OF THE THREE BRIDGE FIASCO ALL PHOTOS LATITUDE / CHRIS EXCEPT AS NOTED
Corinthian Race, the weekend after this issue went to press. Blackett and Antrim plan to race her doublehanded to Hawaii in this summer's Pacific Cup.
T
he only singlehander to finish was Truls Myklebust on his F-27 trimaran Raven. "Every year, I show up with a game plan and a strategy," he says, "but the best-laid plans never seem to pan out. However, this year, everything worked pretty much to perfection. "I was very worried about there being no wind behind Yerba Buena in the morning, and, having looked at the tides and currents, I figured that having the flood help me get to Red Rock early in the day might be the way to go. I assumed that a westerly would eventually fill in at some point in the afternoon. I was worried about going against the tide to Blackaller from the start if the winds were light. If the winds looked light at Blackaller, I was going straight for Red Rock, and that's what I did. "I went east of Angel Island, had really good breeze behind me from the southeast as I sailed past Angel Island going north with my spinnaker, but then the wind gradually died as I continued north, and eventually I was just drifting in the dense fog. However, the flood current continued carrying me north at 1-2 knots. "The path north to Red Rock in dense fog (visibility less than 100 yards) was super -scary. A big ship came south through the ship channel from San Pablo Bay. Thankfully, I had just passed a channel marker, and I was able to tack and slowly make my way to just outside the ship channel. At that point I knew I was safe, no matter how loud the horns got. The ship passed close by, but I couldn't see a thing. "The current eventually carried me to just past Red Rock, and right then, just as the current switched, the fog lifted and the wind filled in from the north, so I sailed around the top of Red Rock and set the spinnaker again to head south. It could not have worked out better! "By 2:30, I was past Angel Island on my way south. The wind died again, and I was just drifting around in the current. However, by around 3 p.m., I could see ripples starting to fill in from the west, and by about 3:15 that wind reached me, and I was able to continue by spinnaker, now in really good 12- to 14-knot breeze, all the way past Yerba Buena.
Above: There's a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in there somewhere. Below: While trading tacks with 'Lioness' in the fog, we were grateful that the big, heavy Hinckley Bermuda yawl had AIS.
March, 2020 •
Latitude 38
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