31,Silver Eagle - 1 Races, 0 Throwout(s)
SF Fleet 1 ran the Silver Eagle as a season counter for the first time on Saturday, July 20, 2002. The 87 mile course started in a flood at the GGYC, rounded Blackaller to starboard, Harding to starboard, Blossum starboard, SFO airport shipping channel mark 6 port, Vallejo ships pier starboard, Blossum starboard to GGYC finish!!! Whew, at least there was no twice around placard!! 24 J105s participated with most boats cobbling together crews as many regulars were off on the Pac Cup, Knarr Match Races or Vanguards. Tiburon edged Out of Options to win the race that saw a start at 9:30 am and a finish at 8:05 pm through 9:20 pm for the fleet. The fleet started in a 15 knot south westerly in 2.0 flood. Beating up the city front, Arbitrage got in front to lead around Blackaller and Harding taking the fleet around South Beach. But the wind died under the Bay Bridge with Out of Options jibing away and escaping for a huge lead to SFO followed by Tiburon, Zuni Bear, Blackhawk, Irrational Again and Advanatge 3. The rest of the fleet waited for the wind to fill and eventually the parade beat up with a building ebb to the North Bay. The winds picked up to 35 knots in the circle with a huge ebb and broad reaching waves. Chutes went up between 8 and Richmond bridge and the fleet ran down to Vallejo in 25-30 Knots under sunny skies. The rounding of the Ships Pier put the fleet fighting a flood beat in 25 knots to Richmond and compressed the fleet and allowed a few place exchanges as tide and oscillating winds became the watchwords. As the sun set, the leaders were crossing Southhampton shoals beating to Blossum against a flood. Rounding Blossum in a 2.7 knot flood posed the classic cone of Alcatraz vs City Front decision. Being late in the cycle, i.e. max flood, the city front paid off resulting in Tiburon first, Out of Options 2d followed by Blackhawk, Zuni Bear, Irrational Again, Advantage 3, Kookaburra, Whisper, Aquavit and Alchemy rounding out the top ten. A big congratulations to all who survived this long race and special thanks to Arbitrage for championing inclusion of the Silver Eagle as a counter for this year.