Sailing together since 1953

Sunday, May 5
We had another fine turnout and fine gusty weather (Spring Lake style). Six boats and a capsize or two. We managed to have 2 races and a rescue. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Next race scheduled for Sunday, May 19 is the Series finale.

Update 5/16

The Awards Banquet Potluck has been canceled because of the threatening weather but we are keeping the races as scheduled for now and hoping the rain will end! Stay tuned.

Results as of May 5

2019 spring series detailed results

2019 Spring Series NOR-SI

“NANCY” Fans,

Tonight’s SYC Twilighter got off to a rough start with the race committee boat’s anchor windlass not working.  We sailed around for an hour while they managed to fix it, get anchored, and start the race – late.  It was breezy and lumpy – a little spray over the bow.  And the wind was fluky.  The course was a 2.8 nm “hot dog” between drop buoys at Yellow Bluff and Pt. Knox.

We got a good start at the committee boat, but had fouled the mainsheet around the tiller head so had to tack quickly the clear it and then back. With the strong ebb, we sailed out toward the middle before tacking for the Yellow Bluff mark. There were the normal fluky winds near Yellow Bluff and had to take several short tacks to clear the mark.

The downwind leg was interesting with Leslie sitting on the sail to hold it out after the beat where it blew in the high teens. Then the wind came back, but out of the NW instead of the SW – but before we completed the leg is had switched back to SW.

The short beat to the finish line was a one-tack affair with the ebb pushing us toward the committee end of the line. We corrected out 02:47 head of Jan’s “Sweet Pea” and more over the rest of Div. C boats.

It was a fun 27 minute romp around the course, but due due to the initial delay it was nearly dark when we finished and it was dark when we got back to the berth. We put the boat to bed, skipped the festivities down at the SYC clubhouse, and drove home.

Thanks to Leslie, Gail, and Dan for coming out for the race. I certainly had fun.

Gail has submitted these great photos

— Pat

We have canceled the  after-race banquet and tentatively rescheduled it for Sunday, June 23.

Pictures from this year’s BAMA Doublehanded Farallones Race with Dan O’Neill sharing the cockpit. For the SSS Singlehanded Race I’ll share the cockpit with “OttO” Helm.

The 2019 SSS Singlehanded Farallones Race is this coming Saturday, May 11. If things go right I’ll Start at 0815 on the SF City Front and head out the Golden Gate, around the S. E. Farallon Island 30 nm W of S.F. and then back for a total of 60 nm. There’s an 0918 (an hour after I Start)) 3.4 knot Ebb to flush me under the GG Bridge and out beyond Lands End. That joy ride looks like it will slow down however.  Both NOAA and SailFlow are predicting WSW wind at 10 knots or less for the Gulf of the Farallones.  The race often takes 9 – 10 hours, but if the wind’s on the light side this year it will take longer. You can follow the race on Jibeset.net  – or see my track after the race is completed. I’ll have a final update at the end of the week.

(Thanks again to Pat Broderick)

Wednesday, May 8, 6 pm.

You are invited to attend our Monthly meeting.

There is a chance to also order some food during the meeting and meet new or re-connect with old (or young) sailing friends.
It’s also an opportunity to introduce and discuss ideas for club events, new or old.
Hope to see you there.

Location

Pizza Gourmet
1415 Fulton Rd
Santa Rosa
CA 95401

Link to the club calendar .here.

April 2019 minutes

Sunday, April 14

What a day it was on the lake. After months of cancellations because of too little water, too much rain, flooding, too hot, too cold, not enough wind, or too few participants…we had 5 boats show up ready to get in the water and have some races! The wind looked to me like it would be enough, I was wishing it would be a little stronger, though. Well, as it often happens on Spring Lake, things didn’t go as planned.

We had Wallace in his Vagabond, Bob & Shannon in their CL 14, Joe in his Lonestar 13, David in his Banshee, and me in my Omega 14. All of us got rigged up and into the water and began to get ready for some races. Bob also also had a couple kayaks in the water for some other family members to use. These would prove useful later in the day.

As I was sailing around along with the others, waiting for the start of the race, I noticed that Joe had capsized downwind almost in middle of the the lake. Did I say that the wind indeed had gotten stronger and more gusty? (combined with the usual instant 180 degree wind direction shifts). We headed over to see if we could help Joe. His boat was floating low in the water, mostly upright, but trying to re-capsize itself in the gusts. David tried towing the boat towards the dock. After a couple attempts, it just wasn’t going to work. Then David had a capsize of his own. He quickly righted his boat though. I tried towing the boat with Joe in the water hanging on to the transom, but after a few minutes, I had to let go. Joe reassured us he was still ok in the water.

So where was the ranger and the rescue boat? We never saw them. But when I looked back towards the dock, I saw two kayaks headed our way. Bob and his son, Matthew paddled up to Joe and his boat and after roping the kayaks to each other, attached the towline to the sunken Lonestar and sunken Joe and paddled hard back upwind towards the dock. The towing was slow but successful. Although they didn’t go all the way back to the dock, they were able to get it to shore and several helpers were able to lift the boat up and drain enough water out so that Joe could climb back in, set the jib and limp back to the dock. I found his hat floating away and was able to return it. Sort of a happy ending? Not quite yet…

Wallace and I had by now both dropped our jibs so that we could stay upright in the strong (and gusty winds). Bob and Shannon piled grandkids into their boat and were sailing back and forth nicely across the lake. David was now speeding around in the Banshee, as they are prone to do. So we decided, why not try a race anyway? Joe joined Wallace in the Vagabond and I was still solo sailing the Omega. We only had an upwind mark set and by then it was about 4 o’clock, time enough for a short race or two. Bob and family (wisely, I think) decided to just keep sailing back and forth. We started our race and everything was fun and exciting, all of us tacking towards the weather mark, then all of a sudden I realized that I too, was going to capsize!

Gusty wind shifts, a tangled mainsheet and not paying enough attention combined to cause my boat to slowly lay over in the water just a few feet from shore. I have never capsized this boat before and wondered if I could right it by myself. I swam around and reached up and grabbed the centerboard and hung all my 160 lbs on the end. It didn’t move. I swam back and made sure the mainsheet was free and then went back to the centerboard grabbed it and pulled. Then I stuck my feet under the gunwales and pushed. Slowly, the Omega lifted back upright. I managed to climb aboard over the transom after 3 tries, gather the lines and get underway. (I am glad I left my cellphone in the truck this time). I decided to abandon the race and made it back to the dock.

The others eventually returned to the dock, too. I think Joe said he lost a shoe. I lost a sponge but Wallace found it, and some sticky lake mud was added to the top of my mast  and mainsail.

I will venture to say that even still, a good time was had by all (or most).

–Mark Alarie

More Detailed Results may or may not happen this time.

Saturday, June 15, meet 10 am at the Launch ramp. Launch about 11 am.
The sail is planned to be similar to last year, only lunch will be at Lungamare at Jack London Square and sailing up and down the estuary.

More details and map later.

May 5, 2019 at the starting line L to R, Gail, Joe, Bill, Mark, Bob & Shannon

Race schedule can be seen here at our calendar page

This series is scheduled twice a month, six Sundays from March 3 to May 19. This is usually a great time of year to sail. Hope you can make it out for some or all of the races. Note that our “races” are really low-key. They can be a fun place to learn the fundamentals of racing.

If you have a sailboat and want to try sailing, come on out to Spring Lake and join the fun! There is sometimes room for you to crew on a boat, too. Post a message on meetup and see if anyone replies.

There is a $7 park entry fee or you can purchase an annual pass. Check at the entrance station.
More info on Spring Lake park here.

Keep up on the races by checking out our meetup site here. We would also appreciate you signing up for the race on the meetup site, so we can know how many to expect.

More details on the races can be found here in the Notice of Race.
Map to Spring Lake Launch ramp here.