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.