Big Boat Series, San Francisco Bay

I have raced the beer can circuit and weekends with Pat on Summer and Smoke for a few years. Summer and Smoke is a Beneteau 367; quite fast. Beer can racing is an enjoyable social evening racing against PHRF handicapped boats that we can not beat even if we cross the line first. Many things in life have rules and measures that preclude success; however the beer is cold and the company is good. What could be better than an evening on the water.

Competition among sailing "men" focuses when it comes to the Big Boat Series. This is a gathering of the financially liquid and the highly competitive from the Pacific Coast (that is if you don't count the boat from Tokyo, Mexico City, Calgary, etc). Women are here also, they fall generally into two classes: those with foul weather gear and those with revealing cleavage; the latter are here for green cards, testosterone or both; there is lots of testosterone here. Most of the boats sail in "one design" classes so there are no rating fudge factors; just seemingly identical boats with different crews.

We sailed the first day with a mixed crew of locals, distant friends and ringers. With six Beneteau 367's in our fleet, we scored a third and a third place finish in the two races. The post mortem had plenty of blame to go around. Free beer and finger food lightened the pain; it was a three ibuprofen evening.

Erik in the yellow foul weather gear


The second day, with an additional crew member for ballast, we crossed the finish line first in both races. We are either getting better or lucky. After all is said and done, being first is best. We drank a lot of rum and partied hearty with the St Francis Yacht Club crowd. Pre-medicated, no ibuprofen ...

The third day we ran away from the fleet in the first race ... first place. The second race of the day proved more challenging. We were leading by a boat length over Mistral, both on port toward the final mark. We tacked and Mistral bore down on us; we had to tack away to keep from being T-boned and sunk. In the recovery Mistral slipped past us to have a lead at the finish line; the skipper has a low reputation that is well deserved; he is known for these tactics. Ibuprofen ...

With a four point lead on the final day it would have been hard to come in sixth and lose the series; the whole crew wanted to finish strong. It was a light wind day with a delayed start. Wilson was ahead for most of the race with us just behind them; Mistral trailed us but was coming on fast. We started a reach with our spinnaker and had trouble with the wind; we gibed toward Alcatraz; Wilson and Mistral turned to the city, out of the current and ran into dead air. Another first to top off the series! 3rd, 3rd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd,1st. We won our class!

I have bruises from head to toe ... I don't feel them when we win ...