make it through the mill pond that had developed at Red Rock in the building ebb." They continued to make progress, easily avoiding the Richmond Long Wharf restricted area, and came alongside Red Rock against a 1.5-knot current around 1:15. "We made two aborted attempts to clear the island to starboard before finally sailing far enough north to make it. "As we got the spinnaker down and settled into upwind sailing, I was very surprised to see Will Paxton's Motorcycle Irene right up against the east side of Red Rock — much closer than we expected!
ERIK SIMONSON / WWW.PRESSURE-DROP.US
SLACKWATER SF
THE TIDE IS HIGH
The winning boats profiled in this story, clockwise from top left: 'Eyrie' runs along the northwest shore of Red Rock; 'Cal' has a reputation as a fast Moore 24; 'Adrenaline' sprints toward Fort Mason; the Express 27 'Shenanigans' in light air south of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Center: 'Siento el Viento' at the finish. — All photos this page Leslie Richter / www.rockskipper.com except as noted
We still had a nice lead to spend sailing upwind with current assist, but it was much less relaxing. Motorcycle went hard right toward Paradise while Shenanigans worked the deep water and puffs as we both worked our way upwind toward Raccoon Strait and the escalator to the Golden Gate. Once again, Will played the beat well, taking a chunk of our lead away by the time we tacked into Raccoon. The wind lightened significantly at the west end of the Strait, making for
some nervous glances over my shoulder." But they made progress and were quickly out into 15+ knots of wind in the Slot, riding a full 3 knots of ebb. "Motorcycle took the high lane, but the breeze freed us enough with the ebb to where I could ease sheets and help offset a big weight advantage that Motorcycle carried on this fetch. Connor went forward and switched the spinnaker gear around for our last set of the day." Shenanigans rounded Blackaller at March, 2015 •
Latitude 38
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