South Beach YC Winter Series - December Race

Today we went out to race in my old stomping grounds, the home of the South Beach YC and the World Series Champs.  It will be the last race of the 2010 season.  The forecast for today was less than ideal, with rain scheduled all day, however the wind forecast was a respectable 10 - 20 knots from the SW, shifting to the S.

Rob was back from school, and he joined Andrew and myself to round up the crew.  Started the day with our now traditional breakfast at Ole's, and after some good pancakes, waffles and bacon we were off to the boat.    Loaded the boat up and started the motor to San Francisco from the Estuary.  It was overcast, but no rain.  Maybe the rain would stay away.  We had a nice ebb out of the Estuary and got to South Beach with enough time to hang out at the guest dock for a little while.

We followed Wasabi and Wild One out of the marina and headed to the start area.  Course 12 was called, which had us going around Treasure Island, either way, and back to the finish.   We got a jump on the start and the big kite went up immediately.  Our lead was short lived as Wasabi quickly caught up.  We were a little higher and holding our own particularly during the gusts.   Wild One was close behind and constantly threatening.  The 3 lead boat all chose to round TI to port.   There was much change in position or distance between the boats, until we got under the bridge and the winds lightened up.  In this area every boat got to extend their lead on the boat following, opening the gap between the boats.  A few hundred yards from the bridge we dropped the kite to start making our way toward the end of the island.  

Breeze was now consistent between 10 - 12 knots and with the help of the current we were making good speed.  We got around the the north end of the island but stayed close to shore on the west side to stay away from the ebbing current.  We followed Wasabi close to shore, but Wild one headed to the city side.  Right before crossing the bridge we were able to host our reaching kite for maybe a mile, but soon we were back to white sails to make the finish.  It clearly payed to stay close to the shore of TI as we had made a huge gain on Wild One.  We were the second boat to finish behind Wasabi and corrected to first place.  Not a bad way to finish the season.

Merry Xmas to all, we will be back in the new year ready to go again.