Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Yes, Pat, I agree that sounds .... hyperbolic. Typical of sailing/fishing stories. I have just learned about the Corlett Race, apparently named after someone named Corlett. I recently interviewed Bob and Betty Gray for an article that will come out in the June issue of Bay & Delta Yachtsman Magazine. Here is their reminiscence of that race. Yours might be different ;-)
THE CORLETT RACE
The Corlett Race was a Metropolitan Yacht Club race. It was always on Memorial Day weekend, and the course was Golden Gate Yacht Club to Drakes Bay, overnight, then Drakes Bay to Half Moon Bay, keeping the Farallones to port.
Betty had this to say about Drakes Bay: “Everybody loves going to Drakes Bay but me. I have never sailed as fast as I did overnight at Drakes Bay while standing anchor watch. As much as I love going out, I get seasick the minute I go outside the gate. I also get sick when I go down below into the cabin. However, once we hit either anchor or land I am completely well and functional.
Here's a photo of Bob and Betty aboard their Ranger 33, probably in the Delta back in Corlett Race days.
Bob: (whispers) Tell her your pink pajama story.
Betty makes a swatting motion with her hand and said, “That was bad judgement on my part.”
Bob told the story of Betty’s Pink Pajamas:
“We had spent the night at anchor in Horseshoe Cove the night before the Cornett Race and it was a nice morning. Betty was wearing pink lounging pajamas. We were all sitting around the cockpit of this 42’ Passport having coffee in the sunshine.”
Betty continued the story: “This was not my first rodeo and I should have known better than to go out the gate without wearing foul weather gear. But I did.”
They went out the gate and conditions were, according to Bob, “A little Bad. Water was coming across the top of the dodger. As we were going up to Drakes Bay we had very high seas and the Passport 42 went airborne coming off a wave just outside the gate. We actually broke the main bulkhead. We started taking on water. We sent out a Mayday, then communicated with the Coast Guard and said, ‘We’re taking on water but we’re fine so far. We’ll keep you advised.”
Betty continued the story. “Bob said, ‘Go down and put your foul weather gear on.’
Once we made the MayDay call, I decided that total fear and a MayDay call overruled nausea. I was able to get up, I felt fine and I started pumping, getting everything together. And besides, I was determined that the last thing I would ever do was to get taken off that boat in pink pajamas!”
They realized that the bilge pump was siphoning water back into the boat faster than it was pumping it out. After they had found the source of the leak, they cancelled the May Day and continued on down to Half Moon Bay.
Here are Bob and Betty in early March in front of the Berkeley Yacht Club
THE CORLETT RACE
The Corlett Race was a Metropolitan Yacht Club race. It was always on Memorial Day weekend, and the course was Golden Gate Yacht Club to Drakes Bay, overnight, then Drakes Bay to Half Moon Bay, keeping the Farallones to port.
Betty had this to say about Drakes Bay: “Everybody loves going to Drakes Bay but me. I have never sailed as fast as I did overnight at Drakes Bay while standing anchor watch. As much as I love going out, I get seasick the minute I go outside the gate. I also get sick when I go down below into the cabin. However, once we hit either anchor or land I am completely well and functional.
Here's a photo of Bob and Betty aboard their Ranger 33, probably in the Delta back in Corlett Race days.
Bob: (whispers) Tell her your pink pajama story.
Betty makes a swatting motion with her hand and said, “That was bad judgement on my part.”
Bob told the story of Betty’s Pink Pajamas:
“We had spent the night at anchor in Horseshoe Cove the night before the Cornett Race and it was a nice morning. Betty was wearing pink lounging pajamas. We were all sitting around the cockpit of this 42’ Passport having coffee in the sunshine.”
Betty continued the story: “This was not my first rodeo and I should have known better than to go out the gate without wearing foul weather gear. But I did.”
They went out the gate and conditions were, according to Bob, “A little Bad. Water was coming across the top of the dodger. As we were going up to Drakes Bay we had very high seas and the Passport 42 went airborne coming off a wave just outside the gate. We actually broke the main bulkhead. We started taking on water. We sent out a Mayday, then communicated with the Coast Guard and said, ‘We’re taking on water but we’re fine so far. We’ll keep you advised.”
Betty continued the story. “Bob said, ‘Go down and put your foul weather gear on.’
Once we made the MayDay call, I decided that total fear and a MayDay call overruled nausea. I was able to get up, I felt fine and I started pumping, getting everything together. And besides, I was determined that the last thing I would ever do was to get taken off that boat in pink pajamas!”
They realized that the bilge pump was siphoning water back into the boat faster than it was pumping it out. After they had found the source of the leak, they cancelled the May Day and continued on down to Half Moon Bay.
Here are Bob and Betty in early March in front of the Berkeley Yacht Club
Last edited: