THE RACING
ASHLEY ERKELENS
Bartz & Marshall Schneider; 5) Relentless, Sydney 32, Arnold Zippel/Olivier Le Diouris; 6) Eurydice II, Ross 930, George Biery/Mark Salmon. (26 boats; all others DNF) CLASS 3 (114-168) — 1) Chesapeake, Merit 25, Jim Fair/Cindy Surdez. (23 boats; all others DNF) CLASS 4 (171-up) — No finishers. (24 boats) CLASS 5 (non-spinnaker) — No finishers. (15 boats) WYLIECAT 30 — No finishers. (3 boats) EXPRESS 27 — 1) Wile W. Coyote, Dan Pruzan/Scott Hester; 2) Magic Bus, Sarah Deeds/Simon Winer; 3) Wetsu, Phil Krasner/Dave Rasmussen. (15 boats; all others DNF) J/105 — 1) Bald Eagles, Dave & Jackie Liggett; 2) Lightwave, Richard Craig/Jeremy Moncada. (6 boats; all others DNF) MELGES 24 — 1) Go Dogs Go, Tim Hawkins/Biff Watts. (4 boats; all others DNF) MOORE 24 — 1) Gruntled, Bart Hackworth/unknown; 2) Eclipse, Brad Butler/Paul Faget; 3) Brick House, Chris Straub/John Dinwiddie; 4) Sparrowhawk, Tom Condy/Chris Hudnut; 5) Sunshine, Stan & Bert Martin; 6) Paramour, Rowan & Vicki Fennell; 7) Flying Tiger, Vaughn Seifers/Mark Rose; 8) Una Mas, Larry Peterson/Don Radcliffe; 9) E-9, Lesa Kinney/Peter Schoen. (34 boats; all others DNF) OLSON 25 — No finishers. (4 boats) SF 30 — No finishers. (4 boats) SPORTBOAT — 1) Enzo, Hobie 33, Bill & Melinda Erkelens; 2) Sensation, 1D-35, Rod Hagebols/Roberto Giramonti; 3) Sand Dollar, Mumm 30, Erich Bauer/Charlie Hess; 4) Always Friday, Antrim 27, John & David Liebenberg; 5) Summer Moon, Synergy 1000, Paul Rosenthal/Bob Bergtholdt; 6) Stray Cat, Olson 30, Ken Murney/Mike Guzzardo; 7) Max, Antrim 27, Bryan Wade/Craig Allender. (23 boats; all others DNF) WYLIE WABBIT — 1) Kwazy, Colin Moore/Kit Wiegman; 2) Mr. McGregor, Kim Desenberg/Aaron
Melinda and Bill Erkelens solved the riddle of this year's light-air Fiasco with their hopped-up Hobie 33 'Enzo'. Next up, the Cabo Race. Sturm. (7 boats; all others DNF) OVERALL — 1) Enzo; 2) Sensation; 3) Sand Dollar; 4) Go Dogs Go; 5) Gruntled; 6) Always Friday; 7) Kwazy; 8) Eclipse; 9) Summer Moon; 10) Wile E. Coyote. (238 boats) Full results — www.sfbaysss.org Page 176 •
Latitude 38
•March, 2005
Golden Gate YC Midwinters After a one-hour postponement, the 68 boats that showed up for the fourth GGYC Midwinter race on Saturday, February 5, were rewarded with a gentle westerly. The race committee chose good, albeit short, courses, sending the big boats on a double sausage around Blackaller Buoy and Fort Mason. The three smaller classes did a single lap. "There was a huge ebb, and the day was looking like a write-off at 11 a.m.," said race committee volunteer Matt Jones. "We were so lucky the wind filled in!" The crew of Yucca, Hank Easom's 8Meter, were particularly pleased with the postponement. As Yucca left her Sausalito slip just before 10 a.m. for the 45-minute motor to the Cityfront, Hank determined within a minute of throttling up that his boat had herring eggs on the keel — lots of them. Whipping Yucca back into Easom's private boatyard, the 7-man crew frantically raised the boat on the elevator and, using the power -washer and various hastily invented scraping tools, removed a thick carpet of sticky, stinky roe. With the engine redlined, Yucca arrived at the starting area a few minutes late for what would have been their start. "We dodged a bullet," admitted Hank. "I had a hunch the race would be postponed, but didn't mean to cut it that thin. However, I'm sure glad we took the time to clean the bottom, as we were about a knot slow and wouldn't have beaten anyone!" Yucca did in fact continue her winning ways in Division II, enjoying the short
Soup line — A quartet of GGYC Midwinter racers seek current relief along the Cityfront. From left, 'Dayenu', 'Oui B5', 'Absolute 02', and 'Q'.
beats and long waterline runs against the ebb. This was Yucca's fourth bullet in a row, a stellar record matched only by Tom Condy's Hawkfarm Eyrie in Div. III. Both boats have mathematically won their classes now (as have the J/105 Lulu and the Folkboat Polperro), and Yucca, by virtue of beating a larger class, is the winner of the '04-'05 Seaweed Soup Bowl (best overall performance). This is Easom's fourth Soup win, an unprecedented accomplishment. The other three classes will be decided at the March 5 finale. Zephyra is poised to win Division I, but Sand Dollar and Chance are waiting in the wings if Robert Youngjohn's DK-46 stumbles. The other two classes, the Catalina 34s and Knarrs, are still up for grabs. DIV. I (< 70) — 1) Zephyra, DK-46, Robert Youngjohns/Jeff Thorpe; 2) Chance, J/120, Barry Lewis; 3) Astra, Farr 40, Mary Coleman; 4) Sand Dollar, Mumm 30, Erich Bauer; 5) Kokopelli II, SC 52 turbo, Lani Spund; 6) Sensation, 1D-35, Mario Yovkov; 7) Grace Dances, J/120, Dick Swanson; 8) Q, Schumacher 40, Glenn Isaacson; 9) Outrageous, Olson 40, Linkmyer/Brown; 10) Oui B5, J/120, John Sylvia. (19 boats) DIV. II (70-141) — 1) Yucca, 8-Meter, Hank Easom; 2) Harp, Catalina 38, Mike Mannix; 3) Faster Horses, J/100, Doug Holm; 4) Uno, WylieCat 30, Steve Wonner; 5) Bessie Jay, Express 27, Brad Whitaker; 6) Razzberries, Olson 34, Bruce Nesbit. (14 boats) J/105 — 1) Lulu, Don Wieneke; 2) Wonder, Kennelly/Dines; 3) Alchemy, Walter Sanford. (8 boats)