Vallejo Race 5/4/24

Home	Vallejo Race 5/4/24

Six intrepid Islanders survived the worst Vallejo Race weather in many years! A strong cold front blew through the starting area just as racing was getting under way, and then winds increased after the front as boats made their way up San Pablo Bay to the Napa River and the finish line off the Vallejo Yacht Club. It was cold too, just above 50 degrees. Fortunately the worst of the front appeared to spare the North Bay, but blasted Oakland and San Francisco airports. Here are images of the wind fields Saturday, and you can see the sudden and sharp shift from southerly to westerly in the 0900 to 1100 time frame. Click to enlarge.

Wind - Crissy Field

Wind - USS Hornet

Wind - Oakland Airport

Wind - SFO

Wind - Table

So in total we had, by best count, 29 people representing 10 Islander 36s. That's 6 boats that raced, plus Jonesque Jones (Peter Kacandes) and Vanishing Animal (Rick & Sandy Van Mell) who drove up, and White Horses, with Rob Blenderman crewing aboard Bella Luna and Ruby Wallis and Maria Santiago driving in to support Bella Luna, and David Book - Hangover - crewing on Cali.

Below we will divide the page into sections for each boat to report their own experience, and add additional pictures. Many thanks for text and pics from Rich Shoenhair & crew Austin, Dan Knox, Bob DaPrato, Rick Egan, Reanne Egan, Dan Throop and Rick Van Mell. Pics are reduced to 800 x 600 pixels for the web page, but if you would like original, full size, images, just send an email to Rick Van Mell with the caption and number.

Vallejo Yacht Club and Finish Line

Rick & Sandy Van Mell (Vanishing Animal) drove up through the rainstorm to get pictures of the Vallejo YC, and pictures of our Islanders finishing. It was raw and cold when we arrived at 1400. The clubhouse and grounds were set up to handle hundreds of people with food and entertainment. A few of the bigger boats had already finished, and we moved from the clubhouse to the finish line, approximately 100 yards south, so we could get pics of other finishers, and hoped to get all of the Islanders. We asked the Race Committee and they said only about 75 of the registred 106 boats actuallly started. Laura Munoz, Exceutive Director of the Yacht Racing Association of SF Bay (who Dan Knox talks to all the time) was the recorder at the finish line. All bundled up againt 20 knot winds she managed to get it all down as others counted the time and the spotter blew the horn as each finisher crossed the line. Note that the orange finish line flag looks like it's startched, it's blowing so hard.

After the finishes, we heard tall tales of soaking wet, utterly cold, passing duels, and at least two blown out spinnakers. Dan Knox, as promised, delivered champagne bottles to each Islander. Very nice touch Dan.

We've reached out to each skipper for their crew list, a few choice words, and hopefully pics taken of and from their boat.

Vallejo YC 2:00 pm	Finish line ...	set up (Note starched flag)	the finish line.	Finishers arriving ...
with a blast!	Meanwhile, at VYC ...	Setting up for meals ...	Takeyour pick.	Band stand setup ...
goodies table ...	Hapy Hour ...	at the bar ...	watching from the warm ...	more entertainment ..
Firsh finishers rafted ...	making room ...	empty now ...	harbor is gray.

Windwalker Report

Tom and I had 7 crew on Saturday consisting of just two in our regular crew and two friends; one who flew out from Austin Texas for the race. On Sunday we had five. One regular, the friend from Texas and another friend of Tom's.

Saturday was wet and wild. I had to wear sunglasses to shield my eyes from the water coming off the mainsail straight into my face. ( I helm from the low side) ( I should have had safety glasses!) Strong winds in San Pablo bay had us going at hull speed the entire distance until the spinnaker blew out (three separate pieces) both luffs tore apart. We were fortunate that the umbilical cord was attached to the upper piece allowing us to get every piece down. Before the blow out, we had a couple of round ups and one legitimate broach.

After recovering, we were still going at hull speed wing on wing during a rain squall that had hit us. We had dried out before the squall hit! Then we were all wet again.

Sunday was completely different. I was surprised by the strength of the flood at the start. Fortunately we were able to tack up toward the north wall so that we were able to stay out of the flood with only one tack away from the wall. It was still flooding when we passed the shipping channel marker. A little late getting into the ebb at Point San Pablo.

We carried the number 2 both days. No reefs and full main.

Berkeley parking Sat. morning.	Passing Richmond Bridge.	Here comes ....	Windwalker ...	in passing gear ...
charging to ...	Finish 1st!	Nicely done.	Head to foot ...	Leech to leech!
More finishers ...	looking good ...	A Cal 36 ...	Beautiful classic.

Luna Sea Report

Luna Sea probably does 15-20 regattas a year and for as long as I can remember The Great Vallejo Race has also been our favorite. It has a lot going for. Usually there are a lot of boats, a great course and a big party. Noble and Barbara Brown are just the best hosts. Oh, and the flag officers have the best uniforms! We were especially excited this year as Commodore Rick Egan got 7 Islanders to sign up. Just an amazing job.

Saturday Crew:
1. Myphi
2. Jewel
3. Jeremie
4. David
5. Leland
6. Dan

The boat was mostly rigged and ready to go on Friday but our crew of six got there early and we loaded several hundred pounds of stuff onto Freedom Won to try to save some weight. Then we added two cases of champagne and two gallons of ingredients to make John Melton Margaritas. Enough food for snacks for a week and a dozen donuts. I think we added just about the same amount of weight as we took off!

When we left Marina Village the weather was just terrible, and it was likely not going to get better until the afternoon. And then it got worse. It was cold, it was wet and the wind was all over the place. Sometime 5-6 knots and some gusts to 20. The crew put on all the foul weather gear we had onboard. I could not remember how many layers of clothes I had on and Myphi looked like the Michelin Man. We raised the main and we motored to the start. Most of the crew went below.

The tide was against us and it was stronger than expected so instead of getting there 30 minutes prior to the start we got there about 10 minutes before out start. All in all, it was miserable. At the start we had enough wind to sail but the direction it was coming from was all over the place. If you started anywhere on the line you could make the mark without tacking. With about 8 minutes to our start we put up our headsail and started to plan our start. There were 6 Islanders which was great. We saw Windwalker and then we saw a grey boat. OMG I thought it was Pilot, for those of you that may not know Pilot is a boat that no one ever beat. They won the season championship more times than I can count. Thank goodness that Pilot turned out to be Cali.

Anyway, after the head sail was unfurled we did a tack and one of our crew wrapped the sheet the wrong way around the winch and of course could not get the sail in. When I fixed this I took my eye off from where we were going and almost t-boned Bella Luna! Only excellent helmsmanship from Robert DelPrado saved the day. Anyway, by the time we got out of that mess there was about three minutes before out start so we gybed the boat and started to head back to the line. Unfortunately, we were windward of Windwalker and a bit too close to the line. This was not going to work out well. Rich was all to happy to take us up to the moon. So, we went very close to head to wind to slow the boat down and was able to see Windwalker then zoom off with a pretty good start. Rich could have made it worse on us than he did and we were thankful for that. Windwalker sailed close hauled for most of the way and then finally reached off to the round the mark. We just followed him a bit more to windward until we fell in line behind him.

Cali started down the line closer to the mark and was first at the mark and probably was able to sail a close reach all the way. Excellent start. With that start I looked again and made sure it was Cali and not Pilot. It was certainly a Pilot like start. Windwalker was a very close second and we were same few boat lengths we had been behind Windwalker the entire way. I am sorry but I didn't really see how any of the other boats started but did find out later that Kapai was late to the start.

After rounding the mark everyone hardens up to close hauled and Windwalker got windward of Cali and we were third but also got up to windward of Cali. Windwalker then did their usual Windwalker stuff and took off and was soon in the lead. We stayed fairly close to them and we were going a similar speed but they were pointing higher. Did I mention is was freezing? Well, it was. I looked around and didn't see anyone ice fishing. Anyway, we decided we could make Red Rock by reaching off a bit and we did that. Windwalker stayed close hauled and just kept putting it in the bank. And lo and behold we passed Windwalker. This just never happens, and it didn't last long but hey it was a high point.

After passing Red Rock and going under Richmond Bridge the wind dropped to 5 knots! At least it moved to the beam. But it was 5 knots, and the current was getting worse. The forecast called for mostly 8-12 but gusts in the 30's. So, it was a brave move when we put up a half ounce kite! This worked well and kept us fairly close to Windwalker until we messed up a gibe big time and they once again zoomed away. By the time we got it sorted out they were just gone.

We have seen this movie before and there was no way were going to catch them. It was cold, it was raining, and the crew moral was not the highest. Then, we spotted a small hole so we took down the kite and instead of putting up another one, we just poled out the headsail and headed DDW. Although we didn't have a Nintendo on board, we did a Captain Hooke thing and sent some of the crew below to warm up. The wind picked up a bit and we had to do a few gybes before we got to the Napa River but that was it. The sail up the river was pretty uneventful and we didn't pass anyone, and no one passed us.

After finishing we took down the sails, put on some fenders and got ready to dock. Ouch, no water coming out the exhaust. So we zoomed into the Vallejo Yacht Club with a bit of stress and I fixed that as soon as we got rafted up. The weather then got a little better and the party started.

Well at the club there were sailors mentioning 30 and even 40 knots out there, we saw nothing like that. The highest wind we saw was 26 and the lowest was 4 or 5. The wind against tide made for some speedy sailing though the water as Luna Sea actually was able to surf, but slow speed over ground figures. That same current that made the waves that allowed us to surf, also just made our SOG slow.

OK our sail inventory: 135% headsail, main, a half ounce kite that was slightly damaged and a 1.5 ounce kite that we rigged but never put up. Myphi repaired the kite, and we had it for the next day.

Sunday Crew:
1. Myphi
2. Jewel
3. Jeremie
4. David
5. Leland
6. Ryan
7. Diego
8. Dan

It was a reach at the start, and we once again messed up the kite. The foreguy was fouled but the wind was light so we had someone just manually hold down the foreguy. We once again passed Windwalker (for a very short time). Still twice in one week in a first for us and very likely never to happen again.

The wind was light for most of the day and right on the nose. It was difficult to drive the boat in the light winds as it was very unstable. But the weather was nice, and it was sunny. We all cheered the first time was saw 10 knots of wind! Windwalker and Kapai both passed us early and after rounding Red Rock we tried and failed to deploy a kite. We did get something up, but it wasn't the right way up!!!! And well let's just say we were tired and just wanted to finish. But this year, unlike last year, we actually made it across the right finish line.

Special thanks to all the Islanders that signed up and braved the conditions. Congratulations to Windwalker for their two bullets and congratulations to Kapai for a nice second place finish. Hope to see everyone out there again soon.

--Dan
Luna Sea, #420

PS: I am sorry, but we have no videos of the race either day. Just some problems with the GoPro. Very likely operator error. We do have about 45 minutes of video before the start on Sunday. If you want to watch that just check Luna Sea Racing's channel on YouTube.

Here comes ...

Luna Sea ...

fast approach and ...

finishes 2nd.

Furling sail.

Kapai Report

Crew: Rick & Kathy Egan, Bryce & Reanne Egan

Kapai at the 2024 Great Vallejo Race

I am still reveling over that fact that we had 7 boats signed up for Vallejo and 6 actually showed up in the wet squally weather on Saturday. As Chief Dan George said to Dustin Hoffman, " my heart soared like a hawk". Here is Kapai's story. It was the worst of times it was the best of times. So went the Great Vallejo Race this last weekend. Saturdays race to Vallejo was dominated by a cold front that swept through the bay area starting at 6AM with rain and gusty winds out of the SW. Forecasts suggested that he worst of it would be done by noon. No such luck. The crew of Kapai including Kathy, the admiral and Bryce and Reanne our son and daughter in law arrived at South beach harbor a little late and sorted through the foul weather gear we had available. We soon discovered that the waterproof decals on various outfits were criminally aspirational. Motoring over to the start off Berkeley in a drenching rain I thought that this is going to be a long day.

Kapai arrived at the start 5 minutes late, made a quick jibe around the pin and pursued Windwalker, Luna Sea, Cali, Bella Luna and Windcatcher skippered and single handed by Dan Throop our newest racer. The leaders had already rounded the windward mark and were heading to for Red Rock with Windwalker and Luna Sea reaching that mark first. Cali favored the left side of the course while Kapai, Windcatcher and Bella Luna stuck close to the Rock which was left to starboard. Crossing under the Richmond Bridge we could see that Windwalker and Luna Sea were closing on the East Brother Lighthouse and were flying spinnakers. Kapai played cat and mouse with Cali for the next couple of hours and Kerry Scott had his kite up for a while as we rounded Point Potrero. We were sailing wing on wing with our pole and made steady progress toward Vallejo in an increasing ebb and with the wind increasing to around 20kts. Still raining !! As we approached the Napa River entrance we caught sight of Luna Sea sans spinnaker and were to find out later that both Luna Sea and Windwalker blew out their kites somewhere around Point Pinole. We followed Luna Sea to the finish in third place and proceed to the raft up near other Islanders. Still shivering a bit we dried out our shoes wrung out our socks and foulies and enjoyed a first adult beverage of the day. Windwalker was first into the raft up followed by Luna Sea, Kapai, Cali, Bella Luna and Windcatcher. Kudos to Single handed Dan Throop for a great job negotiating the raft up with nary a single call to his insurance company! Also a big shout out to Rick and Sandy Van Mell who drove up to Vallejo and braved the elements to take professional grade photos of all the Islanders as they crossed the finish line.

Dan Knox and Myphi Alloy always have the best party on Luna Sea so we joined his crew for a drink and the promised and delivered complimentary bottle of Champagne. Thanks Luna Sea!! The Commodore and the Admiral were in the V berth early.

We awoke Sunday to clear skies and warmer temps. Great hospitality from the VYC included a warm breakfast and the opportunity to visit fellow competitors.

Sunday's start was at 11:40 and Kapai, Windwalker and Luna Sea crossed the line pretty close to the gun with a bit of delay moving down river due to the flood. Bella Luna and Windcatcher were close behind. The winds were pretty gentle so we prioritized avoiding the flood in the morning and capturing the ebb late in the day. Windwalker led the way at the first mark and proceed to hug the north side of the coast along the breakwater. This was a close reach all the way to the entrance to the shipping channel where we tacked over to the south side of the course and proceeded to short tack all the way back to the Brothers light house where the ebb began to predominate. Somehow we stayed within sight of Windwalker, (a novel experience) and stayed ahead of Luna Sea (rarely happens) to the finish. Nicest day of sailing we have had since last Fall. Bad weather on Saturday all forgotten. Thanks again to all that made the effort to come out including Bad Bob and Kerry Scott who gets style points for his new LP job on Cali!

Commodore Egan

Image 1882 is a photo from Kapai heading to the windward mark after getting to the start 5 minutes late. To windward are Windwalker, Cali, Luna Sea ahead, followed by Bella Luna and Windcatcher with the reef in his main. They are all heading to Red Rock after rounding the wether mark and we are in serious catch up mode.

Image 1890 shows Windcatcher, Cali and Bella Luna closing on Red Rock. Kapai has caught up with this group by this time.

Image 1895 is after passing under the Richmond Bridge. You can see Windwalker and Luna Sea sporting spinnakers now, with Luna Sea in the red white and blue spinnaker chasing Windwalker to the Brothers Light house. After this they pulled a horizon job on the back of the fleet. We found out later that they both blew up their spinnakers off Point Pinole and we finally saw Luna Sea as she entered the Napa River.

Approaching start ...	Luna Sea & Windwalker	1882 - Windwalker, Cali & Luna Sea lead Bella Luna, and Windcatcher	1890 - Windcatcher, Cali, Bella Luna closing on Red Rock	1895 - Luna Sea chasing WW, both with chutes.	Here comes ...
Kapai ...	the crew is ...	focued on ...	finishing 3rd.	Happy crew.
Beautiful astern.	Kapai & Luna Sea

Bella Luna Report

Crew: Bop DaPrato, Rob Blenderman, Tim Sargent. Plus Maria Santiago and Ruby Wallis land yacht.

(Boat Report goes here)

Here comes ...	Bella Luna ...	ready to ...	Finish 4th.	It's COLD!
Tim & Rob (Bare feet!!!)	Happy to be ashore.

Cali Report

(Boat Report goes here)

Here comes ...

Cali ...

finishing 5th.

Happy to finish.

Windcatcher Report

Crew: Dan Throop (Single handed!)

I started with two reefs in the main on Saturday which was good for the start but by the time I reached Red Rock it was time to remove the reefs. Approaching the Napa River was bumpy and I was almost surfing. The weather was windy and wet on Saturday, although the wind died down for a little while near Red Rock.

The weather on Sunday was much nicer and now my face is sunburned. I started with one reef in the main on Sunday because I tend to be cautious while sailing singlehanded but it quickly became apparent I should have started with full sails.

Now that I did it once I'm ready to try it again to see if I can do better.

I included two pictures of Bella Luna for you. I don't have many pictures, I was busy sailing, unlike the person lying on the deck of Bella Luna.

Dan

Here comes ...	Windcatcher ...	finishing 6th ....	YIKES - single handed!	Viewed from Windcatcher ...
it's Bella Luna.

After Finish Report

(Boat Report goes here)

2 local I-36s ...	look nice.	Winner Windwalker.	Dan's the man.	Kapai crew ...	and Skipper
Sandy & Ruby ...	like Rob & Bob!	The I-36 raft	With Windcatcher.	And Dan has champagne ...
for Windwalker winners!

Sunday Pics

Sunday morning start ...	Windwalker leads ...	Luna Sea set chute ...	Windcatcher and Bella Luna	Luna Sea & Windwalker lead out the river
Chute down, ready to harden up	Kapai catching Luna Sea	Happy Kapai crew.	Tacking out river ...	Tacking past breakwater ...
comfortable ride ...	nice company ...	A beutiful day.	Luna Sea ... Spinnaker, or ... blooper?

Results

Here are the Jibeset corrected finish times for both races.

36 Vallejo - UP 5/4/24
Start: 05/04/24 at 11:05:00			Fleet:	��7
Course: 1��Distance:			Started:	��6
Sail #	Boat Name		Skipper		Points
57307	WINDWALKER	S	Richard Shoenhair	4:15:47	1
420	LUNA SEA	S	Dan Knox	4:29:58	2
438	KAPAI	N	Richard Egan	4:33:17	1
6697	BELLA LUNA	N	Robert Daprato / Rob Blenderman	4:42:2	2
38124	CALI	S	Kerry Scott	4:43:34	3
38015	WINDCATCHER	N	Daniel Throop	4:44:56	3
533	JONESQUE JONES	N	Peter Kacandes	DNC	5

Vallejo Return 5/5/24
Start: 05/05/24 at 11:40:00			Fleet:	��7
Course: 1��Distance:			Started:	��5
Sail #	Boat Name		Skipper		Points
57307	WINDWALKER	S	Richard Shoenhair	3:42:4	1
438	KAPAI	N	Richard Egan	3:48:18	1
420	LUNA SEA	S	Dan Knox	3:52:37	2
38015	WINDCATCHER	N	Daniel Throop	4:19:8	2
6697	BELLA LUNA	N	Robert Daprato / Rob Blenderman	4:22:36	3
533	JONESQUE JONES	N	Peter Kacandes	DNC	5
38124	CALI	S	Kerry Scott	DNC	5

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