Damsels in Distress
By Walter T. Raineri
What does it take to be a great Mid-Winter sailor on San Francisco Bay? Sunscreen, patience, problem solving mindset, and a quick draw anchor. All these elements came into play for the damsel Bravo Zulu and her crew on Saturday February 18, 2023 for the 3rd day of actual racing, if you can call it that, in the South Beach Yacht Club (SBYC) Mic-Winter Series. Bravo Zulu was not the only damsel in distress on that ill-fated day of low tides and elevated silt after the atmospheric rivers in January rained down and flowed into the SF Bay.
Race day forecast was for sunny skies, very light, low single digit, winds out of the Northeast, clocking around to the North West. Combine the light wind conditions with a monster tide of plus 7 feet in the late morning draining out of the SF Bay creating a river like Ebb of over 3 knots of current producing minus 1.8 feet of low tide and there is your recipe to distress a bunch of floating damsels.
A crackle over the radio and then: “All boats in all fleet divisions will be sailing Course 2.”
“Course 2?” Walt the Skipper of Bravo Zulu queried. “Isn’t that around Alcatraz?” Chris, the team navigator quickly confirmed that indeed, the race course would be out of McCovey Cove, around Alcatraz, and back to McCovey Cove.
“Good grief. Why would the RC send the non spinnaker fleet around Alcatraz with the monster Ebb to fight all the way back in light air?” Walt asked rhetorically to no one in particular. Thus began the latest Team Bravo Zulu adventure.
BZ hit the starting line 10 or so seconds after the horn and the light wind combined with swirling currents in McCovey Cove created the first floating distressed damsel. A 30 foot boat to windward of BZ was floundering with no steerage at the starting line on a floating collision course. What do you do with a ‘No steerage” hail from a boat that is to keep clear? Quick rules check: 14.1 requires a boat to avoid collisions if at all possible. So, we fell off what wind there was, and paid it forward by providing extra room for the floundering damsel and chose not to protest. Mid-Winter Races are supposed to be fun, right?
The leg out to Alcatraz was deceptively smooth. The wind out of the North now was in the mid-single digits at that point in time and stronger than expected. Having said that, there is nothing like going with a strong current to make things seem like smooth sailing.
We cut between the B and C supports of the Bay Bridge and this proved to be the correct decision. Larger, faster boats in our combined fleet cut between the D and E supports, or between the E support and Yurba Buena Island to pick up the Ebb current, but the maneuver pulled them all off the rhumb line so far that half way to Alcatraz we were in first place in our division. Was it skill, or was it just riding the Ebb which was building to over 3 knots which made the trip to Alcatraz easier than expected? The crab angles were unusual. Just when you were sure you were on the lay line, the current splitting around Alcatraz reminded you that you were not. In any event, we chose counter clockwise around Alcatraz and with skillful helming from Ryan, we were the first in our combined fleet to round the island. Now what?
Turning for the finish around Alcatraz, we realized that the wind was not as strong as we had thought, or it was weakening. Either prospect was a bit disheartening. It was at this point that we noticed the fastest boats in the earlier divisions were not that far ahead and all had their big spinnakers flying as well as they could. All seemed to be on a floating treadmill. It was at this point that an air of seriousness descended on the crew of BZ with critical decisions to make such as: how close to shore would be appropriate to get some current relief; what was the wind like just off the City front piers; would the wind be better out in the channel and be strong enough to allow us to sail against the Ebb; would the wind pick up and make all these decisions moot; would the wind die an require us to use our anchor which was out and ready as we rounded Alcatraz; and should we comb our hair as for sure, we were about to be in a thousand photos from curious tourists watching the pretty sailboat sail backwards.
Agonizingly slow we crept along the City front, barely moving against the Ebb in the light air. Nothing like the tension on a boat with all hands carefully adjusting trim, body weight, rigging sets, deep in concentration with the boat moving over ground slower than someone strolling along the Embarcadero eating an ice cream cone. It was mentally exhausting, constantly determining if we were, in fact, moving forward, or should we deploy the anchor, and how do we avoid hitting the piers from which we were at times less than a boat length away?
“All South Beach Racers. The 2 hour race time limit has been extended by 2 hours. I repeat, the race time limit has been extended by 2 hours. Please pass this message along to those who cannot hear this.” We barely heard the RC on the radio as we were so far out of South Beach harbor. It was a reality, with us sailing at a standstill over ground, that we might not even finish the race even with the time extension due to the waning wind velocity.
Then it happened. Right past Pier 15 at the Exploratorium, with giggling kids watching us just a few feet away, the wind died altogether. What little current relief there was not enough and we started to move backwards into Pier 15. Deploying the anchor would not help as we would just swing into the pier if we used it.
“Chris, grab the paddles in the cabin. Ryan, start the engine. Gosh darn it.” Was all Walt could say as the crew jumped into emergency protocol to avoid colliding with Pier 15. BZ had become another damsel in distress. That was how our race ended. A final hail to the SBYC Race Committee to let them know that we had to abandon, and we transitioned into our ‘return to Treasure Island’ mode to put BZ back on the hard. Little did we know that another boat in the faster fleet was even more of a damsel in distress. The boat in first place, Jubilant, had cut one corner too close on the south side of the Bay Bridge and had run aground. We had noticed their pretty pink spinnaker deflate and wondered what was going on with them. Good news for Jubilant, their J 112 motor was strong enough to execute a self-rescue.
On the way back to Clipper Cove we heard over Channel 16 that a Catalina 36 had run aground in the low tide near Clipper cove. We dismissed this as not relevant to us, but little did we know. Upon turning the corner of Yurba Buena Island and going under the East Span of the Bay Bridge, Ryan and Chris noticed a boat not moving in the Cove. When we got closer, it was the Catalina 36 stuck in the mud, another damsel in distress, but it was right in our glide path to our hoisting crane. Even more scary was the feeling of our keel rubbing into the mud ourselves as we made our approach to the dock. Plan B, or was it C, D or E at this point. We had no choice but to quickly heel the boat over with body weight to keep from becoming another stranded damsel in distress, make a U turn and motor out of Clipper Cove.
Back to Pier 40 and the BAADS Small Boat dock we headed, working out a plan to return the next morning with a higher tide to put BZ on the hard at treasure Island. But wait, there’s more
We finally tucked BZ away at Pier 40 and hailed a taxi to take us back to Treasure island to retrieve Ryan’s and Chris’s cars. What was the medallion number of the taxi which arrived? Well, 666 of course. The taxi seemed to be its own version of a rolling damsel in distress as each brake application seemed to jiggle some part of the vehicle loose, keeping us wondering if we would make it back to treasure Island in one piece. But wait, there’s more.
The next day, we returned BZ back to Treasure island, and we did not even need to use jury rigged fender boards this time as the docks had been restored under the 2 ton crane. On our way back to San Francisco, we encountered our final damsel in distress, a real one this time. A woman with a child in a car seat had blown a tire on the Bay Bridge and somehow limped onto yurba Buena Island. Ryan noticed the woman, no longer a damsel for purposes of this story, in distress and asked if she needed help. These are those character building moments we rarely experience, but when we do, it is good to know that our skills can rise to the occasion. The woman stated that she did need help and was not sure what to do. We guided her to a safe place to park and we, principally Ryan, proceeded to change her tire for her. In a few minutes she was up and running with her temporary spare tire and we were closing the book on this chapter of the adventure.
We later found out that all boats in our division did not finish the race so thankfully, we were all “in the same boat,” so to speak in terms of Series standings. BZ remains in first place now with only 1 day of racing to go. Wish her luck for the final race day on March 18. Fingers crossed there will be no floating damsels in distress on that day.