Round TI at Treasure Island Sailing CenterJune 21
Story
The first ever Round TI was a huge success! The fastest boat (V15) did it in 1 hour and 18 minutes. Fastest Laser was 1 hour, 19 minutes. There were 4 V15s and 6 Lasers.

It was a southwest breeze of 10 to 12. First signal was at 1055, start at 1058.

It was a downwind start, just off the TISC dock. Lasers and V15s stuck together through the first reach leg to the north end of TI. Laser Nick Cave in "Everything's Gone Green" (a fresh water boat, this was the first time in its many years that it had tasted salt water) held the lead to the north end of TI. Jono and Claire were hot on his tail in 1703, and they finally made a pass during the short (and only) beat. Stephen Aguilar in "My Little Wife" (Laser Radial 147400) headed out away from TI, and though he sailed more distance was in a stronger ebb and held his place in the pack.

As the fleet rounded TI's north end, Nick Roche in "Skywalker" (Laser 173687) lost his outhaul. Rommel (our excellent PRO and sweep chase boat) was right there, and assisted as Nick made a repair and got back underway.

The long leg headed south along the west side of TI was a mostly starboard tack affair, with most boats opting to stay in to shore and out of the ebb.

As the Bay Bridge approached things got interesting. Closing in on max ebb, the wind softened and the fleet compacted. David & Jennifer, in V15 907, found a puff that no one else could and pulled into the lead. Mike & Allison in V15 1177 stuck close to Yerba Buena in an attempt to stay out of the current, as did Steve Orosz in "Dean Wormer Was Wrong" (Laser 179426). Lee & Doug in 1051 also used the stay-close-to-shore strategy. Staying out near the eastern most piling of the Bay Bridge's western span proved successful, and by staying out there David & Jennifer enjoyed a healthy lead around TI's southern end.

On the eastern span of the bridge, we restricted the course so boats had to sail outside the first pilings of both the old and new eastern bridge span. As the fleet approached those pilings, some boats went inside and stuck close to the piling, while others sailed more distance outside but with slightly better breeze. The strategies looked roughly equal until after rounding the piling and heading up, a big left shift hit favoring the insiders. The left shift was enough for the first two boats to finish on port tack without tacking.

Jono and Claire eeked out a win over David and Jennifer. The margin was less than a second--after 5+ miles of sailing.

The Laser fleet ended up almost as close, with Steve Orosz getting the inside track and benefitting from the lefty to the same effect. His margin was a few boat lengths over Nick Cave. Final results are below.

Overall, the winning strategy seemed to be playing the shifts and avoiding the holes. It was puffy, shifty and the current played a huge role. Intrigue remains for future years.

We will plan further ahead in future years, but the Solstice (or the saturday closest to it) seems like a good time for this race. Ideas for improvements include making it a double header, one race around one way, followed by another around the other way. Another thought was to make it a choice about which way to round (ala 3 bridge fiasco) If we can round up enough chase boats (4) it would be awesome to try that next year.

Thanks to all who who participated!

- Adam Rothschild (regatta chair & V15 Thursday night Co-Chair, V15 741)

Photos are posted here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/115591180849657837711/albums/6028327694717991921

Here are the results.

Lasers
#179426 Dean Wormer Was Wrong (Steve Orosz), 1 hour 19 minutes 10 seconds
#15876 Everything's Gone Green (Nick Cave), 1 hour 19 minutes 19 seconds
#xx288 peter strumph 1 hour 20 minutes 9 seconds
#173687 Skywalker (Nick Roche) 1 hour 31 minutes


Laser Radials
#199537 My little wife (Stephen Aguilar), 1 hour 20 minutes 50 seconds
#205419 Hideki Saito, 1 hour 21 minutes

V15s
#1703 Jonathan Bernbaum & Claire Pratt, 1 hour 18 minutes 23 seconds
#907 David & Jennifer, 1 hour 18 minutes 24 seconds
#1051 Lee & Doug (didn't record time)
#1177 Allison and Mike, 1 hour 22 minute
Result
PosBoatNameTotalRace 1
11703Jono & Claire11
2907David & Jennifer22
31051Lee & Doug33
41177Allison & Mike44
export csv


Regatta Message Board

[Post new message]
No current messages.