December Winter Race

There was a bit more of a turnout this month as Dave Goecke, Brett Herr and Peter McCormick went head to head in light air to try to establish a leading position in the series standings. All finished the race and they posted the following results:

1st place Brett Herr .75
2nd place Peter McCormick 2.00
3rd place Dave Goecke 3.00



The series totals to date are as follows:

1st place Peter McCormick 2.75
1st place Brett Herr 2.75
2nd place Dave Goecke 3.00

Miraculously because there were only 3 entrants and there is a tie for first, nobody came in last. Go figure.

New 2008 Winter Series kicks off

Our new Winter racing series has begun. Due to the amount of requests we have received we are continuing our racing program though the winter season. For more details click on the above link and it will take you to the page with all of the information regarding this new once a month series. So far the scoring is as follows:


Peter McCormick - .75 pts
Brett Herr - 2 pts

If you missed last months race don't worry. Everyone is allowed to throw out their worst race in the series, so you can still join in and be competitive next month. The next race day will be Sunday, December 21, 2008. Show up early as the race starts at 1:00pm.


Fair Winds,

Mike

Final Beer Can Race of 2008

Well, this week was the final beer can race of the season. Unfortunately, I had a family emergency and missed it. I had prepared a photo slideshow for the post-race festivities at Sequoia Yacht Club, but the people in charge of the program weren't able to get it to play from the CD I gave them. So I've decide to post it here for all to see. It's not as great as it would have been on the big screen, but at least some of you will get to see it now. Be sure to turn on your computer's sound and enjoy!

Please plan on getting out there every Wednesday next year. The racing season starts around mid-April. Check back on Spinnaker's web site for the exact date.

Fair winds,
cj

Beer Can #25 - Sept 24

It was a balmy night. There will little wind in the channel but a very nice breeze as we got out to the bay. We were racing course 2—out to marker 12 and back.

I was racing on Odyssey, my friend Alex's 44' Islander, which is berthed at Bair Island Marina. So I couldn't be on the Merit dock to take pictures before the race.

I sent out email the day before, asking for someone to take pictures of the Merit crews for me, and Dave G kindly volunteered. So these pictures are all his. Where's the picture of your crew, Dave?!

Dave also gave me the run-down of who did what to whom after the race, so I've got the stats for you.

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M6	Nico
2	M7	Hans
3	M4	Dave G
4	M3	Brett
5	M5	Mike
6	M1	Peter

Congrats to all, and a big thank you to Dave for helping me out!

Beer Can #24 - Sept 17

I know... I've been very, very bad and missed a few weeks of races on this blog. Well, last night I shot a lot of pictures and talked to all of the racers and now I'm back on track and intend to write up the last 4 races of the season. Only 3 left! Better get out there if you haven't been in a while!

It was a gorgeous evening. We're into the extended season now, so the race started half an hour early and finished early, too, which was really nice. It was a strong ebb during the whole race with about 15-18 kt winds out of the northwest... just delightful conditions. We raced course 1, which is out to Y and back... the new race marker that was replaced a few weeks ago after it went missing in June.

I crewed on Slipstream, a 42' Catalina, for the first time. I was working the jib for a while and then the main for a while, but because there were so many crew members, I got several chances to shoot some pictures of the Merits out on the water... something I don't get to do much when I'm in one!

From all accounts, the Merits had a good start. Nico took the lead right away in M2, and Dave in M4 with Susan and my buds, Norbert and Kerry, battled M1 and M5 for second place and got it.

Smokin' J also had a bunch of my buds on board, and I was able to get several pictures of them... another thing I don't usually get to do because I'm often on it! Of course, Smokin' J has never gone aground when I've been on it!

So I don't have a lot to report, because I can't tell tales out of school (and there were some very interesting tales told to me last night!), but suffice it to say it was a glorious evening for sailing, and a lovely time was had by all.

Hey, I just realized that I don't know the order the other Merits came in. Please post a comment with whatever info you know!

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M2	Nico
2	M4	Dave G
?	M1	Hans
?	M3	Mike
?	M5	Vadim
?	M6	Peter
?	M7	Brett

Please check out my Picasa web album for lots more pictures!

2008 Cheeseburger in Paradise

Well the latest Cheeseburger in Paradise was a huge success having over 30 participants and yielding 2 class winners for the first time in the events history. The Merit 25's were historically the annual race one design boat, but there were so many people signing up for the event that we had to add Cal 24's and the J29. Since there were 7 merit 25's we decided to give that design it's own award and also give an award for the best place overall. It was a long race to the San Mateo Bridge and back as the winds were light and the current was a fairly strong flood. The winners are as follows:

Overall Champions -

Boat - J29
Skipper - Philippe Piernot
Crew - Nico Popp
Laurence Popp

Merit 25 Champions -

Boat - M6
Skipper - Peter McCormick
Crew - Bruce Rosenthal
Tara Travers
Brendon Vining

Kimi Kosugi, who won the last two years races in a row came in a close third and was the second Merit 25 to cross the finish. Congrats to all racers and a special thanks to all the friends and family that showed up to support this event. Lots of Cheeseburgers and beverages were consumed in the celebration of this extremely popular annual regatta. We hope to see you here next year.

Beer Can #19 - August 13

It was another exciting evening at the Redwood City beer can races. We had very colorful crews on all 7 Merits plus a Santana. It was a beautiful warm summer evening with 15-20 kt winds out of the northeast, which made for a very active beat up the channel. Lots of tacking was done by all.

The tide was dead low shortly before the start of the race, so we had a 3 kt flood all the way out and back. It certainly felt like more.

This week, I got a lot of pictures and had a little fun with them. Check it out!

M1 - Persistent Peter

M2 - Hiding Hans

M3 - Nonchalant Norbert

M4 - Skillful Stan

M5 - Jiffy Jeff

M6 - Able Andrew

M7 - Missing Mike (where is he???)

S4 - Dizzy Dave

I was in M3 with Nonchalant Norbert and one other crew member, Felix. We got a slow start and had a slow boat, so we were essentially at the back of the pack all the way out to marker 12. So what did we do all that time, you ask? We tacked and tacked and tacked and tacked and then tacked again! We must have tacked about 50 times by the time we rounded the mark.

Oh, and speaking of the mark... We were about 100 yards back when we saw Lady Kay (one of the big boats) literally shred her jib on marker 12. I heard all sorts of stories from the boats around her, but it seems like a case of bad judgment and unpredictable wind in a tight situation. Bummer...

We saw Jiffy Jeff and crew in M5 (a known fast boat) heading back when we were only about half way between 2 and 12, so I'm guessing M5 won, but I'm not sure. I know we weren't last. M6 came in after us, and S4 (who I hear started on time this time!) came in after them.

It was a lovely evening, though, and a wonderful time was had by all!

Check out my Picasa web album for more pictures of the race, the originals of these pictures, and larger versions of these pictures. Enjoy!

Say Cheeseburger!

Well the upcoming Cheeseburger in Paradise Regatta & BBQ is already generating some buzz. Many boats are reserved and club boats are beginning to fill. The course has just been determined. All racers should be here by noon for boat assignments. The skippers will then be briefed as to the course and starting times for each class of boats as the crew readies the boats for the race. If you haven't signed up yet do so now- today so you can be assured a spot on the boat of your choice.

Beer Can #18 - August 6

Is it August already? Where has the summer gone?

Well, I was slackin' again this week. Not really... I had to work a million hours to meet a deadline on Thursday, so I missed the beer can race. I did hear some stories, though.

Norbert told me that he was in Dave G's boat, a Cal 24, with Karen and Lisa, and that they started about 5 minutes early again. He said the two Cals and the Santana that were out that day came first. He also mentioned that some of the big boats were just coming out of the channel when they were passing marker 2 to come back in! I guess it was a pretty fast race!

Some people in Merits were Skipper Jeff Smith and crew, Skipper Stan with Monica as crew(!), and Skipper Nico and crew. Apparently, Nico took the prize for first place among the Merits... again.

I'll definitely be out there in a Merit this week. Fair winds, y'all!

Beer Can #17 - July 30

I'm a slacker. I've been selfish. I raced on Smokin' J again this week and didn't take any pictures or even get any stories about the Merit race. I have no idea who did what in the Merit race. I just wanted to relax for a change and have fun this week, so I abandoned the racing blog. I didn't even write about sailing the J! Oh my.

I did find out one thing, though... Dave G came in first overall in a Santana!!! How cool is that?! When I asked him how he did it, he told me that he rigged the hanked jib all the way to the top of the forestay (instead of the 2 feet lower that is a normal hoist on that boat) and tied off the clew (now 2 feet above the deck) to the shackle on the bow. By doing that, he was able to raise the center of the sail a couple of feet and get more speed... I guess.

He later told me that he started the race 4 minutes early! What?!?! Intentionally??? Yes. Hmm... Well, I guess he shouldn't get the prize for winning the race, but what the heck. He took the beer cozy at the apres sail festivities and gave it to Lisa, one of his loyal crew members. So I guess it all comes out in the wash.

No pics... sorry... Want to see pictures of the new doors and windows installed in my house this week? I didn't think so.

Beer Can #16 - July 23

Once again, I was crewing on Smokin' J for the beer can race this week, but I had a bird's eye view of the start of the Merit race from about 100 yards up the channel. What a pretty start! Seven boats all in a row, all starting at roughly the same time. Very quickly, M7 and M1 forged ahead. Half a minute later, M1 screamed past us, and it looked like my good buddies, Skipper Norbert and Dave G were going to prevail. They were neck and neck with Skipper Nico on M7!

The Merits sailed up the channel, and we continued to tack and gybe, preparing for our start. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day with strong winds in the basin (about 18 kts) and most of the channel and lighter winds out on the bay (about 15 kts). As unusual as that is, it's been happening quite a bit this year. The ebb was just starting, so the currents were with us on the way out. The race was to day marker 12 and back.

We got a good start with Kerry at the helm and Skipper Stan doing timing and tactics. Steve was on the main, Jerry and I were on the jib, and Chris and Sean were rail meat on the upwind leg and were assigned foredeck and mast, respectively, for the downwind. We played cat and mouse with Iowa on the way up the channel and almost caught them a few times. Kerry navigated us brilliantly through some pretty big waves between the end of the channel and the mark and made a very good rounding. By the time we reached the mark, we had passed 3 or 4 boats and were doing great.

The downwind sail was less perfect. Chris wasn't ready to raise the spinnaker when we rounded the mark, and then when he did raise it, it was twisted. When he got the twist out, he realized that one of the sheets was rigged wrong. Ugh... We doused. Sean went below and got the chute ready to raise through the forward hatch. Meanwhile, Chris rerigged the sheets and halyard. They started to raise it again, but the rigging was wrong again. We doused again. This time, I was on deck, ready to release the boom vang if we started to broach, so I ended up playing turtle and holding the spinnaker by the mast while Sean rerigged the sheets.

We were back in the channel by this time and Stan was at the helm. We'd been passed by several boats while we headed down to try to fly the kite, and now the wind was too far forward to fly it. Stan said to wait until we reached the power towers, and the wind would shift to more of a beam reach. When we got there, we raised the chute, and it flew. But we were so close to the end of the race that Stan said not to bother lowering the jib. So we sailed along with both the spinnaker and the jib raised.

After all was said and done, we came in about in the middle of the pack... not bad for such a messed up spinnaker run!

The Merit race was pretty close and a fun race for those I talked to out on the deck of SYC after the race. Here are the results:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M7	Nico
2	M1	Norbert
3	M5	Peter
4	M2	Mike
5	M3	Hans

I hope to see you all out there next week! Please check my Picasa web album for pictures of the Santana (Skipper Kimi) and Cal (Skipper Cliff).

Ron Brown in Pacific Cup Race!

You may have heard that Ron Brown is racing in the Pacific Cup right now. He's one of the instructors at Spinnaker Sailing, co-owner and avid racer of Black Sheep (a 25' Beneteau), member of Sequoia Yacht Club, and all round great guy.

Ron is sailing for J World on a J-120 called J World. They left San Francisco yesterday (July 16) with a good lead all the way out the gate. Sandi Crane was there and shot some very cool videos of the start. Check them out!

If you'd like to follow the race, check out the Satellite Race Tracker. J World is in Div D.

Beer Can #15 - July 16

If it's Wednesday, I must be sailing!

This week, I was on M4 with Skipper Steve Skinner. It was just the two of us with Steve at the helm and on the main and myself on the jib sheets. The weather was warm, sunny, and breezy (maybe 12 kts in the channel), and I thought we'd have a nice, calm race on a warm summer evening.

We got off to a great start... until Kerry suddenly appeared on our starboard side and yelled out "Starboard"! We had to duck down to avoid a collision, and Steve ended up doing a 360, which made us very late over the starting line. Arrrrrggggg, Kerry!!!

So we brought up the rear all the way up the channel. As we got closer to the bay, the wind got stronger and stronger, and by the time we were on our way toward race marker S, our target, we realized that we probably should have reefed back in the channel. As we neared the middle of the bay, the waves got bigger and closer together, and the wind got stronger. Steve had all he could do to keep us moving through the waves. We were way too light for those conditions, especially without a reef.

So at some point, probably half way between 3 and S, we decided to head back. We were in last place by a long way, overpowered, and not able to get up enough speed to make good progress through the big waves. It was the right thing to do. The up side was that I could take pictures of the fleet as they returned, and Steve could go home early and make points with his wife! So back to the dock we went, which was a pretty nice downwind sail after we got out of the big waves.

So I have lots more pictures this week, which you can see on my Picasa web album. And I have the race results for you:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M6	Ron Wilson
2	M1	Nico
3	M7	Hans
4	M5	Kerry
5	M3	Viola
6	M2	Jeff
X	M4	Steve Skinner (abandoned)

Even though we didn't finish, it was a fun race and post-race festivities, as usual. I'm glad to see so many people out on the Merits this year! Great turnout!

Beer Can #14 - July 9

I missed it again! Arrrrgggg.... got caught up with a technical problem at work and had to solve it before I left for the day (which turned out to be 7:30pm), so I could deliver my work that was due that day. I have a new client and just started a new gig last week, so I have to make a good impression, you know!

Anyway, I hear tell that all 7 Merits and all 3 Santanas were out this week. I have no idea who was where, who won, placed, or showed, or what the heck happened. If you have the 411 about this week's race, please write a comment and associate it with this post.

Any subscriber can write a comment! Just click subscribe to this blog, and select your account type. (If you don't have a Yahoo or Google account, select Atom.) Then you can comment all you like. Just click the comments link at the end of the post you want to comment on.

Thanks to Dave G for sending me this picture of his crew (CK, Curt, and Tara). Apparently, Curt's PFD inflated as they were taking down the sails. That's the second one this season! Kerry's was the first.

And thanks to Shirley Burek (often part of Jeff Smith's crew) for this really cool aerial photo of the race shot from her friend's Cessna.

See you next week for sure!

Beer Can #13 - July 2

This week's beer can race was fairly relaxed and fun for me. I was on the Smokin' J, so I didn't get a lot of stories about the Merit race. I do have the results, though, and a few pictures from where I was sitting.

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M3	Jeff
2	M4	Viola
3	M1	Dave G
4	M7	Leslie
5	M2	Kimi

It was a balmy early summer evening. The wind was perfect—12-15 kts with gusts maybe hitting 18-20 kts. We had a flood tide with some rollers out in the deeper parts of the bay, but that was good for surfing back.

Stan took the helm for the start of the race and then handed it over to Kerry and shifted into his tactician role. I was on the main for the upwind leg, and Steve Skinner took the jib sheets. Monica was foredeck, so she was basically rail meat on the way out to S, the race marker we were headed for. Monica brought her cousin, Emily, and her student, Brian, who hadn't sailed much and not for a long time. Brian helped Steve on the jib sheets, and Emily pitched in whenever we needed her. Other than that, they rode the rail with Monica.

Kerry steered us through the rollers extremely well on the upwind leg and then rounded the mark perfectly, capturing the inside track and overtaking a Beneteau that was rounding at the same time.

That's when Monica came alive! Up went the spinnaker and down went the jib. Monica noticed that the spin halyard was inside the jib and corrected that quickly just before the hoist. She also loved the special ties I brought her to tie down the jib when it was not in use. Glad that was a hit!

On the downwind leg, Monica trimmed, I handled the guy, and Kerry handled the foreguy and topping lift. It was really nice to have enough crew to handle everything in the pit. So often this spring we've been shorthanded while flying the chute.

No gybes were necessary as we headed for the channel on a broad reach. Stan decided to douse early, around marker 8, I think. The douse went well except for my foot on the guy, but we corrected that quickly. Part way down the channel, a couple of other boats hoisted their chutes again, but Stan decided not to when Monica said she'd be swimming back if he did. All in all, it was a very pleasant evening and a good race. I believe we came in 5th out of about 20 boats.

When we returned to the dock, the Merits were all in. Here's what they look like after a race:Lame, I know... I promise to get all of the crews' pictures next week! Thanks to all who came out for this race!

Beer Can #12 - June 25

I was in this week's beer can race and did sail on a Merit, but my purpose was two-fold. Besides enjoying the race and trying to win, I was practicing for the LGYC Challenge race I'll be in this Saturday. You can get more info about our first practice and the race results on my other sailing blog.

My crew was Kerry (who actually chartered the boat, but I was acting skipper), Norbert (who faithfully came to the race straight from work and had to go back to work right after the race), Phill (who is the most experienced racer among us and has been a tremendous inspiration to us all). If you read my other blog about our first practice, you know that we were lacking some weight in general, but we had too much weight on the low side with Kerry grinding on the tacks. We still didn't have a fifth crew member.

I ran into Florin on the docks just before the start of the race and thought he'd be perfect... young, athletic, agile, strong, and light weight... not too much weight on the low side when he was grinding for me but enough to help on the high side when we were all on the rail. I asked him if he could do it, and he was thrilled. He said he'd have to check with his wife, and I offered him my cell phone. He made the call and 5 minutes later we had our fifth crew member! Yippee!

These guys are the best crew I could ask for, and I look forward to racing with them in the LGYC Challenge on Saturday.

Since I'm skippering the race on Saturday, I had to pay attention to my crew and strategy, so I asked my good friend and sailing buddy, Sandi, to take pictures of the Merit racing crews for me. She got all of the crews except for M1, because they took off before she even got to the dock! Thanks, Sandi!

I spent the time after the race debriefing and strategizing with my crew, so I didn't get any of the good stories I usually get. And I don't want to discuss my racing strategy before the big race on Saturday. But I can tell you that one of my opponents in Saturday's race, John Draeger, raced a Merit that night and won. My other opponent in Saturday's race, Jeff Smith, raced his own boat, Ilonsa, that night, so I couldn't observe his tactics in a Merit. Well, we were watching John anyway, because I'd observed Jeff on a couple of other races and thought I could predict some things he might do. (I'm not tellin'...)

We were in M3, and John was in M5. Nico, who wins a lot of races, particularly in M2, was in M2. Those three boats started pretty much together, along with M7, skippered by Kimi with my friends Sandi and Bruce as crew.

We practiced in the positions we'd concluded were best at the end of Sunday's practice. Phill took the helm and the main. I managed the jib sheets (released and tailed). Florin stayed down low to grind for me and then hopped up on the rail between tacks. Norbert was the forward-most rail meat and Kerry was rail meat in the middle. Can you believe two accomplished sailors like that were willing to come out and just be rail meat for me? What fantastic friends they are! So Norbert spent the entire race crossing in front of the mast on tacks, while Kerry rolled under the boom. I'm telling you... I couldn't ask for better sailing buddies. I owe those guys big time!

The practice went really well in terms of our positions. The crew was in synch and doing everything we were supposed to be doing. On the downwind leg, Phill taught us how to rock the boat down on puffs and waves, keeping it as flat as possible. But M5 and M2 were gaining speed and increasing their leads throughout the race. In fact, John went flying out in front of everyone on the downwind leg like a speed demon!

Phill isn't used to being passed by other Merits after a good start. He's used to gaining speed and then catching the other boats and winning races. So he started questioning himself, thinking maybe we're actually better than the people he usually sails with! We also thought John might be a real threat, and we knew Jeff had won this race a couple of other times. So we had our work cut out for us.

Here are the results:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M5	John Draeger
2	M2	Nico
3	M3	Cheryl
4	M1	Steve Skinner
5	M4	Peter
6	M7	Kimi

After the race, we cornered Stan and asked him if we could tune the rigs and how certain things would work on Saturday. We decided that I should pick up some tell-tales and some rigging tape and bring that on Saturday, along with some pliers and other tools to work on the boats before the skipper's meeting.

Wish me luck on Saturday in the LGYC Challenge! See you out there next Wednesday!

Beer Can #11 - June 18

It never fails to amaze me that after all these beer can races, there's still something fresh and new about each one. This one had its own set of interesting events.

First, this was the biggest turnout for a beer can race in my history with the club. We had all 7 Merits out there plus two Cal 24s! Nine boats competing in the small boat race. Nice! Of course, I attribute it to all the people reading this blog who enjoy seeing their pictures on the web! Just look at how they're hammin' it up! Ok, I'm just kidding... Of course, you're all coming out because it's so damn much fun!

Ok, so down to business...

The night was warm... in the 80s, I'd say. The tide was going out but the ebb wasn't very strong (much to Norbert's chagrin—more about that later). The wind was nice... around 10 kts as we sailed out the channel, increasing to about 15-16 kts as we entered the bay, and then easing a bit while we were out there. It died down to about 6 kts by the time we returned to the channel.

The race course was #2—out to day marker 12 and back. I was in M6 with Sandi and Skipper Norbert. I can't believe Norbert has come out for this race three weeks in a row! He went back to work after the race, but at least he got out there for a wonderful break in the middle of the week. But I digress...

The Cal 24s started about 7 minutes before the Merits and were quite far down the channel by the time the Merits started. The Merit start was uneventful (although I do think that two boats crossed the starting line about 20 seconds early, but I'm not challenging, because I'm not sure which boats they were).

As we sailed up the channel, we were pretty close to a few other boats. When we rounded channel marker 3, we headed slightly east to ride the ebb and get some speed. Most of the other boats stayed on the west side of the bay, and Skipper Jeff, winner of the race, tells me that he took M5 right down the middle. He said he tacked quite a few times but basically headed straight for marker 12. We only tacked once to get to the mark, but I know we went a much longer distance, because we were in 4th place by the time we rounded the mark.

We set the sails to wing-and-wing for a straight downwind leg back to 3, and then took down the pole just before rounding 3 and heading back down the channel. We pretty much stayed in formation all the way to the finish line and came in fourth. Here are the results:

Place	Boat	Skipper
1	M5	Jeff
2	M2	Kerry
3	C1	Dave G
4	M6	Norbert
5	M1	Vadim
6	M7	Cliff
7	C2	Kimi
8	M3	Philippe
9	M4	John D

After the race, on the Sequoia Yacht Club deck, Jeff told me "When Nico didn't show up, we were so disappointed!" I guess he's itching for that rematch Nico promised him.

I also heard that M4 got their topping lift caught on day marker 12 as they rounded and had to cut the line. Yikes! That's the first mishap I've heard of for a while. No wonder they came in last!

Great race, friends! See you next time! Oh, and please check out my Picasa web album for more pictures

By the way, if you're not in the picture of the crew for the boat you were on, it's because you got there too late! You've got to get there by about 5:20pm to get in the pictures!