More Trophy Hardware for BZ and Crew
More Trophy Hardware for BZ and Crew
Bravo Zulu (BZ) and skipper Walt Raineri and crew Ryan Bruington took 2nd place on May 2 in the Island Tour Regatta, and remain tied for first place in the YRA 2021 Short Handed Race Series.
Remember when someone told you to prepare for the unexpected, the Island Tour Regatta race on Sunday, May 2 will be what comes to mind when you hear that expression next time. Walt and Ryan were off the dock in near record time Sunday morning with their efficient double handed splash routine, and it was important. The Island Tour Regatta had 83 registrants in it, 10 fleets, and a full 55 minutes of start windows with rolling starts all supposed to begin at 11:05 am. BZ was in the last fleet, of course, with a start time of 12 pm, or so Walt and Ryan had thought. When Walt and Ryan got to the starting area near the Olympic Circle off Berkeley around 10:45 am, they had thought they could snack on sandwiches while others prepared for their starts. It was quite the surprise when the call came over the radio that the Race Committee was inverting the fleet starting times and now BZ was up first. With sandwiches still in their mouths and BZ hooved to in the light air, the BZ crew snapped to, gave a food offering to Neptune, and got ready to race.
What the race committee had not anticipated with their starting line was that with the Ebb pulling water out of the SF Bay, the big boats drafting more than 7 feet were getting stuck in the mud at the starting line. The PRO’s last minute decision was to start the smaller boats first and let the flood fill in enough to start the big boats. Good grief! If BZ’s crew had not arrived in the starting area an hour early, it would have been a disaster. A good lesson for all.
Being prepared for anything, the BZ crew adapted, settled in and hit the line first with a great start. BZ, being the highest PHRF rated boat in her fleet (which means she is supposed to be the slowest), knew that this race was going to be a challenge and one of the longest races in which she would ever race. Starting at Buoy G on the Olympic Circle, then all the way to Black Aller Buoy by the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, then all the way to Red Rock Island near the San Rafael Bridge, then finish at the Richmond Yacht Club.
Something like 20-25 miles of racing which took BZ 3 hours 59 minutes and 20 seconds to complete, punctuated with the following highlights: periods of 45 degree heeling in the slot while we shrimped for surface fish, the rail deep into the chop, periods of match racing with an Islander 36 who in the middle of the slot with no one around for miles decided to torture BZ with a port / starboard encounter while the other boat was hidden under BZ’s port tacking sails; periods of indecision concerning which way to go around Angel Island once we rounded Black Aller Buoy (seemingly a no brainer to go through Raccoon Straits with the flood right?, but wait, there is more); periods of complete zero wind for over 45 minutes in Raccoon Straits and but for the flood pushing us through like a cork bobbing on the surface, we would have never finished; periods of equipment failure with the launch pole when we tried to squeeze more out of a rare beam reach point of sail as this was the race of close reaches with no actual dead downwind legs; and finally periods of complete confusion concerning where we ended up as all the faster boats which started after us began passing up around the finish area, with none of our fleet in sight.
We ended up in 2nd place, another trophy for BZ and her crew, missing first place by 8 minutes of TOT Corrected Time after four hours of racing and great lessons learned. Which way would you have gone around Angel Island? Walt and Ryan will relive that decision for some time.
BZ now is tied for first place in the YRA 2021 Short Handed Race Series. Coming up is the North South Regatta on May 23 and the final race in the series, the Bay Excursion Regatta on July 11. Wish BZ and her crew well in the final two races.
