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!