May 05th, 2016
San Francisco Bay once again came through with stellar Weta racing conditions for this storied event taking place along the city front, on the same epic race track competed on during the last America’s Cup. The legends came out to play in many classes, from F18 to 505’s, Lasers and the largest class of 420 high school racers seen in years. It must be 420 month. Oh the towel popping in the locker room! In the Weta Class, it was Dave Berntsen who came out smoking, using his vast local knowledge of where to be and when to be there.
Currents went from a strong ebb at the start to often a flood tide at the weather mark. Unless you knew where the current lanes were and when they shifted, you were toast.
While only six Weta contenders showed up, four of the top five sailors on the West Coast were present, setting the stage for tight racing at the top. Making my return after some challenging health issues, “Hot Donutz” had been traded in for “Warm Muffinz (actually, Mike Niedig was very kind to lend me his boat). Here is a blow by blow:
Race 1: 14 knots, 72 degrees, pretty cold water. I got off the line well and tacked right away to get out into the strong ebb, Davo tacking right next to me. I held the lead halfway up the weather leg before making a bad decision to not tack behind a big barge and take wake instead. Davo got the jump on me and led at the windward mark by a couple of boat lengths, both of us overstanding the mark. Christophe Allie and Gordon Lyon made big gains on this mistake, and rounded right behind. A bigger feaupau, Davo tied a slip knot on his kite sheets and lost control of his kite, making it a three way race, the lead changing hands several times. I hit the final layline at a good angle and rounded the gate to finish first. Christophe second, Gordon third (I think he had a cold or something to slow him down), and Davo fourth. Fifth was newcomer SoCal sailor, Chris Killan and closing the gap, getting better each time, Quinten Boe.
Race 2: 8 knots, water still cold. I knuckleheaded off to the left shallow side of the course thinking the flood was coming in, but it came late, and only Davo and Gordon knew that. Gordon pulled a Paul Elvstrom and port tacked the fleet, but Davo had speed in that new boat, and those sails looked well set. I mucked around with Christophe who was like gnat magnet, who passed me but blew the gate rounding, going around the unfavored gate, so I jumped up to third. Davo wins.
Race 3: 6-8 knots, water colder. Had a great start and tried to correct my error by going right and to the ebb that still seemed to be running. Davo had a bad start, so I led Gordon off to the right, with Davo and Christophe far behind. Then what happened? I’ve seen the left working better than the right and vice versa, but the wind came in from the left with a 20 degree shift that never hit the lead runners, so though Gordon had walked over the top of me, Davo, Christophe and Chris K were now three hundred yards in the lead. I tacked and cut my losses, eventually catching Chris but not Davo and Christophe, who had a fun battle around the leeward mark. Again, Christophe got hammered and Davo won. Some day I’ll teach him how to round marks some day over one of those Appletinis.
Race 4: Sunday, 78 degrees, glassy, not a cloud in the sky. Looks like racing is over, but never underestimate the bay. At 1pm, the land had heated and the wind machine delivered, flipping boats right and left and sending the F18’s to harbor. Normally, this would be the Hot Donutz sign lit up, but not having sailed in a year and you know, having only one lung and a busted diaphragm, I thought I’d better take it easy. Gordon was not feeling up to snuff, and packed it in. So on the mainsail, you have three clew holes: The back hole I call the manhole. It gives you the most power and leech tension. The middle hole is the um, womanhole, as it depowers the main, and the forward hole, the hell hole, for when all hell is breaking loose. I’d never sailed the boat in the hell hole, but I wasn’t even keen on hiking out, so hell hole it was. As the start went off in a big gust and heavy ebb, I played it conservatively. I didn’t see Davo anywhere. Did he tie a granny again? I kept my eye on Christophe, who was really moving out. Am I going to have to hike here? We went to the left, but when tacked off up the middle, who do I see but Davo charging it about 100 yards ahead already. He had port tacked the fleet! Embarrassing. So knowing the regatta was over, I thought I’d better protect second and put just enough energy out to hang with Christophe. Coming up to the weather mark, he was on port, I starboard, and he kind of freaked and instead of ducking as he should have, tacked right in my way and just luffed like a wounded pelican. I told him to do his turns, but I guess he really doesn’t read SI”s as they are not in French, and only did one turn instead of a 720. That’s fine, it made it more exciting as he caught up to me downwind and I just waited for the next mistake to happen, which was coming into the mark too close and trying to douse at the last second. So his kite flapped and he had to go downwind and furl again. Upwind I just cruised enough to stay ahead, but he caught me as the tide started flooding like crazy. Finally made it around the windward mark to head downwind. I used to pump the sail and surf downwind, but now just sit there, so he still almost caught me again, the moucheron. That’s French, for gnat. But I crossed the finish line ahead and went in. I‘d had enough, using the last race as my throwout.
Race 5: Only Davo and Chris K stayed out to play. I’m guessing who won. Chris is a nice guy and a great addition to fleet who will probably improve quickly as he knows how to do things like round marks and get through traffic, but Davo was in a class of his own this regatta, sailing every leg perfectly. Hats off to the King. Berets off to Christophe as well, who is sailing the boat really well. Just needs more regattas with more boats, or a few more donuts.
I had wanted to come here and race one last time on this phenomenal race course against The Legend, and was able to finish every race I started, finishing second. It was good to see Davo out there and remember that once upon a time I had the fitness to be right there competing with him. But I can’t blame fitness on day 1, just lots of mistakes from being out of the game too long. Day 2 with the bay breeze was another story, and reminded me that breathing is not overated. I found out for certain that I too am king, but only the king of de nile. Time to hang up the cleats and just enjoy a little daysailing. The Weta is the perfect boat for that. Ibuprofen please! Nobody sails better in breeze now than Davo. Not even Paul Elvstrom.
By Jonathan Weston
