6 August 2016
The
Bay Challenge didn't start very well for me as I fell in at the first tack
shortly after the start. Eric
Christianson had a good lead at the first mark
(windward), Tom Purcell was second and I was third.
I managed to catch up a bit in the early stages
of the downwind leg but Eric got a good gust south west of Alcatraz and he
extended his lead. Eric stayed with that gust for a long time and I followed
him. We ended up South of Alcatraz and headed towards Treasure Island. The two
of us gybed West of Alcatraz and headed North East on port.
I was going well at that point, slowly catching
up Eric. As we passed West of the Berkekey pier, we saw a bunch of guys who had
gone North of Alcatraz ahead of us. Mike Percey, Steve Bodner and Tom Purcell
had a good lead on us.
I decided to keep going North to get the
stronger wind. Eric must have had the same idea since he carried on too.
We gybed more or less together to head to the
downwind mark just North of the eastward most gap in the Berkeley pier.
We were going downwind at a good angle.
I had good speed and I could go deep so I
managed to pass Eric at that point.
I also caught up with the leaders and I rounded
the downwind mark in third place behind Mike Percey and Steve Bodner.
Shortly after rounding the mark, I overtook
Steve with better angle.
At this point, I caught a nasty piece of grass
around my fin so I had to stop and reverse to get rid of it.
Eric overtook me as a result.
I had to work extra hard to overtake him again.
Mike Percey was further ahead but eventually I
managed to overtake him with better angle.
Things were looking good at that point as I
extended my lead with good speed and angle. However, Eric caught up with me
after a couple of good options North of Alcatraz.
He managed to squeeze ahead of a ferry.
Tom Purcell was not so lucky and got badly
delayed by the wind shadow of the ferry.
At that point, I realized it was best not to
gamble with the Bay tactics so I just covered Eric to win with a lead of 13
seconds.
The prize giving was amazing in the lounge of
the St Francis Yacht Club overlooking the Bay.
It was great to win a crate of beer too!
Many thanks to the St Francis Yacht Club
and the volunteers for running this legendary race. Many thanks too
to ABK beer for sponsoring the event!