The Bay to Bay Regatta was a stunning success!
- Great sailing
- Beautiful weather
- Great people
- A fabulous barbecue luau on the beach overlooking the San Diego skyline
under the moonlight
- Almost twice as many boats as last year, and
- Nobody sank :-)
Conditions were typical for San Diego, with a light breeze filling in
around 11:00am, bright sunshine, and generally beautiful skies. The
downwind start revealed several different strategies for getting to the
first mark off the end of Point Loma - Taz went high, Planet went low,
Weasel, and the rest of us split the middle. The teams sorted themselves
into a lead pack and a follower pack pretty early on with good competition
in each group. Team Bob made a guest appearance amongst the classic fleet
in this race having found several slow gears for the boat.
Upon reaching the buoy at Point Loma, one strategy that worked quite well
was knowing where the mark was and sailing toward it. Some positions were
exchanged in the ensuing confusion. GPS was allowed, and some teams used
this to advantage. At the turn we turned up into a close reach and began
planing in the puffs around the point. Rounding the top of North Island,
we were able to get the boats up onto full three-sail reaches and weaving
our way through the Saturday picnickers. "Screw VMG, reach higher - this
is fun!"
The trip down to the Coronado Bay bridge was almost DDW - lots of gybing
going on. The left side of the course was favored with stronger breeze,
and those that discovered this early were rewarded. The trip back up
rendered a lot of short-tacking up the same left-side. Current in the main
channel added a twist that turned a strong lead by team Bob over Taz into a
nail-biter at the end.
Even after four or five hours of racing there were some close finishes -
made particularly exciting by a dying breeze that made hitting holes
deadly. The better overall breeze this year allowed the Weasel to shave
almost a full hour off of last year's record time. Thank god the pintail
will be handed along from team Bob to another deserving team. Bob Woodcock
deserves the fleet's annual paint-roller trophy for installing foam core in
the cockpit sole of his Parker in two days for the regatta. It may be one
of the only partially-cored early seventies Parkers in existence. Lame
excuse of the century goes to Tom McKinney - "I have to go to Disneyland
with the in-laws." I'm sure the tea-cup ride was EXcellent!
Thanks to all the people who chipped in and helped make this regatta so
much fun! We had Chris Shand and her sister giving us a start and getting
a timer going. Charlie Jenkins took over the watch and was there at the
finish recording times. Dave Eberhardt ran recovery in his inflatable boat
since his crew was taken sick at the last minute. Meg Woodcock lei'd the
entire fleet upon arrival at the Beach. Dan Merino supplied a myriad cool
Hawaii-theme items for the party. Bill Jenkins did an admirable job
keeping the voodoo punch flowing - thanks for keeping the glass full Bill!
John Henke of Sailing Supply arranged overnight respite for our boats in
their parking lot.
See you all next year - it will be bigger and better.
Final Results
Boat Driver Crew Team Name Time
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USA 6991 Bill Jenkins Dan Merino Team Weasel 4:15:45
USA 8084 Rob Waterman Maggie Waterman 88th Planet 4:17:54
USA 6931 John Henke Shea Thorvaldsen Fever Pitch 4:24:31
USA 6934 John Billings Chris Stomberg Team Bob 4:54:23
USA 5687 Steve Schnelker Mark Kurzava Team Taz 4:55:40
USA 5326 Bob Woodcock Brian Otis Team Schoolbus 5:13:30
USA 6571 Bill McKinney Carl White Trash 5:24:00
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Not from my viewpoint.
As stated often, the Mainstay deadline was the 12th (three days ago.) No other
accounts were received, in spite of promises. Therefore, no 505 article in the
next Mainstay.
> Dave Eberhardt ran recovery in his inflatable boat since his crew was taken
> sick at the last minute...
Actually the crew was "taken sick" hours before the start, when other crews
were still available and when we were at the Club launching and readying for
the shuttle. His only message was an Email sent to my home(!) at 11:11, well
after we were scheduled to leave the dock. Apparently it didn't occur to him to
leave a message at the Club office, where I was sure to be and to check. I
found out only as the other boats sailed away with C.B. sitting crewless in the
water, far too late to find anyone else. I've heard nothing from him since.
My best friend Doug Nelson had wanted very much to sail again this year, but
had stepped aside for the person who'd been racing with me and, Doug felt, had
earned it. It was not pleasant telling Doug what happened.
Since the truck, sling and trailer were already at the other end, I could
either use the inflatable or walk (bad idea for physical reasons, and the cane
was in the truck.) I therefore unloaded, assembled and launched the Zodiac
alone (not much fun either.) Had I known earlier and been unable to find a
crew, I could at least have accompanied the fleet instead of following an hour
later, too late to help. (We were very lucky that no boat was disabled.)
Bill's tantrum at MBYC (a club where he was a guest), which made an obscene
joke of the Dave Cahn Trophy to which he showed he has no right, was almost the
last straw. Frankly, I'm considering selling or giving away my boat and leaving
the fleet.
Bay to Bay as sailed
on USA 8084 "88th Planet" (Rob Waterman)
Our journey began with a terrible start. We unsuccessfully tried to barge
into the boat end of the line where "Team Weasel" forced us around again to
follow everyone over. We set our chute with everyone else and headed off
somewhat low on the light air run to Point Loma. We were wondering why
everyone was sailing so much hotter and so far out until we almost sailed
straight into the thickest, widest kelp bed I've ever seen. We immediately
put the pole on the headstay and started working further offshore.
When I thought we had gone far enough out and didn't see any more big kelp,
we pulled the pole back and the board back up again. It was delightful
sailing; we both sat as far forward as possible on opposite sides of the
boat shaded by the sails, chatting, looking for kelp, and enjoying the
scenery. I would take an occasional break to fish kelp or weed off the
rudder. There was always something on the blades; I couldn't keep it off.
Meanwhile the "Weasels" and "Fever Pitch" continued to leave us in the dust
as they sailed further offshore. I had a laminated section of chart, marked
up with courses and bearings for the route. I knew we had been sailing
pretty far outside what I (never having sailed in the area before) thought
was a good line down the coast. The kelp had sent us outside of that line,
but I had kinda been DR-ing my way along and knew about what the bearing to
the mark should be as we passed abeam of several landmarks. I didn't
understand why some of the other boats were sailing so much higher and I
began to have second thoughts about where we were. I hoped we had a good
line on the mark and that all those seeking short-term gratification
offshore were going to have to pay for their reaching fun by following us
"low and slow" into the mark. We were going to be heroes or bums. I
started to wonder if the local boys might know about some infamous kelp
barrier extending ½ mile outside of my line and would be laughing themselves
silly as Maggie & I dropped our chute to beat out around it. I began to
doubt my "navigation". We looked and looked and still didn't see any
obstacles, but the nagging doubts persisted. We split the difference
somewhat between what I figured the course to the mark should be and where
the screaming "Weasels" were going. We seemed to have pretty good speed off
the wind so I didn't think sailing hotter would pay for any extra distance
if the wind stayed about the same. I hoped we were right.
As we searched for the mark, it looked like several of the boats might have
jibed. Eventually we could see that "Pitch" & the "Weasels" were headed at
us. Maybe they weren't so sure where the mark was! There was hope! We
jibed off several times ourselves at what we thought was the mark. About ½
mile from the mark we barely crossed Bill and Dan on starboard. They yelled
"keep going" and I did, too far. We followed them around the mark by a half
a dozen boat-lengths and into the bay.
The sailing was refreshing heading up under Point Loma. It was nice to have
someone on the wire and to feel some breeze in my face. Dan and Bill were
stretching out in front of us like crazy so I decided to give a serious
effort to get the last of the kelp off the rudder. I let the sails luff,
handed Maggie the tiller and stuck my arms and shoulders in the water to
clear the last of the crap off. We got going again and they just kept
stretching out! Man, they were movin' out! We had some hairy times as we
got under the point. These giant gusts came off the land and would nail us
big time. Half of them you couldn't see coming. At one point Maggie fell
off the wire and smashed her knee; I thought we were going swimming for
sure. She was a trouper though and struggled back out on the wire. I
didn't know how hurt she was until she told me after we finished! We
definitely lacked horsepower in the breeze and the Weasels were gone; now
John and Shea were coming on strong. Things settled down for us as we got
closer inside but then our course was converging with that of a big
beautiful cruising sloop; which gassed us for several miles. I couldn't get
over them and I couldn't sail through their huge lee. It seemed they were
going to make my life tough all the way into the bridge. They finally
peeled off at Shelter Island. We eased off and life was good again as we
rounded the top of North Island. I could bear off in the big puffs and
looked forward to setting any time. Those dirty guys in "Fever Pitch" were
right on our butts, sailing high in order to set first, which they did. We
finally got the nerve to set and promptly screwed the whole thing up. The
pole wasn't pushed forward and the sail backwinded into our faces - we
dropped and reset after we could bear off a little more.
When we got a clear shot at the bridge we opted to sail low; board all the
way up and pole all the way back. We weren't the smoothest at jibing and we
lacked the horsepower and grace necessary to "wire-run"; probably not enough
breeze anyway. We seemed to do well running deep and I thought we were
pulling on Shea and John, who were "feverishly" jibing back and forth across
our wake - making me very nervous.
We held on to our second position as we rounded the bridge support. The
beat out of there started out beautifully. Rig upright, Maggie all the way
out, me sitting on the tank. It got progressively lighter as we worked away
from the bridge. We sailed the north (or is it east?) shore of the channel
trying to keep a loose cover on the "Pitches" while staying in shallower
water. We seemed to get lifted along the shore. We strayed too far out in
the channel at one point and watched Shea and John sail into a huge lift
with breeze! I thought they would sail around us but we got back over near
them in time. We finally made our break across the channel when we could
just squeak by the top of North Island. Dave Eberhardt followed us across
the channel in his little rubber dinghy berating me for sailing too far over
in the channel. I yelled back I was worried about Shea sailing around me;
he replied "that's death over there!". Locals, they can't know everything!
As both boats sailed back out of that part of the harbor it became real
clear Dave was right, the deeper you went in the uglier it was when you came
back out. "Fever Pitch" was still astern but up ahead we couldn't even tell
which boat Dan & Bill were sailing.
We held our spot and followed Bill & Dan over the finish line by two or
three minutes. Whew, long sail but fun! I could barely stand when I got
out of the boat, but soon forgot my aching knees and ankles as the lovely
native wahines greeted the arriving crews with leis. I had spent about two
hours of the afternoon squatting on my ankles inside the boat trying to see
while keeping Maggie out on the wire.
The best part of the whole day was the luau on the beach that night! Clear
sky, bright moon, warm night, big fire, tiki torches, tons of food, plenty
of rum, great people... what else could you want? We had a blast; really a
great get together. If you missed out you owe it to yourself to get there
next year. We'll be there for sure.
How did we sail? OK I guess; we were both pretty happy. We sailed fast, we
sailed slow, we were smart and sometimes dumb. It was a cool bonding
experience with my wife. We sailed as hard and as fast as we could. We
used our best sails. I took charts of the route. I checked the tide
tables. I did my homework. I also drove my wife nuts with my fiddling in
the boat; she's not a regular 5-0 crew and I'm not a regular 5-0 driver so
my gear changes were a little rough and she would struggle to keep her
footing. I played the centerboard constantly; from all the way down on the
reaches and beats to slightly up when overpowered; and all the way up on the
dead runs. I played with the mast rake quite a bit too; with it all the way
up at 25'8" on the runs and light air beats to 25'4" in the big gusts on the
close reach in under Point Loma. I also made judicious use of the vang,
ram, outhaul, and cunningham.
What will I do differently next year? I'll TAKE A KELP STICK! I'll sail
two minutes faster than Bill and Dan. I'll stay the night in San Diego
instead of driving home so I can drink more rum. I also won't dip a
sand-covered cup into the rum punch bowl, or at least not in front of Bill
and Charley Jenkins! Mahalo
Let's see what I can remember:
Most everybody early for the start with those to leeward holding up those to
windward. One of the boats (I can't remember which, sail # started with 69
and ended with 91) hit the committee boat and was immediately disqualified
:-)
We (Taz) sailed high and seemed to make some good ground on the fleet and
jibed inside for (we thought) more air and really started to stretch out on
everyone but you, Rob and John. We then sailed far too high and got stymied
by the kelp and ended up rounding behind Chris.
We were planing all the way in and expected to hold our own with Chris and
dust Bob (Bill was waaaay back) but Bob actually gained on us on the reach
in.
The run down to the bridge saw us on the right side of the course sailing
waay to high again and Bob W. and Chris on the left side of the course
sailing lower and gaining on us.
We then passed you guys (although you had already rounded at the time).
We saw the white bottom of a 505 looking at us with a couple crew in the
water. It came up and proved to be Stomberg. Bob was over to the right and
passed 'em.
We were right on their heels.
Upwind was no match and we dusted Team School Bus. We also were just
slightly slower than Stomberg, but one ill-advised trip to the right killed
us.
We were resigned to 5th when Chris and John went waaaay right and actually
were behind us heading to the finish.
We could lay the line and they had to tack for it. They were just as fast
as we were but weren't gaining.
We hit a puff and it looked to be over. We read the race instructions 5
times and understood we had to "round" the range mark to finish. So we
tacked to round the mark. Sailed into a hole. Tacked again and the race
was over.
We wanted to kill ourselves but quickly got over it.
I drank too much and apparently was quite amusing to everyone at the
post-race party.
From Dan Merino USA 6991, Team Weasel. Regular Division winner and course record holder.
The start was a bit “bumpy”, but much better run than last year. Chris and Lisa did a great job giving us a start. We got taken up into the committee boat at the gun and in the insuing pandemonium allowed Fever Pitch to jet out about 7 boat lengths. After they set, they extended their lead further until we finally got back into sailing mode. Once we settled in, their gains stopped and we began to sail lower for what we thought was a better course. We kept an eye on “Planet and “Fever Pitch” and split the difference between them. The decision was made out of fear because we had no compass or GPS. Yea, I know… I swore we’d have one or the other, but the Weasel budget was drained at the NA’s so we found ourselves in a similar position as the previous year. Our reasoning was that both “Planet” and “Fever Pitch” had compasses so they *must* know where they’re going… Plus Bill convinced me that there was no way we’d miss buoy 3 again.
When we reached Point Loma we got a little nervous… “Planet” was still going low and “Fever” was going high.and well… we didn’t have a clue as to where “3” was. We saw a few marks and decided that we would jibe and go inside for better wind and the hope that “3” was to the left. Rob made huge gains by going inside and it was apparent when he crossed ahead of us. We waited to see if “Fever” would jibe and when they didn’t we thought that maybe they knew where they were going (Shea after all was in the Navy and probably knew the harbor entrance pretty well). We jibed back only to see “Fever “ jibe to port. Unfortunately we were headed towards a mark and decided to stick with it until we got closer. In the mean time “Planet” and “Fever” apparently thought we knew what we were doing and also jibed to starboard. The fact that the boats behind us were also going high made me nervous about where the mark was… That is until Team Taz jibed. I informed Bill that Taz had a GPS and was probably heading straight for the buoy. We jibed and began heading to what we hoped was “3”. Bill made the comment that we would look like Einstein if the mark ahead of us was actually entrance buoy 3.
Having succeeded in implementing our plan of deception we rounded “3” in first place and jib reached into San Diego Bay. It was great to be able to get out on the wire and finally plane. On the way in we had the following conversation.
Bill: “Hey Einstein… I told you we didn’t need no stinkin’ compass.”
Dan: “We knew exactly where it was all the time.”
Dan: “Hey Einstein… Remember when we use to think this was going fast?”
Bill: “Pass me a beer.”
Two beers later we set the chute and 3 sail reached into the bay which eventually turned into a run. We headed to the east side of the bay which seemed like better wind and found a favorable current as well. One more jibe and we headed towards pier 19. We rounded and decided to stick to North Island to get out of the current even though there seemed to be better wind on the other side. We watched “Planet” and “Fever” round and opted to take the America’s cup attitude and not cover. Rob made some good gains toward the finish, however we were able to hold things together and get the win. The horn at the finish was a nice touch (thanks Charlie).
Getting laid at the finish was great and the party was even better. Chris did and outstanding job arranging everything with so little time. The Teriyaki chicken and Tri-Tips were top notch. I’m already looking forward to next years race…!!!
From John Billings
Driver for USA 6934, Team Bob.
Bay to Bay, from a mid fleet (finisher) drivers
perspective.. . .
Sneaky Pete (4233) had a bit too much flex (as something might break off)
and was beached for Bay to Bay. John & I pitched up to see what was
happening. Turns out that Chris needed a driver. John (my son & crew) was beached, but that was Ok by him, as
it was the first week of school . . .
We started out almost early on the downwind start, as the wind picked up
about 30 seconds prior to the gun. We were to leeward of most of the
fleet, and heard a bang, as one of the boats hit the race committee? I
guessed that others had a last minute change in timing as well!
We stayed in the middle, trying to stay in contact with Team Weasel, 88th
Planet,
& Fever Pitch. Chris & I were slowly catching the leaders. So, we shifted our weight forward, lowered my visibility . . . and dropped back a mile or so! So much for correcting our trim to increase speed. Later, we readjusted our trim again and moved away from the boats behind us.
Course correction and way point calculations were very obviously improved with a GPS. Chris could tell our bearing, exactly as well as how far, and how fast we were moving over the ocean floor. We watched, rather bemused as the leaders move all over the course trying to find the buoy. However, we were so far behind at this point, that it was good for a laugh, but we were out of contact.
I did want to stay in contact with 88th Planet, as I consider Rob Waterman a “sneaky” sailer, but he was down there with the other two leaders, out of contact as well . .
After rounding Buoy #3, which is a channel marker for San Diego Harbor, the wind started to pick up. We did some amazing close reaching. The apparent wind was held directly abeam, and even Chris, at about 250+ could not hold the boat down. We jumped a number of wakes. . and had a super time. Once we fell off towards the Coronado Bridge, out came the chute. Again, with the wind abeam we powered up even more and flew!
Falling off further, we did not have enough wind to wire reach and dog leg downwind, so we broke out some lunch and congratulated ourselves with our efficient jibes. MISTAKE! A few times, the windward spin sheet got tangled up in with the inboard end of the pole. I tried to untangle it while steering with my legs. It worked well, but we got so relaxed jibing, that I did not notice the spin halyard tangling up around by feet, and something else on the tiller. One thing led to another, and in less that 10 knots of breeze, the helm when down, I fell over to leeward in a tangle, and Chris went over next. As Chris pointed out later, once he ends up on the leeward side, (as he almost outweighs the boat), we are doomed. Of course, I weigh in at 205 . . no chance.
The whole 3 sail rig went over half jibed. I looked up, while swimming the nose of the boat to windward (Chris was already on the centerboard) as Bob Woodcock: Team School Bus blew by! I later found out that this was one of the highlights of his day!
We came up, I became a boat anchor on the transom and the boat pivoted around its new, very large rudder (me). Chris reset the spinnaker even before I got back in! as I steered from aft the tiller. Flaps opened . . . and we blew the water out.
The last time I recall dumping a dinghy was in a Fireball in 1976 down in Cape Town S.A. THAT was due to some serious WIND. So good luck to all you guy going to Durban . . . I did Nationals there, and we were kept company by 10-meter waves . . .
Turns out we tacked the boat rather than jibing it with this little maneuver. I would guess we were over for about 40 seconds. Getting the water out took a bit of time, but we did catch Bob after the first leg. His Cored Classic (C2?) is fast downwind, but with 10 knots of gas upwind, and much better sails, we were past in a few minutes.
We then started a duel with Taz upwind. Using the ol’ loose cover, we pulled ahead about 1000 yards. BUT, over the advise of Chris (AND DAVE . . boy am I in for it . . ) I just had to try out the wind on the right hand side of the channel. The current.
Our 1000 yards shrank to 100, then to about 10. Stay on target, stay on target aaawww .wwwww Where is that line? Gotta use some old sneaky collegian stuff on Steve (Team TAZ) to put the finish away, but how can one do that if your behind! Turns out that TAZ dropped into a hole at the last minute, and we were saved. They had us. The current had us. Luck was ours this day.
Meg Woodcock greeted us at the dock with a ley and a kiss. Best damn finish ever!
The party is another story. Tri-Tip on the BBQ, bonfire on the beach, perfect fall evening, I was still abit damp from the capsize and felt no pain, especially after a few cups of the punch . . We all looked like advertisement for a Hawaiian Punch. At least that went for the guys . . Hats, leys, it was great! The best race of the season!
The Y2K B2B was a milestone in my fledgling 505 sailing career, my first
ocean race. Admittedly I was a bit nervous. Until this race I'd never left
the sanctity of Mission Bay while crewing a 505. After all, the Pacific is
one of the larger bodies of water in the area. But I trusted the fine
helmsmen of Taz, Steve Schnelker. Foolish me. After setting sail, I
inquired about the status of our emergency amenities, flares and such. His
response was something along the lines of "We don't need no stinkin'
flares". Great. Fortunately our leg down the coast was uneventful
Another first for me was trimming the kite off the wire on the reach into
the SD bay. This was epic fun. Can't wait to try that again.
Steve and I finished 5th, just over a minute behind Chris & John. This
after lagging behind them considerably throughout most of the race. We
didn't catch them, but that battle for 4th place at the finish made the
completion of the B2B all the more fun.
I learned a lot and had a great time. If all goes as planned, I'll be back
next year in my own boat.