dan

PS: In the words of my friend Tom Newton remember "Reefing is for wimps!".

Cassiopeia

We got to the start area on time and where ready to hit the start line at the exact time when we found the only wind hole on the whole course. It was amazing to see boats sail past us on both sides and our main just flapping around from side to side. So we started at 12:03:07 and had a goal set, catch as many boats as we could. Naomi was driving, for her first I-36 race, and took on the challenge, Yvonne was on jib and I was on the main.

Kapai started and was behind but then reefed and started to gain on us so more main trim became a requirement, we were running a 110% jib and they had a 135%. We had a stale mate until entering Racoon Strait where a poled out 110% worked very well, we also caught Green Flash here ( they didn't have a pole on their jib).

As we exited Racoon Strait Luna Sea had jibed early we thought and would get caught in the Angel Island shadow but no they kept right on going. So we jibed and because we had a smaller jib where able to go higher which was really good when that Blue tanker came through. We kept to windward and Dan was to leeward, good for us.

From here on it was a horse race with the two of us very close all the way to the finish line, our advantage was being to windward of Dan and heading for the highest part of the bay bridge (longer shadow). Yvonne took over the helm once we where in the lee of Treasure Island and did a great job of keeping our speed and point up.

It was a great day sailing and thank you all for a great race, oops rally.

Kit
S/V Cassiopeia

Morning Star	Green Flash	Barge & tug	Luna Sea ...
smile!	Naomi drives ...	Kit trims ...	Yvonne finishes.
Luna Sea at finish line.

Green Flash

Mike and I got an early start Saturday morning to prep the boat for a day of sailing. Many of our day to day items needed to be stowed as well as setting up a safe space for our two cats, Luke and Leia to hide out. They have sailed with us before, but that was over a year ago...

Our daughter Sam, and her boyfriend Grayson arrived at Southbeach Harbor at 10:30am. We got their cooler items stashed, set them up with PFD's and proceeded to give Grayson a quick lesson on sailing, as this was his very first time going out on a sailboat!

Rick and Kathy Egan are our dock neighbors at Southbeach, so before we cast off, we took pictures of them aboard Kapai and they obliged us by getting a couple pictures of the Green Flash crew.

We were out of the Harbor by 11:30 and travelled the short distance to the Bay Bridge, getting our sails up along the way with a couple quick tacks to show Gray what would be expected of him as a grinder.

As we approached the bridge, we attempted to keep our distance from the shadow, prior to the 12pm start. We thought we could hold back, but had to make a very awkard tack to avoid crossing early and/or hitting the tower of the bridge. As the seconds ticked toward noon, we tacked back to port and crossed over the shadow at 12:00:02, at which point, Liz set the stopwatch timer on her watch. The race was on!

Our crew was pretty excited that we pulled that off, without too much embarrassment, as this was the first time we had ever raced. We sailed close hauled out to Angel Island and rounded the R "4" bouy at 12:51:41.

At this point, we could see Luna Sea in front of us, and Cassiopeia catching up. We don't have a whisker pole on Green Flash, but the wind cooperated and we were able to sail wing-to-wing through Raccoon Strait. Cassiopeia passed us about halfway through. Grayson was our hero cranking the main back to center so we could gybe as we headed east of Angel Island. At this point Kapai has caught up and is to our starboard, and Vanishing Animal is just behind us.

The huge tanker and tug was the next obstacle to overcome. We passed so close behind the pushing tug that the propellor wash is probably what pushed us back from first place to second.

The rest of the sail, went smoothly, Kapai passed us just in front of TI. And our main goal was to not let anymore I36's get in front of us.

We crossed the shadow at 1:49:54. We congratulated Gray for having done so well as a crewmember and then got out the celebratory beers!

It was a great event - Rick, thank you so much for setting this up!

Cheers,
Liz & Mike
S/V Green Flash

1st time sailing for Grayson	Zingara ...	again ...	with Vanishing Animal ...
Rally Coordinator	Heading for the line.	Pre start 1156	Start 1202
City spectacular 1232	Mike, Sam, Grayson	Dodging ship 1235	Raccoon Strait 1251
Wing on Wing ...	Gray helping	Luna Sea & Cassiopeia	Vanishing Animal 1309
Kapai 1310	Gaining on us 1335	Luna Sea - Casiopia Kapai 136pm	Green Flash Finish 13:49:54

Kapai

Kapai and Mike and Liz's Green Flash have adjacent slips on C Dock at South Beach Harbor. My wife Kathy Egan and I helped them cast off and then set off for the start line at the Bay Bridge noon shadow. Kathy has not raced in years and with forecasts of gusts to 25 knots I put a reef in the main and promised her a relaxing day.

Kathy was on the helm and despite a late start her competitive juices kicked in and she was all about catching the boat in front of us. Our strategy was to stay on the left side of the course to Angel favoring Alcatraz for stronger pressure. This seemed to work pretty well as we closed the distance to Cassiopeia.

We jibed downwind through Raccoon Strait which proved to be quite a bit slower than boats hoisting a whisker pole and heading dead downwind to the corner. Plenty of breeze on the backside of Angel and a sporty sail to the finish behind TI.

We finished just ahead of our friends on Green Flash, rolled up the jib and popped a nice dry Italian Rose to sail slowly back to South Beach. It was, as we say ,"BIG FUN". Kathy remarked today that this rally was actually more fun and relaxing than a traditional race but you still got to have some kicks trying to catch the other one designs.

Let's do it again. Rick & Kathy Egan I 36 Kapai

Green Flash - Mike, Liz Liz' daughter & Bf	Vanishing Animal	Island Girl	Cassiopeia
Starting line	Zingara	Chasing Cassiopeia	Green Flash ...
waves.	Angel Island astern	Green Flash after finish

Zingara

I woke up to the news indicating there was a wind advisory for the Golden Gate Bridge. Not something I wanted to hear as it has been quite windy for the last week or so. Steve knows I don't like sailing in 25+ knots of wind and we all know that the city front and slot can have heavy winds during the summer months thanks to Karl the Fog. I persuaded Steve to put up the smaller jib (he still thinks he is a small dinghy sailor-the more sail the better). By the time we got to Coyote Point Marina the sun was shining through with anticipation it would be a good day for sailing. We got up to the Bay Bridge with time to spare and took some photos. The sail around Angel Island was so typical of summer sailing here-wind and white caps. There was even wind in Raccoon Straits which isn't always the case. We passed infamous Elephant Rock (we used to race in the Leukemia Cup and Mid-Winter Corinthians so know the mark well). Wind followed us on the eastern side of Angel Island (unlike the Three Bridge Fiasco earlier this year) and down to the eastern side of the Bay Bridge. Steve took the boat from the start to mid Raccoon Straits and I took the boat the rest of the way back under the bridge down to windy Coyote Point Marina. It was so much fun sailing with the other Islanders-we sailed with Kapai, Vanishing Animal, and Green Flash. The day was perfect for sailing even if some of the fleet would have rather had more mild winds-thinking of you Maria DeParto.

Jocelyn Swanson, Commodore
Zingara

Attaching boom vang	All smiles	Burgee flies	Green Flash
Vanishing animal	Island Girl	Cassiopeia	Kapai
Off and running	chase into Raccoon Strait	Heading for the finish	with beagle Izzy
Vanishing Animal in The Slot

Vanishing Animal

Like others, I'd gone to the boat on Friday to do last minute scrubbing, set up the navigation computer, stock the fridge with beverages and clean down below to Sandy's specifications. Sandy is a super sport, and certainly capable, but heavy going is not her cup of tea. As I am one mark rounding from the 80 finish line, I agreed that if it was blowing over 20, we would sail under jib alone. After all, we are a tall rig with 2 more feet of mast than the standard rig, and we're flying a 135% jib.

About 0820 Jocelyn Swanson called the house to say that she had heard that there were high wind warnings on the Golden Gate Bridge and what did I think? I said it was sunny and calm in Mountain View, but she had grey in Redwood city. We agreed that we'd just go take a look and if it looked ugly, well it was a Rally and we could turn back.

Sandy & I left home at 0900 and we departed Brisbane for hour and a half motor from Brisbane to the Bay Bridge against the flood current. (Zingara and Serenity hail from Coyote Point and are another hour from the bridge.) We cast off at 1000 under delightful sunny skies and light southeast winds. Another good omen was that we could see sun on the Bay Bridge - though the tops of the tallest San Francisco building were lost in the fog which was clearly streaming inland at a good clip.

By Hunters Point it had turned northwest and picked up with some gusts in the 15-20 range. North oh the Point, we hugged the shore to minimize current, and gusts started approaching 20. Arriving in the starting area around 11:30 there was alternating wind and no wind. One by one the fleet checked in on Channel 72. Looking at the Main Bay, boats were mostly upright so I finally took off the sail cover. What's the best way to get wind? Yep, take off the sail cover and sure enough some 10-15 puffs came through, but most importantly that 15 minutes had whitecaps building across The Slot.

Between trying to take check-ins and deal with the main, time was quickly running down to the 12300 start. I put one sail stop back on the main and rolled out the jib. We crossed the starting line about a minute late, but the breeze was building and we were pretty much holding our own for a while.

One a boat reaches hull speed, extra sail can actually slow you down. Close reaching we were hitting 7 - 7.6 knots and were staying steady with boats with full mains who were heeled more than we were. But, as the wind would fluctuate lighter we quickly lost ground.

By the time we reached Angel Island the wind was abeam and boats with mains up powered on past us, and were last into Raccoon Strait. We held pretty much down the center of Raccoon Strait, as did Cassiopeia in front of us. Luna Sea, Zingara, Kapai and Green Flash reached off to the north side of the Strait, and when they gybed back we had actually passed Zingara and were close to even with Kapai and Green Flash.

First a big blue tanker streamed north, then a barge and pusher came southbound. Both caused 4 Islanders and 2 other cruising boats to get pushed toward the Angel Island shore and into the accelerated blasts coming around Pt. Blunt. Several blasts shook the boat and caused wipe-ups. Sandy fought the helm while eased the jib sheet. Even with the sail mostly luffing we were doing 5- 6 knots.

Once we had stalled long enough for the barge and pusher to clear we bore away and romped toward Treasure Island and the finish line in 20 knots of wind. We went over 8 knots several times, peaking at 8.3. Still not enough to catch those with mains up, but we finally let our stomach muscles relax when we entered the lee of Treasure Island, and give a big sigh when we crossed the finish line.

Once across the finish line it was the usual light going behind Yerba Buena Island and fluky just south of the Bay Bridge. A few minute of engine time got us into the breeze coming off the shore south of the city. Again it started to build and I promised Sandy we would furl the jib at Hunters Point and avoid the expected blasts across "Hurricane Gulch" as we refer to the waters between Hunters Pont and our Brisbane Marina.

As we approached Hunters Point, we again got wipe-out puffs in the 25+ knot range. WE rolled the jib in behind the Point and powered for Brisbane. While Sandy steered, I went below and (actually for the first time all day) put on full foul weather gear. While Hurricane Gulch wasn't too bad, it was 25 knots and soaking spray all the way up our channel.

We cleaned up the boat and declared we'd earned a cocktail and relaxed before heading for home. A long but enjoyable 6 hour day sailing with beautiful Islander 36s.

Ready to cast off	Rick is ready	Sandy at the helm	Kapai
Starting block	Zingara & Green Flash	Zingara	Green Flash
Island Girl	Cassiopeia	Luna Sea	Checking the line ...
what looks good?	Kapai in the Slot	Cassiopeia gets a puff	Kapai, Cassiopeia, Green Flash
Zingara	Look Ma, no main.	Luna Sea	Zingara in Raccoon Strait
Kapai leads Green Flash	Distant finish line ...	closing in.

Morning Star

Morning Star left the dock about 45 minutes later than I had planned on, then getting stuck behind a few tugs pulling out a container ship requiring us to duck down and take it to the ships starboard side caused us to be about 45 minutes late to the start line. After fighting our way across the lull of the start line, we quickly caught the wind north of the bay bridge and were off! We had chosen Course A hoping for some wind behind Alcatraz and were not disappointed. If it weren't for a large barge crossing our bow we wouldn't have had to touch the sails all the way up to Angel Island, what a run! As we came into Raccoon Strait we went wing on wing and were making a nice 6 knots until we were thrown out the other side and back into the slot, we adjusted the sails and were off again.

I had brought some sandwiches but with just two of us there really wasn't any time to eat until after crossing the finish line and getting into the estuary traffic. Beautiful day for Morning Star's shakedown and such a fun event in these crazy times, we are looking forward to the next one!

Morning Star ...	ready to go ...	looking great ...	making tracks ...
her track around Angel I.

Jonesque Jones

We were 40 minutes late to the start, but we did see the fleet already on its way up the city front. We did actually cross the start line. I called on the VHF but maybe I forgot the correct channel (72?). We did go around Angel Island to starboard and we crossed paths with sail number 430 on the back side (my friend got a photo), but then we just decided to sail straight back to Berkeley since my friend didn't know anything about sailing and I was essentially single handing, I decided not to try to go to the finish first before heading home.

Thanks for organizing. It was great motivation for me to get out. My apologies for not having my act together to get to the start in time.

Enjoying the ride

Our Course

Bella Luna

Maria will give an unbiased account for Bella Luna misadventures for the rally around the Island, but here's my story.

What island was it again? In my haste with all the activities in my life, zoom, work, retired, and busy with 50 emails a day, Captain Bob hastily did not look at the map that was included with one of the emails. I was convinced and had to convince my first mate, Maria, that it was just a short rally around Treasure Island and Yerba Buena then to Alameda for the party.

In all honesty, we left with plenty of time to get to the starting point without the motor and full sails. Underestimated the distance at 7 knots hull speed but arrived at starting point ONLY 15 minutes after the gun! No problem, we could at least finish the "rally" and get points toward a trophy!

Then I noticed the fleet heading towards THAT OTHER island where no woman of mine likes to get beat up by the blender (AKA: the slot).

As it was we had too much sail ....Genoa 130%....and main in 15-22 knots at the north point of T.I.

With a steady wheel and weather helm, toe rail in the water, we made it "all the way around to the start of our course 360 degrees". Management (Maria) made the decision that WE were NOT going to party anyplace ....not even homeport. After a smooth surf ride to Emery Cove Marina, Maria went to nap and took an Aleve. Later, I found a SOT Kayak for fun and games to end the day!

That is my story, Captains log star date 6/21/2020.

The morning after ...

Maria forgives Bob.

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