New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

At Inverness Yacht Club this past Saturday, a mixed 110 and Open Class fleet of 8 boats raced in the Midsummer Mischief in 16-18 knots of WNW wind, gusting 24 kt. The course took the fleet around marks off Marshall, Hearts Desire beach, Marconi Cove, and Shell Beach with a downwind finish off IYC.

The fresh breeze on Tomales Bay produced exciting planing reaches and runs for the 110s with multiple broaches thrown in for good measure. Equally fast, and often faster, was Jim Saarman singlehanding his Weta trimaran. Jim crossed the line first on elapsed time.

A very tight finish between David West and Tony Basso against Bren Meyer and Erik Menzel in the 110s followed, with David and Tony surging past Bren and Erik in the final 100 yards to a 6-second corrected time victory. Jim on the Weta finished only 3 seconds behind Bren and Erik on corrected time,tight finishes for a 1.5 hr race in the breezy conditions.

Where else on the Pacific Coast do antique wooden sport boats compete against 14' carbon trimarans for bragging rights?

15 year old Aiden Zentall was the sole entrant in the Small Boat fleet sailing an ILCA 6 (Laser). Aiden wisely rigged with a small 4.7 square meter sail and had a fine time zipping around the course and pulling off the jibe of the day at the last mark.

Here's a fun video of the action aboard OREMUS, with Michael Sporer on the helm and daughter Emma on the trapeze wire: https://youtu.be/1AJh9lkh1dQ Thanks Michael and Emma!

[Philpott]

Terrific video. That girl needed ski goggles.

[MillyB]

It was a super fun day ! I had new ( to me ) crew but he was fantastic and a Melges 24 sailor. I teabagged him and we took two great knockdowns. Everything was funny to him- we laughed a lot and got very very wet.

[sleddog]

7/27/24 Fingers crossed this morning for Ants and Marsha whose home in Bodfish is under evacuation orders for the advancing Borel fire just south of Lake Isabella in the Kern River Valley, 60 miles east of Bakersfield in the southern Sierra. When I spoke with Ants yesterday midday, they were packed and ready to go as soon as they saw flames, at that time within a few miles downhill and upwind.

Ants, if you read this, know all of us at SSS Forum are sending prayers. Here's a photo Ants took yesterday of his neighborhood.



John Riise, who’s written and edited for Latitude 38 Sailing Magazine since 1984, also lives near Ants in Bodfish.