VOLUME 454 April 2015 WE GO WHERE THE WIND BLOWS BIG DADDY'S Big Daddy — it's not the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. But it's easy to confuse the two regattas, kind of like the on big boats. way that some people just can't seem to "The fi rst annual Big Daddy remember that Memorial Day is in May was really big," claimed Clifford, and Labor Day is in September. When "with 70 boats showing up to do Bay Area yacht racers gather to ex- battle. There was very little wind, change sea stories, one invariably starts so only one race was completed on with, "I remember one time at the Great Saturday." Sunday’s racing was Pumpkin — or was it the Big Daddy?" more of the same with only four And the story gets boats fi nish- derailed while the ing the pur- speaker tries to sort suit race with out which it was. We've always gone a reverse- Richmond Yacht counterclockwise, so we handicap Club held the fi rst start. The Big Daddy Regat- said, "Let's go clockwise. winner was ta in March 1982. Chimo, a Nel- "Gary Clifford start- Let’s unwind." son 41. ed the Big Daddy as Bob Klein's an IOR ('invest or retire') measurement wife Doris reported that the club rule regatta," said RYC de facto historian had so many people for the Sat- John Dukat. "Usually he got together urday afternoon cocktail party with his friends like Jonathan Livingston "that the committee moved out and Bruce Powell — knock down a few, the tables and chairs for enough talk, do the what-if and then later move standing room — and this includ- the idea into sailing reality. Gary was ed the landing, the ground fl oor, always a man whose mission was, 'Let’s the lawn, and the entire porch. have some serious fun.'" Fortunately the weather was Because the regatta fell not long after beautiful." On that fi rst Sunday, Washington's Birthday, Big Daddy was "They came back and rafted up originally named for George Washington, again to hobnob and celebrate the but 'Big Daddy' was also the nickname four who did fi nish," Doris said at of Bob Klein, a past commodore with a the time, "and receive trophies — some was another Gary Clifford brainchild. It reputation for getting junior sailors out classes by lottery — and enjoy chilled was set up as a one-design regatta and champagne." followed the Big Daddy format. The 'Black Sheep' trio drove all night from Idaho The Big Daddy predated the Great The regattas evolved with the times. the Thursday before the regatta to come school Pumpkin by about a year. The Pumpkin "When IOR died out, you had a regatta the Californians. with no boats," explained Dukat. "The one gimmick that addressed the death of IOR was Jim Antrim assigning ratings. Each yacht so assigned got a 'Certifi cate of Unmeasurement' endorsed with the great seal of the Wizard of El Sobrante." Jim Antrim is a naval architect who de- signs sailboats and serves on the PHRF board. In the 21st century, RYC has made the Big Daddy as inclusive as the Pump- kin. "Now both events are essentially the same except for the more mayhem-ish side of the Pumpkin," said Dukat. A couple of years ago, an attempt was made to return the Big Daddy to its roots and the glory days of the big-boat vibe. Classes with higher PHRF ratings would be excluded. Multihulls were not initially invited to Sunday's pursuit race, as one had capsized the previous year, requiring assistance. "There was a reaction to these deci- sions in the yachting community and inside the club," said Dukat. "The RYC WWW.NORCALSAILING.COM IDENTITY CRISIS mainsail area up high often helps us against smaller boats in light and medium conditions. Second, we caught some nice puffs on the downwind legs of the first two races to close the gap on the J/125 Double Trouble. Third, we were two members light on crew (7) and Double Trouble looked to be at least two members heavy. That helped our speed, and, with only one leeward mark rounding to contend with for the whole afternoon, didn't cost us in the corners. One thing's for sure — our crummy starts didn't help." Rather than waiting for one big awards ceremony on Sunday, RYC handed out Saturday's trophies after Saturday's races to encour- age the sailors to stick around the club for dinner. Regatta fl ags went to the top fi nishers. Due to the split of the previous weekend between February 28 and March 1, Golden Gate YC's final Seaweed Soup midwinter series race fell on the same Sat- With minimal breeze and maximum fl ood, the start of the Big Daddy pursuit race on Sunday, urday, March 7. "For sure the March 8, was not looking too promising, but a westerly would eventually fi ll in. Golden Gate Midwinters drew a — All photos latitude / chris except as noted bunch of our local sailors who wanted to fi nish up the series," said Paxton, "then, with Spring Keel at St. Francis the following weekend, we lost the Alerion and place at Big Daddy, among them Buzz board of directors reset the Big Daddy Moore 24 fleets, which did not want Blackett's Jim Antrim-designed Class 40 back to the more open standard." back-to-back weekend events." Despite California Condor. the crowded and awkward March racing "It was our best weekend ever on the calendar, attendance was up from last he numbers on March 7-8 this Bay," said Blackett, who won the PHRF T year on both days. year were remarkably similar to those of B division on the Deep Water Course "Shoreside turnout was spectacular," that fi rst Big Daddy. "We had 79 boats south of the Berkeley Circle. "We were on Saturday for our buoy racing format," pleasantly surprised by our performance Buzz Blackett's Antrim Class 40 'California said regatta chair Fred Paxton. "We used on Saturday. I think there were three fac- Condor', seen here in Saturday's buoy racing three separate course areas and had a tors. First, we were fast upwind. Lots of on the Deep Water Course, had a good regatta. maximum of four fl eets in each area, which let us get in three quality races with minimal wait- ing between races. The goal was to start sailing at 11:30 and be back at the dock by 3:30 for goodies, awards, and dinner. All the fi nish line boats had Wi-Fi hot spots, which allowed us to post results almost before all the boats got back to the club." The wind was out of the west for most of the day, and all three courses started right on time. Bob and Doris Klein's son Chris was on hand, racing the Santana 22 Alegre. But make no mistake: Despite the little Tunas and Cal 20s, the big boats still have an important WWW.NORCALSAILING.COM BIG DADDY'S RYC RYC This page, clockwise from top left: There's always room for another girl on Cinde Lou Delmas's whether we were winning until we could Alerion 38 'Another Girl'; Peter Stoneberg's ProSail 40 'Shadow' was fi rst to fi nish the pursuit race; next came the J/70 'Prime Number'; Nathan Bossett's Express 27 'Elise' was almost last, but not see Shadow and we saw that we were quite, as that dubious honor went to Don Taylor's Farallon Clipper 'VIP', seen here at the start. even." The big ProSail 40 catamaran had said event chair Diana Gorsiski, "but for a foretaste of summer bashing condi- gone clockwise, and the two boats were that was due to extremely beautiful tions. The course is around Angel Island converging on the approach to the fi nish. weather, and — of course — the free and Alcatraz in either direction. "We were 200 yards ahead, and beer! Dinner was well received, and a "Everyone was asking, 'Which way then they got a puff and put up a Code new band, The Mighty Groove, gave us are you going to go?'" said Mark Thomas Zero," said Cameron. Shadow passed rock and roll with a Latin fl avor. The of the J/70 Prime Number back at the Prime Number 100 yards from the fi n- twist this year is that we added a new club after the race. "We’ve always gone ish. Adrenaline, another clockwise cat, division of sailors having juniors as crew. counterclockwise, so we said, 'Let’s go fi nished third behind the J/70. There were medals for the junior sailors, clockwise.'" His wife Anne concurred. The Thomases haven’t done many as well as placements for boats that had "Let’s unwind," she said. races on the J yet. "This was our fi rst the junior crew. We hope to incorporate But in actuality they hadn't made a race on the Bay since we got back from that into the Big Daddy every year going decision. The third partner in the boat, the UAE," said Mark, who had been forward." Peter Cameron, was the tactician. "He working on projects in Abu Dhabi for was going to decide which way to go right almost four years. before our start," said Anne. "The wind California Condor went clockwise. "On Despite light wind and an adverse was dying at our start, but we started Sunday, being one of the last boats to fl ood current in the Southampton Shoal right on time on port, barely clearing start was a big plus," said Buzz Blackett.