Latitude 38 Latitude VOLUME 435 S t b 2013 WE GO WHERE THE WIND BLOWS SEPTEMBER 2013 VOLUME 435 YRA SECOND Everyone needs a midsummer break and sailors are no different. Traditionally scheduled as the first race back after taking the month of July off for 'summer vacation', the YRA’s Second Half Opener is typically one of the Bay’s more popular events. Serving as races four and five of the Party Circuit, the Second Half Opener follows a popular format: After racing from the Berkeley Circle to Point Bonita and back into the Bay, finishing on the Estuary, racers party Saturday night away at Alameda’s beautiful Encinal YC before resuming racing on Sunday with a windward/ leeward race. This combination of a short-distance ocean race No ocean racing this year, but the event should return to regularly scheduled programming next summer. and buoy race are the perfect way to shake off the rust after a month of pool parties, barbecues and trips to Disneyland. Perfect as the format may be, things were a bit different this year. With the America’s Cup activity on the Bay this summer, race organizers and yacht club officials were faced with a major logistical hurdle in planning the Second Half Opener. The normal Bonita race and Sunday buoy race would send the fleet right through the America’s Cup race course, which was advertised to feature multiple AC72s and thousands of spectator FRED FAGO PHOTOS ALL boats. As a result, the race committee was left with no The reworked YRA Second Half Opener drew a greatly reduced fleet, but the on-the-water action was as hot as ever. HALF OPENER 'Bodacious+' took line honors for PHRF 1 on both days but only corrected out on top on Sunday. Chuting down the South Bay. YRA SECOND option but to change course and run the races in the other boats also struggled South Bay, creating a unique to lay the mark, either and interesting challenge to dousing and setting a jib or competitors. wiping out repeatedly. One Several prominent Bay such victim was the fleet’s Area race boats and crew scratch monohull, Hiro were still MIA after this sum- Minami’s custom Japa- mer's TransPac, while others nese Ohashi 52 Leglus, were preoccupied with view- which literally flogged their ing or volunteering for the big asymmetrical chute to America’s Cup. But many death on the tight spinna- sailors just opted to not race ker reach. In the end, the a non-ocean course in the crew pulled down the head South Bay. These contrib- of a shredded spinnaker. uting factors led to just 57 One boat that got it boats entering Saturday’s right was Ian Klitza’s cus- distance race — less than tom catamaran Rocket 88. half the size of last year's Setting a reaching kite at 122-boat fleet. the mark, the two-hulled While the fleet may have speedster accelerated to been smaller than normal and the course Speak of the devil — An AC72 flies by the fleet an astounding 24 knots, pointed right at unfamiliar, the change to the South Bay near AT&T Park. the next mark. “It was a cracking reach,” venue offered up several advantages. first, John Clauser's 1D48 Bodacious+ did exclaimed an exuberant Klitza afterward. Racing a new course presented a unique what they normally do after rounding a “The Rocket was absolutely flying and we tactical challenge for competitors with windward mark — they set a spinnaker. were passing monohulls like they were the additional benefits of staying out of With the combination of a southwesterly stationary objects. It was a blast!” the fog and avoiding the normal blustery breeze and a ripping flood, Bodacious+ After the reach, boats turned down- beat to Bonita. was pushed well below the mark and later wind at a mark west of Candlestick Park With Saturday’s 21-mile distance race had to reach up to correct their mistake. and ran down to the Oakland Airport starting from a mark just south of the With much of the rest of the first fleet before beating back up the shoreline of entrance to the Estuary, the fleet beat to following in the big 48-footer’s wake and Alameda and turning right for a light-air the first mark, which lay just south of the also setting kites, it was very much a case run to EYC. Bodacious+ survived to claim Bay Bridge. Rounding the windward mark of the blind leading the blind. Several line honors by three minutes over the YRA 2ND HALF OPENER 1 (7/27; prelim) Schumacher 30, George Ellison. (4 boats) MULTIHULL — 1) Rocket 88, Spruitt D-cat, Ian PHRF 1 — 1) Tiburon, SC37, Steve Stroub; 2) EXPRESS 27 — 1) Motorcycle Irene, Will Klitza; 2) Bridgerunner, SL33, Urs Rothacher; 3) Twisted, Farr 40, Tony Pohl; 3) Bodacious+, 1D48, Paxton; 2) Peaches, John Rivlin; 3) Tequila Mock- Vamonos!, Sig 45, Tom Siebel; 4) Ma’s Rover, John Clauser; 4) Aeolus, J/111, Rob Theis; 5) War ingbird, Matt Krogstad; 4) Elise, Nathalie Criou; 5) Corsair F-31, Mark Eastham. (4 boats) Pony, Farr 36, Mark Howe; 6) Leglus, Ohashi 52, Desperado, Marcia Schnapp; 6) Make Me Smile, Hiro Minami. (6 boats) Neal Holmlund; 7) Strega, Larry Levit; 8) Libra, YRA 2ND HALF OPENER 2 (7/28; prelim) PHRF 2 — 1) Red Cloud, Farr 36, Don Ahrens; Sergey Lubarsky; 9) Take Five, Donald Carroll. (9 PHRF 1 — 1) Bodacious+; 2) Encore, Sydney 2) Mintaka 4, Farr 38, Gerry Brown; 3) Lightwave, boats) 36, Wayne Koide; 3) Aeolus. (3 boats) J/105, Simon James; 4) Red Sky, Beneteau First PHRF 4 — 1) Shadowfax, Olson 25, Mark PHRF 2 — 1) Red Cloud; 2) Mintaka 4; 3) Jar- 36.7, Adam Thier; 5) Akula, J/105, Douglas Bailey; Simposn; 2) Uno, Wyliecat 30, Steve Wonner; 3) len; 4) Akula; 5) Razzberries; 6) Gravlax, X-402, 6) Jarlen, J/35, Robert Bloom; 7) Razzberries, Kelika, Hunter 33.5, Michael Weaver; 4) Alexan- Gael Simon. (7 boats) Olson 34, Bruce Nesbit; 8) Vitesse Too, Hobie 33, dria, Ericson 35-2, George Blackman. (4 boats) SPORTBOAT — 1) For Pete’s Sake. (1 boat) Grant Hayes. (8 boats) ISLANDER 36 — 1) Califia, Tim Bussiek; 2) EXPRESS 37 — 1) Snowy Owl. (1 boat) SPORTBOAT — 1) Always Friday, Antrim 27, Kapai, Richard Egan. (2 boats) PHRF 3 — 1) Arcadia; 2) Ahi; 3) Iolani; 4) John Liebenberg; 2) Salt Peanuts, Dees GP26, PHRF 5 — 1) Gypsy Lady, Cal 34 Mk I, Val Chimera, Little Harbor 47, Grant MIller. (5 boats) Brooks Dees; 3) For Pete’s Sake, Ultimate 24, Pe- Clayton; 2) Neja, Dasher, Jim Borger; 3) Harry, SF30 — 1) Wind Speed; 2) Shameless. (2 ter Cook; 4) Wild 1, Flying Tiger 10, John Lymberg. Newport 30 II, Richard Aronoff; 4) Faster Faster!, boats) (4 boats) Merit 25, David Ross; 5) Tutu, Columbia 30, Andrew EXPRESS 27 — 1) Libra; 2) Wile E Coyote, EXPRESS 37 — 1) Golden Moon, Kame Rich- Lindstrom. (5 boats) Dan Pruzan; 3) Tequila Mockingbird. (3 boats) ards; 2) Expeditious, Bartz Schneider; 3) Stewball, PHRF NON-SPINNAKER — 1) Jack Aubrey, PHRF 4 — 1) Uno; 2) Mojo, Ranger 33, Paul Bob Harford; 4) Snowy Owl, Jens Jensen; 5) Esca- Cal 2-27, Lori Dennis; 2) Rascal II, Pearson Triton, Weismann; 3) Alexandria. (4 boats) pade, Nick Schmidt; 6) Mudshark, David Fullerton. Norman Thomas. (2 boats) ISLANDER 36 — 1) Windwalker, Richard (6 boats) SF180 — 1) Lelo Too, Tartan 30, Emile Carles; Shoenhair; 2) Zingara, Steve/Jocelyn Swanson; PHRF 3 — 1) Arcadia, Santana 27 mod., Gor- 2) Wuvulu, Islander Bahama 30, John New. (2 3) Califia. (4 boats) die Nash; 2) Azure, Cal 40, Rodney Pimentel; 3) boats) PHRF 5 — 1) Gypsy Lady; 2) Faster Faster!; 3) Iolani, Hughes 48, Barry Stompe; 4) Ahi, Santana SHORTHANDED — 1) Javelin, J/105, Sergei Tutu; 4) Time Bandit, J/22, Schott Mack. (5 boats) 35, Andy Newell; 5) Gig, HB30, Gil Sloan; 6) Wind Podshivalov; 2) Pegasus, J/35, Marc Sykes; 3) PHRF NON-SPINNAKER — 1) Jack Aubrey. Song, Cal 39 Mk III, Sam Lavanaway; 7) Kind of Tinker, Wilderness 21, Matthew Beall. (3 boats) (1 boat) Blue, Hanse 370, Michael Gregg. (7 boats) PHRF 6 — 1) Byte Size, Santana 22, Anna SF180 — 1) Lelo Too. (1 boats) SF30 — 1) Wind Speed, J/30, Tony Castruc- Alderkamp; 2) Layla, Catalina 25, Tom Haverstock; SHORTHANDED — 1) Pegasus. (1 boat) cio; 2) Heart of Gold, Olson 911s, Joan Byrne; 3) 3) Miss Kate, Catalina 27, Michael Satterlund. (3 PHRF 6 — 1) Layla; 2) Miss Kate. (2 boats) Elusive, Olson 911, Charles Pick; 4) Shameless, boats) MULTIHULL — 1) Vamonos!. (1 boat) Page 100 • Latitude 38 • September, 2013 HALF OPENER p.m. With just three boats in Division 1, Farr 40 Twisted, but it was Steve Stroub’s it was finally Bodacious+’s time to shine Santa Cruz 37 Tiburon that owned the as they eked out a close corrected-time day, winning division 1 over Twisted by victory over Wayne Koide’s Sydney 36 less than 45 seconds on corrected time. Encore, winning their 12-mile race by just Claiming the fastest corrected time 16 seconds. overall was Rocket 88, which managed to Sunday’s largest fleet, PHRF 2, saw pass the bigger, faster SL33 Bridgerunner seven boats take to the start. Don Ahrens’ on the long reaching leg. Bridgerunner re- Farr 36 Red Cloud — a fixture on the passed Rocket on the run, before extend- EYC racing scene — took another win to ing slightly on the beat to the Estuary. record the weekend sweep, having already During the light-air jibe-fest common on won Saturday’s distance race.