Santa Cruz Big Boat Regatta

After a disappointing Spinnaker Cup, we looked forward to a regatta with wind.  Santa Cruz did not disappoint.

We met Saturday morning at 0930 to prepare the boat.  We loaded battens, installed the main and set out from the harbor at 1100 well ahead of our 1200 start time.  It was a beautiful morning on Monterey Bay:  fairly light on the inside and significant whitecaps a mile offshore.  Our crew for the weekend included, John (helm), Joy (sewer), Doug (main), Bren (tactics), Nancy, George, and Steve (trimming), Sean McBurney in the pit, David (fireman), Toby (mast) and Matt (bow).  Sean hasn’t sailed the boat for a couple of years and joined us for Saturday only.  On Sunday, he was replaced by Jeff Lamont who’s been sailing with John, Toby and Matt on the Moore 24.

Race 1 – Start, Natural Bridges mark, leeward mark, Natural Bridges mark, Finish.

The race committee setup the start/finish line off lighthouse point and sent on a double sausage course with a 2.5 mile beat followed by a run to a leeward mark just above the start line.  All marks were left to port.

We anticipated a quick build in windspeed and selected the 3+ for our first beat as it was blowing 14-16 at the start.  We were slightly underpowered on our first upwind leg and changed to the C3 for our second beat.  We used the .6 (light) spinnaker for the run, gybed only once, and sailed a decent, though not stellar race.  We changed to the .75 (runner) on the second run as the wind built to 20 by the end of the race.  We finished nearly three minutes behind TNT and about four minutes ahead of Aleta, White Dove, Phantom Mist and Tupelo Honey.  We corrected in fourth place behind Tupelo Honey, White Dove, and Aleta.  The four of us corrected within a minute of each other and we were 24 and 27 seconds behind White Dove and Aleta.  Considering that our spinnaker hoists were very poor (wraps both times), we felt we could easily make up a minute or two over the 10 nm course.

Race 2 – Start, Sand Hill mark, Finish.

This was our distance race of the series.  A long beat 10 miles up the course to an inflatable mark near Davenport, followed by a run to the finish line.  By the start of the race, it was blowing a solid 20 and that increased to 29 by the finish.  We used our 3+ for the long beat, and our .75 runner for the downwind leg.  We sailed an excellent race and passed TNT at the top mark.  We gybed in to shore off Natural Bridge, but found ourselves pinned by two side-by-side Sydney 38s.  We ended up being driven into a thick kelp bed about ½ mile from the finish and struggled to extract ourselves from the mire.  Meanwhile, there were some photographical broaches taking place behind us.

Despite our kelp problem we finished first in two hours, 20 minutes and correct on Tupelo Honey, the second place boat, by more than three minutes.  Scorpio loved these conditions and because of the sea swell, the gybes were relative easy, despite the strong 30 knots winds.

We finished Saturday two points behind Tupelo Honey and just one point ahead of White Dove and Aleta.  We had our work cut out for us on Sunday.  We spent several hours Saturday night at our rented condo, discussing how we could cure our spinnaker hoist problems.  Coincidentally, before 2007, we never had these problems.  We decided the problem was due to the driver steering too deep during the hoist.

Race 3 – Double Sausage to Natural Bridges (same course as race 1).

We left the dock at 1100 to find another sunny and windy race course.  We motored upwind well past the starting area in an attempt to figure out when the building sea breeze would make it to the starting line.  We guessed wrong, believing it would fill after our first sausage.  So, we started with the C3, and were forced over the line prematurely and had to restart.  Fortunately, we were very close to the pin end and recovered quickly.

We were slightly overpowered on the beat and set our poly kite in 25 knots of breeze, gybed at the appropriate place and feverishly began the chore of changing jibs to the 3+.  Toby, Matt and David did their best, but we were traveling in excess of 15 knots and were closing in on the leeward mark before we could get the new jib connected.  So, we doused about .25 nm early, hooked up the 3+, rounded the mark and began our second beat.  By this time it was blowing even harder.  The boats behind were having lots of trouble with three or four of them on their sides trying to work downwind.  We then noticed that Tupelo Honey wasn’t able to drop their spinnaker and sailed well past the leeward mark.  White Dove and Aleta were have their own set of problems, so we decided to bear away from the top mark under jib alone, gybe at the appropriate place, then set our poly kite to the ride to the finish.  In spite of this conservative move, we finished well ahead of everyone and corrected over Hawkeye by nearly five minutes.  We were off to a good start.  Could we maintain our success for one more race.

Race 4 – Double Sausage to an Inflatable Mark Off the Lighthouse.

The race committee, observing the mayhem in race three decided to move the entire race course about one mile to the East.  This put us in somewhat lighter breeze and made for a more civilized race.  We favored the left side of the course which provided more pressure and sailed a very good race despite a poor start.

Our hoists, gybes and other maneuvers were excellent and we looked like the Scorpio of old.  We finished first, correcting over TNT by over six minutes.  Scorpio is back.

After a very impressive race record from 2003-2006, we didn’t win a regatta in 2007.  After a second in the Stone Cup and a DNF in the Spinnaker Cup, I think were all wondering whether our “run” was over.

Despite the modest turnout, the Santa Cruz Big Boat Regatta showed that we still have what it takes.  We improved each race and by the end of the series looked as strong as ever.  Having said all this, the regatta was sailed in ideal conditions for Scorpio.  The boat loves strong winds and big waves, and the crew was up to the task.  We look forward to the Aldo Alessio and pray we’ll have windy conditions.

Our victory in Santa Cruz put us in great shape for the overall Northern California IRC Series.  After nine races, we have a significant lead over Tupelo Honey and White Dove.  See www.sfbay-irc.org for complete standings.

Now Doug is waiting for a break in the weather in order to complete the 12 hour delivery back to San Francisco.

Race Results