September 8 Race Concerns

[Philpott]

There have been some questions about the alternative planned for the Richmond South Beach race on September 8. At this time we plan to start and end the race approximately 1/2 mile outside the breakwater of the Berkeley Marina.

The course will be our Commodore's choice - and he has a soft spot for the Brothers. Berkeley Yacht Club will feed us afterwards, and we can all raft up at the Club dock and around the marina. Below find an email from Paul Kamen, who participated in the SSS Transpac in 1986 in his Merit 25 Twilight Zone. Here is his opinion of the entrance to Berkeley Marina on the date of our September 8 race:

I don't know where Ann [Berkeley harbormaster] got 16 ft channel depth - maybe inside the marina, but not any of the approaches. The marina has contracted for various surveys over the years, and they confirm what most of us already know: The actual controlling draft of the south entrance is about 7 ft at MLLW, and that's only if you're careful to stay lined up with the north edge of Skate's.

However, on Sept. 8 2012 the tide will never be less than about +3 during daylight and there's a +5 in the evening, so boats drawing up to 10 ft should be fine. There's a low of +1 at around 1:30 in the morning, but not a problem except for boats on the inner raft at the guest dock. Most of the end ties that would be used for rafting up visiting boats have much deeper water than the BYC guest dock.

If Ann can handle 80 visiting boats, then I say go for it.

Paul Kamen, Naval Architect, P.E.
Surface Propulsion Analysis
1224 Campus Drive, Berkeley, California 94708

 

[BobJ]

Berkeley is a kick!

Great memories of the "Metros," the Berkeley Mid's together with Oakland's Metropolitan Yacht Club. The Trib's Bill Fiset was a member at Metropolitan, remember him?

The Friday nights with barbeque on Berkeley's deck were good fun with our J/33 "Troubadour" crew. BYC recycled the "trophies" every week and I'll bet they still do.

Quick story: One night after the BBQ we headed back for Richmond kinda late. It was one of those warm Summer nights with no breeze so we were motoring. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the Volvo to push us faster than 2-3 knots. Bad fuel? Air in the system? I finally figured it out - it was a minus tide and we were dragging the keel all the way across the "billiard table" bottom under the Olympic Circle. We headed back down towards the pier and had deep enough water, until we got around to the entrance to Marina Bay. We had the whole crew out on the boom to heel the boat and the engine at full blast, and finally got over the hump and into the basin. It became a very late night!

It sounds like plenty of water for the SSS race so don't miss it, or the dinner. BYC is a great club and this will be a nice "add" to the SSS season.

 

[Matt]

Berkeley Yacht Club

Anyone hear from Serge Testa, circumnavigator in the smallest boat ever and former BYC commodore? I think he still holds the record for smallest boat to circumnavigate unless one of those 10' boats made it. I used to work with his wife Robin and have wondered if they are still around the Bay Area.

I have his old solar panel and would love a chance to talk to him about his 500 days at sea.

It would be good to visit the Berkeley Yacht Club after a race for a change of pace with the SSS. I'll drag my keel through the mud to get there but it sounds like high tide will help.

Matt Beall