7-8 July 2012
Day 1/ Long Distance Race - I had a reasonable start shortly after I caught a big pack of weed, so I had to tack back and sail backwards for a bit to get read of the weed...Great! Tom Purcel spotted the right shift and went through the south side of the Golden Gate bridge and he got about 4 minutes lead on the first beat. Soheil and Steve Bodner were in a hot pursuit after Tom and I was lying fourth. I caught up Steve Bodner and Soheil on the leg towards BLUNT. Downwind towards Berkeley pier was quite windy and I didn't make much ground there. I was getting quite close to Tom towards X but I was trying too hard and I felt in twice. Tom finished first formula behind Chip Wasson who won on a kite. I finished third overall and second formula behind Tom.
I followed Chip and Tom during the early part of the Ultra Nectar Challenge " the race back home".
We were heading towards Bay Bridge on starboard. When the wind dropped a bit light we all tacked on port heading towards Angel Island. Tom was upwind of me by about 400 yards. I didn't go all the way to Angel Island. I decided to head towards the city front on starboard instead. That seamed to be a better option during the Bay Challenge a few weeks ago. I was quite surprised not to see Tom anymore. I found out later on that he broke his mast. The shifts felt quite good by the city front and I finished behind Chip Wasson with a good lead over the other formula boards. However the results showed that some formulas had caught up with me slightly. The Ultra Nectar Challenge is a separate race in which is scored by the time it takes each racer to sail back. So I ended up fourth overall behind Chip Wasson, Eric Christianson and Chris Radkowsky.
Day 2/ Course Racing- The first race went well. I had a decent start although I over stood the first windward mark. I had good speed downwind so I won that race. Tom Purcell had a good start on port on the second race and he won by a mile! The wind had many holes for the third race. I started on starboard and went a little bit to close to St. Francis Yacht Club. The rest of the fleet tacked at about 20 yards before and run away with a gust and I was left behind... I finished third. The wind really picked up for the Fourth and last race. I was leading Tom for the windward mark and the downwind mark. However I picked up the wrong option for the last leg going upwind to the finish. I went left towards the wall. Tom went right towards the middle of the bay and passed me. The results overall for the course race were: 1st -Tom Purcell, 2nd- Myself and 3rd- Steve Bodner.