May 2013

A strong turn out of 18 J105s entered this weekend’s popular Aldo Alessio Regatta, sponsored by the St Francis Yacht Club. With good breeze, clear skies and moderate ebb, the City-Front buoy-race course favored right hand circles – out to the Central Bay for current help on the beats and tight along the beach for relief (or perhaps a little early flood) on the return leg.

Arbitrage, Jam Session and Blackhawk appeared to be the boats to beat, with good finishes early on and close racing throughout the first day. Race 3 was particularly close as Blackhawk, Godot and Arbitrage converged, vying for space at the first weather mark zone. Unfortunately, Godot and Blackhawk converged rather more completely than either skipper was hoping for, resulting in the retirement of both boats. After the dust cleared on Saturday evening, Jam Session was in the lead followed by Arbitrage, Risk, Donkey-Jack and Blackhawk, granted 4.5 pts in lieu of their DNF.

The RC arranged for longer courses on the second day of the regatta, placing the start line off TI and the weather mark just East of Anita Rock. This opened up wider lanes both upwind and down and changed the game from management of boat-on-boat tactics and micro-currents to raw speed. By the end of the penultimate race, any of the top 4 or 5 boats had a viable shot at taking the event. The regatta finished as Bruce Stone’s Arbitrage pulled out a bullet, which was enough to take the regatta from a well-sailed Jam Session, the Blackhawk team sailing Godot’s hull, Risk and Donkey-Jack.

Challenging conditions greeted the 7 J105s that lined up with 200 assorted PHRF and OD boats for the Great Vallejo Race. A solid 17kts of breeze on the nose at the start in Berkeley Circle was followed by a light patch in moderate ebb under the Richmond Bridge and fine downwind cruising under blue skies with puffs to 21kts across San Pablo Bay.

After rounding the first weather mark, most boats headed North East towards the Richmond shore and ebb-relief for the crossing under the bridge. When the wind to the East of the channel died, Akula and Blackhawk both spotted pressure to the West of Redrock and invested in cutting across the flow. This turned out to be the critical move of the race and ultimately resulted in Blackhawk entering the Mare Island Channel about 10 boatlengths ahead of Akula for the J105 class win – and 2nd & 3rd overall monohulls respectively on corrected time. Yellowfin followed in third place some 15 minutes behind.

The race back on Saturday morning featured solid 15kts of breeze under a light overcast and strong ebb. Blackhawk legged out to an early lead in the channel, vanished over the horizon and finished in first place. Nirvana and Akula crossed tacks multiple times across the length of San Pablo Bay, with Akula’s slight upwind speed advantage finally overcoming Nirvana’s tenacious defense, resulting in another 2nd place for Akula and a 3rd for the Nirvana team.