The forecasted conditions called for a moderate breeze and a building ebb. We needed to get to Benicia before 3:30 to have enough depth to enter the marina. We got to the starting area early and watch the early fleets start. There was some confusion on the early starters and many rounded the wrong windward mark. We double checked our charts to make sure we knew where we had to go. Start was a little exciting. We wanted the pin end, preferably on port tack. The Thompson 650 was also tooling around the pin end with similar intentions. With a minute to go they switched tactics and decided to attack the pin on starboard tack. We were committed to port. I thought they were going to be a bit late and committed to the pin. We didn't quite make it. The Thompson had to bare away to avoid clipping our stern. Its been a while since I've been in the wrong end of a crossing. We cleared the rest of the fleet and once we had room we took care of our penalty. Still, we had a smart upwind leg and managed to claw our way back rounding the windward mark in second place behind the Henderson 30. There was a nice breeze in the mid teens, and after reaching for a 100 yards or so we sent the kite up.
The reach had us pointing straight to Richmond, lower than most of the fleet. Always counting on the wind clocking left to clear the restricted area along the Richmond wharf. With a new trimmer and me a little rusty we lost it a few times. Can't remember wiping out so many times. I might have been pushing a little too hard with the knot-meter showing 20 a couple of times. But we had quick recoveries and continued the charge. Near Richmond we hit the normal wind hole, dropped the kite and climbed upwind for a bit to get on the building westerly. Kite back up, up the East side of Red Rock and along the Richmond side to San Pablo. The folks at the Brothers decided to blast their fog horn (there was no fog) as we sailed by, making me almost jump off the boat.
Up to this point we still had a few boats in front of us, and the Melges 24 and Thompson 650 charging hard from behind, bringing more breeze with them. It lighten up for a bit after rounding San Pablo, but the fun ride was a about to begin. We could see the fog inland and could see the breeze filling in from the Southwest just ahead. We quickly set up the secret weapon, our Code 0, for the reach across San Pablo bay. That was the race for us. We just took off pointing straight to Vallejo. The folks behind, either struggle too deep with their kites or dropped down to white sails. We still had some early starters in front of us, but we did a good job reeling them in. The last boat in front was a well sailed Moore 24, we came up their stern and used that opportunity to reset the kite. We worked both sides of Carquinez Straits looking for breeze and managed to keep the charging 40+ footers behind us. An uncrowded couple of roundings and the first monohull across the line.
Sailed to the dock slightly scraping the bottom on the entrance to the marina. We finished by 3 so just enough water to let us in. We stayed for drinks and the awards party, waiting for the tide to come back up and release us. A 10 PM departure, a pleasant motor back under autopilot and crew and boat safely back in Alameda by 3:30 AM. Long, but fruitful race. I don't think we'll ever leave that Code 0 behind.
