Sailing to an island (no, not that island)

This past weekend was the Bay Area Multihull Association's (BAMA) Doublehanded Farallones Race.  Yes, they allow monohulls in the race too. The start was at 0800 off Baker Beach, just outside the Golden Gate Bridge.  The course is from the start out to SE Farallon Island (rounding in either direction) and back, finishing off the Golden Gate YC.  About 55 nm overall.  I've done this race about six time before, always finishing around 1800.  That was not the case this time.  We finished at 1949 making for an extremely long day.  We left the marina at 0545 in order to get to the start area and by the time we got back to the marina after the race it was nearly 0015.  But, we had nice weather, flat seas, and saw a bunch of marine wildlife.  Unfortunately, we didn't see much wind.  We had 5-10 kts of wind at the start but that quickly evaporated to 3-5 kts for most of the trip to the Farallones, mostly from SW to W.  The forecasted afternoon shift to the NW, with increased wind speed, never happened.  As a result, it took us 8 hours to get to the Farallones and about 5.5 hours to get back.  As is typical, the wind increased as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge and was its usual 20+ from the bridge to the finish.  Of course, this was all well after dark, and it felt like every commercial freighter, tanker, and barge decided to leave the Bay as we were coming in.  In the dark, with lots of traffic, it was a bit nerve racking.  Overall a good test of sailing skills and navigating in the dark.

Here's us as we round SE Farallon Island.

You can see the video of the race (as least while it was daylight) here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_EU7D09KWM&ab_channel=TracyRogers

More ocean racing

 After the disappointment of the Drake's Bay race a couple of weeks ago, the forecast was looking better for the SSS race to Half Moon Bay (about 24 nm).  Once again we had good breeze at the start off the Golden Gate YC, but it got lighter outside the Golden Gate bridge and the flood current made exiting the Bay very difficult.  We figure we were 1 for 3 on current calls, with the first two going badly and us losing boats.  Most of the fleet was in the center to north side of the entrance and we decided to stop battling the current and point at HMB.  That sent us just east of Mile Rock, where we tacked out just enough so that we could clear Seal Rock.  By the time we cleared Seal Rock we were among the four leading monohulls and the multihull fleet (that started first).  The rest of the fleet was still struggling to get clear of Lands End.  From there we could point directly at Colorado Reef buoy (the only mark of the race) about 15 nm south.  We eventually passed all but one of the multihulls and all the other monohulls except for one of the other J120s (Jamani) who had the benefit of a larger genoa and their large A2 spinnaker.  We ended up 2nd monohull to finish, correcting out 3rd in our division, and 3rd overall.  A really nice, albeit more wind would have been nicer, day on the water.  We arrived in HMB just before 3pm, grabbed a slip in Pillar Point Harbor for the evening, and then motored home (5 hours) the following morning.  A great weekend.

Video of the day can be found here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr7-oy4-cNQ&ab_channel=TracyRogers

On final approach to the finish in HMB.

Back in the Ocean - Drake's Bay Race

 Hokulani is back out on the ocean again.  This time for the annual SSS race from SF to Drake's Bay (about 31 nautical miles).  We started of the Golden Gate YC in a nice breeze and the day was looking promising.  Unfortunately, the wind forecast was accurate and once we got past Point Bonita heading up the channel, the wind started dying - settling in at 1-2 kts.  With the flood coming down the coast it was rough going.  We were able to get about a mile up Bonita Channel doing okay on port tack, but every time we'd tack away from the coast on starboard, the current would push us south.  We passed the green buoy off Tennessee cove at least twice.  After five hours, and with over 20 nm to go, we called it quits at 3pm and headed home.  Of course it was blowing 20-25 kts inside the Bay, so we got some nice sailing back to Brisbane marina.

Video of our day can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXg_edqJvg&ab_channel=TracyRogers

 

Parking lot on the way up Bonita Channel.