THIS ROW ANJA BOG
SEQUOIA YACHT CLUB
THE RACING
Racing in the South Bay, clockwise from top left: The Beneteau Oceanis 361 'Marnie Kai' sails in The Club at Westpoint's Friday Fun Series; 'Ohana' in Sequoia YC's Sunset Series; the Sabre 36 'Osprey' in Sequoia's Quarantine Cup with the San Mateo Bridge in the background; Stan Phillips and crew on the Farr 30 'Frequent Flyer' in Quarantine Cup Race #2 on July 18.
viting someone to sail once or twice. The social bubbles I knew wore masks and respected distance as much as possible, even though not required, just to be extra-safe and not let an activity spread COVID within a social bubble. The Sunset Races, a Wednesday night beer can race series that I have been doing as crew for eight years, started July 8, and continued nearly every week (except for one smoky Wednesday) until October 7, when darkness calls for a stop every year. For the first series of seven races, in the Crewed division, Tim Anto won on Daredevil, a Melges 24, with Mark Wommack sailing Mistral, a Beneteau 36.7, to second place. In the most popular division, with 10 entrants, Doublehanded, Eric Jessen won first place sailing Imagination, a Bavaria 40, while Hans Spanjaart took second on Drop Beer, a Beneteau First 10. The Singlehanded winner was Paul Morgan-Watts of Selene, a Pearson 323. For the second series in the Sunset Races, the Crewed Division was Page 76 •
Latitude 38
• January, 2021
topped by Daredevil (again). Imagination jumped ship from Doublehanded to take second, and Mistral took third. The Doublehanded crown went to Revelry, a Catalina 42 sailed by Rick and Petra Gilmore when they returned to sailing partway through the series. Second went to Drop Beer again. Selene reprised first place in Singlehanded. For weekends, race captain Anja Bog ran a six-race season called Quarantine Cup. These were mass-start-style with NCPHRF ratings used to handicap the boats in the eclectic group of sailboats gathered. For Race #2, Anja took video and photos, and put together a fun video posted in the Sequoia YC newsletter The Friday Blast. For the Crewed Division, Stan Phillips sailed Frequent Flyer, a Farr 30, to first place, with Mark Isfeld sailing Marnie Kai, a Beneteau 46, in second. Jeff Stine and Erik Jessen won the Doublehanded Division on Osprey, a Sabre 36, with Anja Bog and Peter Weigt sailing Ferox, a Pogo 36, to second. In Singlehanded, Dan Lockwood sailed Ohana, a
Catalina 36, to first-place honors. The Club at Westpoint put on a series of four races on Friday evenings. One race was very unusual. With the wildfires burning out of control, Race #3, on August 28, had an apocalyptic feel, as the race committee boat followed the fleet of one boat while it sailed to first and last place. That high level of participation earned Marnie Kai, skippered by Mark Isfeld, the first-place honors for the series. With winter having arrived, evening races are not practical, so weekend series are all there are. Sequoia YC is sponsoring two race series on Saturdays. The Redwood Cup is a pursuittype race (like the Sunset Series), where start times are determined by handicap, and the first to finish wins. Starting and finishing at Redwood Marker 20, sailing out to the main Bay for some marks, and returning can be a challenge when winds are light. The first race, on November 21, was an example. After sailing slowly in light 5-knot winds to the end of Redwood Creek Channel, the boats headed for Bay Marker 12. Against a 1- to 1.5-knot current, sailing upwind to Bay 12 was a challenge. With winds slowing to 3 knots and a good current to fight, four boats found