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Shorthanded Midwinters 2014/2015

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BobJ

BobJ

Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Greetings!

I'm planning to enter the Berkeley Midwinters to race shorthanded in their Sunday series. BYC has offered a Sunday shorthanded division for at least a couple of years but there haven't been enough sign-ups. Let's fix that.

The dates are 11/9, 12/14, 1/11 and 2/15, with the Winners' Race on 3/01. Races are mostly W/L's on the Berkeley Circle; all other details are available on BYC's website under the "Racing" tab.

Please sign up by 11/03 so they'll know we're doing this, and indicate your interest here too. We need five boats - surely we can get that many together.

I'll race SH if necessary but I'll be looking for a second, if anyone is interested.
 
I'll do it if they have a singlehanded division. I did that years ago when I had my Cal 20 - lots of floating around the Circle, but why not?
 
Yes, you can race either single or double-handed. You might need that light air headsail you posted about, to minimize the drifting part.

So we're already 40% there - how about a few more shorthanders for the Berkeley Mids? I might be persuaded to race non-spinnaker, to keep this fair. :)
 
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Yes, Kynntana is in. I've been meaning to find a double-hand series for a friend and me to race in. This would be perfect. Might even try flying that spinnaker....

Carliane
 
I spoke with a few people today who might also be interested in this. The one thing they brought up is that BYC often finishes their races INSIDE the breakwater. I know Jackie is keen to fly in there under full sail, but me, not so much with 550 sq ft of the stuff...

The NOR says: "Courses will be on the Olympic circle, using both permanent and temporary buoys." Does this mean that start and finish will be on the circle?
 
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It's fun to sail into the marina with both sails up. Sometimes, when the wind is due west one gybes unexpectedly mere feet from the breakwater. That's especially exciting when you are practicing your port to port passing of a new sailing student from OCSC, learning how to tack back and forth on his/her way out of the marina. Sometimes small fishing boats are parked at one or more of the three entrances to the marina while their owners ignore everyone else. Then there are the commercial fishing boats, which tend to use the south entrance with aplomb - in Berkeley that means they ignore right of way. Best of all are the shoals just off the entrances, which last Friday fluctuated from 10 to 5 to 11 to 4 feet deep as Dura Mater approached the middle entrance. But my very favorite experience is when deep draught boats (like the Cal Maritime racing sloop) stop dead in the shallow entrance as they approach with those beautiful spinnakers up. Best to be on the deck of the Berkeley Yacht Club when that happens. There's always lots of yelling and cursing and sometimes people fall into the water. Not to discourage anyone.
 
Philpott said:
. . . There's always lots of yelling and cursing and sometimes people fall into the water. Not to discourage anyone.
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Uh, huh - little miss joy and sunshine!

I know BYC finishes their Friday night races off the club (inside the breakwater) but I don't think that's true of the Midwinters - I'll ask around. It's been 12(?) years since I last did them. Gamay, the start is at the center of the Circle at X-OC. On low tide days that could be an issue.

As for today, I motored straight back seeing 8+ knots SOG until the tide turned, and then I was on the race deck for part of the afternoon. The breeze would come, the breeze would go. A few boats made it in right before the deadline. Kudos to Allen and Kristen who sat out there all afternoon, and to Jonathan who brought us beer from the club - whataguy!
 
BobJ said:
I know BYC finishes their Friday night races off the club (inside the breakwater) but I don't think that's true of the Midwinters - I'll ask around.
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Thanks Bob, this would be good to know. I think if they finish in the marina I personally would not be too excited to do it singlehanded. Maybe if I got crew?

After a brilliant start and run down the river yesterday, I broke my usual rule and got too clever following Starbuck (who I thought had the same draft as me) outside the fairway in a plan to minimize the number of tacks to make it out of the river mouth. Hit the mud, and had to motor off immediately, as the tide was falling. So I was DNF from almost the first hour. Really lovely day to be out though. Thanks to Allen and Kristen also who put a lot of time in to not get to see many finishers!
 
Seriously, Jackie; you sure know how to make the heart pitter patter with excitement while sailing and I get enough of that already.

As to Vallejo, I used up my patience quota on Saturday and got to just past the ferry dock when the wind died while I was on a port tack and heading toward the shallows with another boat tacking toward me. Motored back at only 4-5 knots. The tide was too strong, but the Blue Angels buzzed over as I was putting the sail away on the back side of Treasure Island. It was a good weekend. In my opinion, Race Committees should get extra special awards and free beer at the end of the year party :-)
 
This is coming together. BYC's R/C says the starts and finishes are on the Circle at X-OC. They'll be delighted to give shorthanders our own start if we have enough entries.

Tides look okay for draftier boats: High on 11/9, Low but +2.2 on 12/14, Mid and flooding on 1/11. On 2/15 it will be Low at 1600 and a bit minus. If that race drags out you'll have to watch it on the shoreward part of the Circle.

A couple of us mulled over doing our own thing but let's support BYC (who supports us with Round the Rocks, etc.) and see how it goes. I'll sign up now (that's three boats already). Please give this your consideration and post here so we know how we're doing.

Click HERE to read the NOR and to sign up.

Thanks - this will be fun!
.
 
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Lightspeed is interested. She did the 2013-2014 BYC Midwinters with Paul Kamen & crew and won the Sat Div A series. The start and finish is on the circle. It is the Friday BYC chowder races that the finish is at the breakwater.

Lots of work shorthanded rounding marks with spinnaker sets and douses. My torn rotor cuff is doing better but I will need a three handed crew to compete.
 
I'm still open to the idea of racing non-spinnaker since the legs are pretty short. I put in a plug for a reaching mark to get some separation from the fully-crewed boats - that would also work better for racing non-spinnaker. I think Philpott has a similar problem (rotator cuff) and neither her boat nor Gamayun's are currently rated with spinnakers.

All suggestions are encouraged.
 
Bob, point of clarification. Singlehanded or doublehanded? I would very much enjoy a non-spinnaker singlehanded race on a short buoy course. With singlehanded traditionally a longer all day point to point race, I would encourage more to give this short fun afternoon venue a try. SSS will need to coordinate a singlehanded division with BYC if we want to use autopilots.
 
The NOR just says "shorthanded." Per this thread, it sounds like Dura Mater wants to go single, Kynntana double, and I'll race single unless someone wants to race with me - I just want to get some sailing on the Winter calendar. In other series you can use autopilots either SH or DH - I'll have to check to see what BYC does.

Edit - I just sent the R/C a note to ask about autopilots (and whether they still have a credit for racing non-spinnaker). I'll report back.
 
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Thanks, if your looking for a head count I am in for singlehanded non-spinnaker first and happy to beat the drum at the RYC. If we can not get 5 to enter for our own div, then I will most likely want to move to Double-handed spinnaker. Thanks for bringing this up...Rick
 
If I recall correctly non spinnaker simply gets a 3 sec/minute credit. There is no distinction between singlehanded and doublehanded. I have never seen another singlehanded sailor in a BYC race.
 
I got another prompt reply from the R/C (thanks Bobbi!) - and do remember this is BYC's event, not mine or the SSS's.

Because of the casual nature of BYC's Friday night series, they do things there that don't happen with these somewhat-more-serious Midwinters, like non-spinnaker credits. So there aren't any. This is consistent with NorCal PHRF's recommendation that spinnaker and non-spinnaker fleets be scored separately. They are okay with autopilots for shorthanders.

What we know is there will be one shorthanded division, if we get enough entries for it. Right now I'm the only paid entry so there's not much more to discuss. If we get enough boats, we could discuss separate scoring within the division for spinnaker vs. non-spinnaker and/or singlehanders vs. doublehanders. My opinion is that since we will all probably be in the same division, only singlehanders should be allowed to use autopilots. This would even things out a bit.

But the first thing is to sign up.
 
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