4 Optimist sailors from Royal Van flew down to San Francisco Thursday April 16th to train for one day and race for 2 in the first of a series of events in San Francisco. On Friday we trained in 15-18 kots of breeze and it was fantastic. Cameron Ho, Alex Fritz, Graham Harney and new member Ellie Shaw were all loving the surfing, the hiking and the current. They spent 4 hours working hard and even went for a couple of swims in the bay. Racing starts today and unfortunately, the racing portion of the event takes place in Richardsons Bay which has no current but also no wind. We are expecting 70 racers so we will really get great starting practices. IF the wind really does not cooperate, the racing will be moved into the bay (we would love that) but the organizers are concerned about the depth for mark setting.
On our way in yesterday we sailed by a dead whale which is anchored to a mark. It was a great science experimence to see it float and how big it was. The marine biologists are doing research on it to find out how it died.
The first day of the Optimist San Francisco YC regatta took place outside Angle Island. There was a lot of fog at the Golden Gate Bridge which made sailing conditions in Richardson's Bay impossible. The RVYC sailors were very pelased about that decision as we trained there yesterday and were used to the steep waves and wind conditions. The first 2 races had a heavy ebb while we had a great flood for the last two races which made rounding the windward mark a challenge.
50 Optimists were in the championship fleet with a whole pile in the green fleet. This was all our sailor's first regatta since October and we were all excited to finally be racing. The first race was very light and Alex Fritz was in the top 10 to the first mark but lost a huge amount on the second upwind by not going to the left close to Angel Island., Cameron Ho sailed a good second beat and was 14th with Graham Harney, Alex Fritz and Ellie Shaw following close behind in the 20s and 30s.
Race 2 started and the wind was coming and going. We had everything from 20 to 2 knots within 20 feet but all our sailors handeled it well. CAmeron was 3rd but was OCS after an excellent start, something he had a goal for the weekend. Race 3 was 15-18 steady wind where Cameron did finish 3rd and the final and last race of the day, all the boys really picked it up in the heavy current and wind and Cameron was 1st by 1 min, Graham was 7th and Alex 11th. Ellie had a great reaching leg and it was really fun to see her enjoy the speedy rides and roler coaster rides downwind. After we all finished, the RVYC sailors stated out and did another long windward just to really get exhausted. Alex was working on hiking, he got hiking finally on the last race while Graham improved his hiking technique too. Cameron was very fast today working hard throughout the day with absolutely fantastic starts.
The sailros were served pizza on paper plates on the water in 16-18 knots winds, interesting menu. We were very lucky we had made our own lunches and Tine was creating sandwiches on the coach boat. Despite the sun, the sailing conditions, wind and fog makes it cold on the water. We are really looking forward to racing tomorrow.
Tine
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