April 30 - May 1, 2005 Season Opening Vallejo Race

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

The wily Tom Cat zigged and zagged and escaped the mighty red hare to win the 105th Vallejo Opener. Barry & Sylvia and their crew patiently clawed their way past boat after boat to overtake early leaders Midnight Sun and Pilot. But it wasn't easy. Nineteen Islanders stretched taut on the stating line - no early birds, no straglers and no pushing, shoving or shouting. Just a bunch of sailors getting better and better every race.

A steady eight to ten knot westerly blew in through the Golden Gate making for a perfect upwind beat to R4. Good wind, even increasing a little helped push the fleet north against the peak of the ebb tide, as most boats steered east and low of the rhumb line. For a while it looked like Tom Cat and Diana had gotten too far east as Pilot, Cassiopeia and Pacific High rode a back eddy and more wind ahead of them just north of Southampton Shoal. But as the wind went lighter, they gained the advantage with less current and a sharper angle to pull just ahead of them as we all hugged the Castro Rock buoy at the Richmond Bridge.

Poles flashed out to hold jibs wing-and-wing in the slow crawl against the ebb to pass Point San Pablo. Boats in other calsses flying spinnakers complicated the problem as they overtook the Islanders and wind shadows further weakened the fickle breeze. Rounding into San Pablo Bay didn't help much as the wind veered to stay dead astern. At least five Islanders rounded into the Bay as a pack. The trick was to try to keep clear air from astern while not going aground to stay out of the tide.

It was tedious sailing at times. Boat speed was 3-4 knots, but making only 2-3 over the bottom; the scenery moved by real slow! Everything happened in slow motion on the grind to Point Pinole. With puffs from astern, one boat would pass another, only to be retaken in a following puff or a wind line 25 yards abeam.

Thickening stratus developed into a black mantle stretching in from the southwest. A ragged line and fragments of mamatus clouds suggested more wind, and slowly, as the sun disappeared, between lulls and shifts between southwest and west, it filled in. Finally a firm, cool westerly built to about 12 knots that pushed the fleet into Mare Island Straits and the two mile beat to the finish line.

After more than four hours of very close sailing, Blue Streak, Pacific High, Absolute, Silver Cloud, Mustang, 36 Double Ds and Zenith rounded into the Straits in a pack behind the leaders. It was close to a dead beat up the channel with eight to ten tacks along the way. When the smoke cleared, the order was Tom Cat, Midnight Sun, Pilot, Windwalker and Diana, followed in a 46 second period by Nantucket, Absolute, Blue Streak, and Pacific High. Close behind were Mustang, Razor, Cassiopeia, Silver Cloud, Zenith, Freedom Won, Mai Pen Rai, Nimbus and Wind Lock. 36 Double Ds would have been in that pack too, but she got a touch too far east and ran into the mud 50 yards short of the finish line. Amante chose to sail in a PHRF section and fly a spinnaker, so was not scored with the fleet. In total there were again 20 Islanders in the the Vallejo race!

The Vallejo Yacht Club Harbor was stuffed tighter than usual when the Islanders arrived because the J 105 fleet had pulled in rather than going on to the municipal harbor as they had done in the past. Only about seven Islanders squeezed in before the ever-present colorful barker from Vallejo's upper deck declared, "The Harbor is CLOSED."

But that was just the start of the fun. The J 105s held their traditional big bash toast. The docks were packed with crews, family, friends and spectators swapping stories and drinks. Even a few drops of rain couldn't dampen the spirit. Up in the clubhouse, a video of the race was replayed over and over on a big plasma screen well into the evening. Though the fleet was split between the two basins, skippers and crews visited from boat to boat to congratulate the winners and share stories with their friends. Harry Farrell remarked, after many such visits, that he was struck by what good friends and good sports the Islander fleet had become. What can be better than good racing, on good boats, with great people!

The hardy were still going strong when the band cranked up just before nine, and some still on their feet when it wrapped at midnight. But most had enjoyed dinner at the club, aboard their boats, or gone home before the night was too old.

Sunday morning dawned clear, quiet and mild. But luck was with us and that 8-10 knots came back just in time to get the starting sequences going at 1000. In the very fluky, crowded conditions in the narrow starting area, the Islander start was more ragged with Midnight Sun having the best boat speed and leading a tight pack including 36 Double Ds, Pacific High, Mustang, Freedom Won, Absolute and Windwalker down the channel.

Rippling water marked the junction of the building ebb from Mare Island Straits with the Carquinez ebb and away we were all swept in the bright sunshine out onto San Pablo Bay. Your grandmother would have enjoyed this sail! Keeping out toward the shipping channel was the strategy to stay in the building current while beating upwind. Slowly the wind increased to around 12 knots by the finish and shifted a little south lifting the fleet almost to the finish line.

The Red Hare (Midnight Sun) returned to her winning ways, followed by Absolute, Pilot, Windwalker, Cassiopeia, Diana, Tom Cat, Blue Streak, Pacific High, Mustang, Freedom Won, Nimbus, Zenith, Silver Cloud, amante, 36 Double Ds, Nantucket and Wind Lock with Mai Pen Rai, Razor, Tenacious and Pulau scored as DNC. Cassiopeia is not (yet!) a member of the I-36 association, so her results are not included in the Season Scoring.

Everyone was swept home to their harbors on the ebb and the fresh, but not blustery afternoon sea breeze. It was a weekend to be savored!

Pictures so far are compliments of Lou Zevanov, Chris O'Brien aboard Tom Cat and Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Pre-race prep	Barry Stompe heads for Tom Cat	Michael Jeffries gets organized	OK, Nantucket is ready to go
Barry & Sylvia - eventual winners!	Michele Williams ready on Pacific High	Just about ready...	for a great ride.
Famous landmark ...	Taj Mahal	Race Instructions...	Starting sequence...
and code flags.	Nimbus	Blue Streak	Wind Lock
Freedom Won	Pilot headed upwind	Midnight Sun & Tom Cat to windward	Fleet to leeward
Freedom Won & Silver Cloud	The Photo & Video Boat!	The sleighride begins	Chasing Pilot
Pilot	Tom Cat	Midnight Sun	Steve Zevanov
Breeze for Casseopeia	Good kite flying weather	Approaching Red Rock	Amante raced spinnaker section
Pilot chases ...	... Midnight Sun	Getting close	But pictures taken from Tom Cat!
Silver Cloud	Absolute	Windwalker	Light air
Jibs & chutes	Pilot & Midnight Sun	Approaching Mare Island Strait	Blue Streak
Windwalker	Crossing the current	Blue Streak	Cozy corner!
VERY cozy	Beating to the finish	Time to stow	Harbor traffic
Windwalker squeezed in.	Martha Robinson and...	Michele Williams & Molly Robinson fold...	while Jim supervises!!!
Flags fly.	Race Central	The Race Master!!!	J Fleet bar!
J Fleet toast.	Pacific High bar!	Proud burgees	Video replay was lots of fun
Pacific High's motly crew.	Commodore Dickson	Jam packed.	Sunday morning sunshine.
Fleet...	panorama...	to Trans Pac 52s.	Entrance plug.
Nantucket	Beautiful sunrise	Good morning	Results are up
Harry relaxes after breakfast.	Can we get them untangled?	John Melton picks up a T-Shirt	Pilot crew ready to go.
Winner Barry Stompe	Windwalker	Sunday starting area	Diana crew

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