Round the Rocks!

At the starting line

Did the SSS (singlehanded sailing society) Round the Rocks race! Was lots of fun, and we even managed to get a decent finish, 4th in our division and 17th out of 44 overall in the double handed class. Already at the start at the Berkeley Olympic circle the wind was blowing 15-20kn and it was forecasted to peak in the afternoon, so we tucked in a reef. Glad we did it, did pretty well on the first leg to Alcatraz where others were struggling. Going around Harding Rock in a breeze but then I was agonizing wether to put the spi up or not. When the wind calmed down in Raccoon St we quickly threw up the spi (aka The Beast) and gently moved past the non spi boats on the growing flood tide past Red Rock towards the Brothers. The Brothers are a couple of small islands in the San Pablo strait, this was also our northernmost turning mark. I took the conservative approach taking the spi down quite early, just to make sure no mess up would prevent us from going upwind after the mark. Man, it was churning in that narrow channel! Thankfully still enough wind to sail free, but once we approached the Richmond bridge it was dying down quickly. Just past the bridge there were a whole lot of boats parked in a wind hole. We tried to sail around, but no avail, the wind eventually died everywhere! So we were slowly swept back through the bridge on the flood tide. It took some agonizing 40 minutes for the wind to come back. From there an exhilarating reach to the finish line at Richmond YC! I love my new folding prop, it makes all the difference in light air!

Anchored at Clipper Cove the night before the race