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s the leaves of autumn — as well as smoke and ash — settle over the greater Bay Area region and drift toward winter, we continue our seasonal profiles of fleet champions with a second collection of one-design fleets.
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SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART II —
tightened the leech cord and hoisted the genoa in 3-5 knots of wind. I thought the weight of the sail Catalina 34 — Queimada would pull it apart, David Sanner, NoYC but it stuck together David Sanner of Queimada has refor the reach back peated as the Catalina 34 Fleet 1 Racer to Fort Mason. We of the Year. "It was a great year for us, as were able to nurse we won our division in the Seaweed Soup it across the finish Regatta as well as the six-month-long still in sight of our InterClub Series," said Sanner. "Lots fleet. We lost the of close action in our one-design fleet overall cup but it makes nearly every series come down to was still a win for the final race." duct tape!" Sanner reAnother chalcounts a favorlenge arose dur ite tale from the ing the InterClub Golden Gate Series. "We've had Ya c h t C l u b ' s to pick which side Seaweed Soup of a container ship midwinter seto navigate many J/24 racers prepare to set spinnakers at the windward mark in a race during ries: "Since there times, but never RYC's Great Pumpkin. This regatta is popular with many one-design fleets. was no throa 600-meter pipe, wout, we had to which blocked our rounding of Blossom the gentle sea breeze did not fill in until finish Race 5 on Rock." It was the Ocean Cleanup exiting mid-afternoon, so two races were held. March 3 to win the Bay. "The lead boats got it wrong, Both were one time around a windward/ our class, and which helped compress the fleet in the leeward course. In the first race, Queiwe needed a first fluky winds off the Ferry Building." mada had a good start and was able to David Sanner to win overall. David's regular crew this year were break free and round the windward mark "Just as we were starting, a winter Jackson Haring, Nathan Hadlock and first. The battle was heating up between squall came in over the Presidio and Michael Jordan. Allegro, Crew's Nest and Amandla for dropped down hard on the start area. The ROTY is determined using 15 second. Amandla was able to edge out By our second tack near Anita Rock our races and two throwouts in the SeaAllegro to finish second and third respecgenoa was in two parts with an 8-ft tear weed Soup Series; Oakland YC's Rites tively. In the second race, the start was above the spreaders. We were able to of Spring; the InterClub Series; and the competitive, with Amandla, then Queipartially furl it, and just made it around C34 San Francisco Cup, hosted by South mada, rounding the first mark in that Blackaller as the wind shut down. On Beach YC on October 13. order. The two boats rounded the leeward a near-float to Harding Rock we someRay Irvine of Crew's Nest reports on mark first and second and then battled to how stuck the genoa back together on the SF Cup: "The format was planned the finish with Kurt Magdanz's Amandla the foredeck with clear duct tape. We to be three races on one day; however, nosing out Queimada in a near-photo finish of 1 second." Amandla thus won The C34 SF Cup-winning crew of 'Amandla'. Left to right: Steve Saparno, Yen Le, Kurt Magdanz, Igor the SF Cup. "Victor Havin's Lucky Cat Romanovskij and Mike Baer. Vadim Dymshyts was behind the camera. valiantly finished the same two courses to place first in the Cruising Division." See www.jibeset.net. 1) Queimada, 7 points; 2) Amandla, Kurt Magdanz, HMBYC, 13; 3) Mottley, Chris Owen, SBYC, 15. (8 boats)
J/24 — Downtown Uproar Darren Cumming/Melissa Litwicki, SSS "This was the closest season in memory," says Darren Cumming. "I have a hard time imagining how it could have been any closer. There was never much more than a 4-point spread between the top three boats. Many of the regattas were determined by a single point. The J/24 fleet is very competitive. Our boats
