East Bay Estuary Race

[Alchera]

Thanks to all of the membership that came to the trophy meeting and helped contribute to the lively and constructive discussion regarding the problems encountered during the race between the fleet and the shipping traffic. As a result of that discussion, the SSS board is considering altering the race to avoid the estuary in the future. We would like to hear your opinions and suggestions for alternatives. Some possibilities are finishing at South Beach or Oyster Point, for example. Give us your thoughts.

- Mark

 

[voyager]

Apology

To whom it may concern;

I am apologizing to all members of the Singlehanded Sailing Society, the Race Committee ,and especially Jeff and Mark for the blunder that I committed regarding the freighter in the East Bay Estuary race. My mistake was not taking evasive action earlier, before the horns blew.When the horns sounded confusion set in, "whom is he honking at? Which way to go; Who is going to turn first etc." All could have been avoided had I taken evasive action earlier.

I also would like to offer an apology to the pilot who had to deal with my misjudgment. It's a lesson learned .

Sincerly Steve Hocking,
Voyager.

 

[brianb]

Finishing the race elsewhere

The SSS once raced to Coyote point and once to San Leandro. I believe these were replacements for Vallejo ? I thought both of those were great destinations (well fun destinations). Adds distance, so maybe exclude the Brothers and hit a buoy in front of Red Rock instead ?

Oyster or S. Beach could work.

Brian

 

[peterlwj]

East Bay Estuary course change

How about changing the Little Harding mark to either Yellow Bluff or 16 and finishing at South Beach? Perhaps leave Blossom to starboard as well.

 

[Critter]

I've been thinking about possible new or modified race courses, as I suspect there may be another stint as race chair in my future. I haven't been to Oyster Point for several years, but on the chart it looks like a difficult race to finish from shore. And we want to avoid having to find a committee boat if at all possible.

South Beach sounds good. We could use the same finish line as the beer can races there, from the end of the south breakwater to the end of the pier south of McCovey Cove, so it's easy to finish from shore. Dan Alvarez is a member of South Beach YC, so he could set us up with a little barbecue at the club afterwards. Right Dan? We would just want to make sure the Giants are out of town, otherwise the guest docks and the anchorage are likely to be too crowded.

We could round mark SC before the finish, which makes the finish upwind. Or we could spinnaker reach down the outer breakwater and turn the corner to the finish while dousing. That might be interesting.

I also have a race course sketched out that stays entirely in the North Bay, starting and finishing at Richmond. I like racing in that area. Maybe it's because the geography is less familiar.

Max

 

[admin]

Alan H here...

Coyote Point marina has a lot of open slips right now, and the situation keeps getting "worse" from their point of view... This means that hosting a good-sized fleet overnight is a non-issue.

However, a finish line would most likely need a committee boat.

 

[Critter]

Hi Alan,

Yup, I thought about Coyote Pt too. The finish line could be a range defined by a point on the end of the breakwater and the outer red or green daymark ... and we'd ask boats to finish within ~50 yards of the daymark. But the fishermen on the breakwater probably wouldn't be too happy about sharing their space with a gun-toting RC.

Max

 

[riloa]

Eastbay Estuary Race Course Change

I think South Beach could be fun. Or perhaps up to Yellow bluff, set the chute and have a rippin' run to finish off the North end of Teasure Island. Could the RC set up there? Or Yellow Bluff, South Hampton to port, finish at RYC race deck. Coyote Pt. & San Leandro are too far to return from, don't want to overnight for this race. Would Like to hear Max's North Bay Course-Larry Riley

 

[Critter]

OK Larry, here goes:

start at Richmond
R"10" (1 nm NE of Paradise Cove) to starboard
RW"E" (2 nm W of Pt Pinole) to port (nice long spinnaker run)
R"14" (3/4 nm W of Red Rock) to starboard (just so that nobody is tempted to go under a low span of the bridge on the way to ...)
R"2" (dolphin at beginning of Larkspur channel) to port
finish at Richmond

I believe this adds up to about 19 miles. Of course, lots of tweaks to the basic idea are possible.

 

[Travieso]

I'm happy to engage with the South Beach YC if we choose that route. We have a nice club house and a large guest dock (well South Beach marina does). We can try to go from Yellow Bluff to 2NAS to the finish (SC should also work). This should keep us away from the city wind shadow near the bridge.

dan