San Francisco YC Elite Fleet Invitational Regatta May 20-21
First racing event on the Olympic Circle, this year, with a promising weather forecast, showing building flood, and varying winds, Saturday with heavy air forecast at 16-20 mph WSW. 14 Knarrs had signed up, sharing the racecourse with J/105 and Folkboats. The PRO, Jeff Zarwell, and Event Chair, Forrest Gay, and their respective team members did a fantastic job. We only saw the J/105’s on two or three legs of the course and NEVER rounded the same marks at the same time.
Day 1 – Race 1,2,3
It was US-141 “Three Boys & a Girl”, with substitute skipper, Mark Heer leading the day off with a nice win. With him, Hans Baldauf and Don Nazzal, closely followed by US-134 “Alinea” with John Steward “Chewie” and Keith Love “Panda” onboard. “Chewie” has returned to the Knarr fleet after many years, and it was good to see “Alinea” very competitive at the top of the fleet all weekend.
Starting in Flood, and as it increased approaching the weather mark, US-120 “Snaps III” rounded in third place and proceeded to hit it, slide sideways along it whilst dragging it down from its position. As the mark left the transom, it sprang RIGHT back to its original location. Sadly, for the skipper Russ Silvestri, Randy Hecht, and crew in U-128 “Niuhi”, they were right where the mark had been before. “While we did not actually AIM it at them, it struck them (Sorry Russ, Randy, and crew!), said skipper, Mike Ratiani onboard US-120 “Snaps III” with Joel, Billy and legendary David Wiard. Both boats did their turns and continued on. Needless to say, both overstood the mark the next time up, and ended up 3rd, and 4th in the race.
Don Jesberg in US-133 “Viva”, came back in 2nd race with a bullet with tactician Ethan Doyle, and crew Eric Baumhoff, and John Bonds onboard – closely followed by US-128 “Niuhi”, and US-120 “Snaps III” in 3rd
In the middle of the fleet US-103 “Kulani” with skipper, Eric Kaiser, was getting up to speed in the 3rd and last race of the day, wind at >20 mph gusts, and with substitute crew onboard, Kurt Hemmingsen’s neighbor Noah Campbell, who had only raced ONCE before in his life, and other crew, IOD owner, Joe Rueter.
“Kulani” rounded out the day in 3rd, behind “Alinea” and “Niuhi” who had found point and speed to win the last race, and topped the board for the day with 7 points, closely followed by “Snaps III” with 10 points, and “Alinea” in 3rd with 11 points.
Day-2 – Races 4 and 5
The forecast was promising. Started out the same as Saturday but with less punch in the gusts. Most boats were dressed for heavy air, but the breeze stayed consistently at 12-14 mph for the two races.
Unfortunately, James Scarborough in US-138 “Cahoots”, US-103 “Kulani” and also Bryan Kemnitzer in US-116 “Wintersmoon” DNS on Sunday – so the day set up with the absolute Elite, the best of the Knarr breed.
In the 4th race, skipper Terry Anderlini on US-102 “Benino” who had struggled a bit Saturday, came off the starting line very well, and immediately went to the left side of the course for more breeze, to race a solid 2nd finish behind, now dominating, US-128 “Niuhi” in first, closely followed by US-120 “Snaps III”.
Rookie skipper Ty Ingram onboard US-115 “Knarrgonaut” had struggled in the back of the fleet Saturday, but he and crew were on the racecourse looking for more “free lessons” on Sunday and in good spirits. Leading up to the regatta Ty had sent out a message at work looking for volunteers, saying “I’m in desperate need of crew for a sailboat race this weekend, no experience in sailing necessarily required, just good balancing skills, would anyone be interested?” Warning: you should not volunteer if you get seasick easily. I will provide all the gear you need. And food.
Ty received 4 likes, and 14 replies.
And they pulled it off! 6 races completed and a respectable 10th overall in the regatta.
Ty’s crew included – Tom Ingram- Dad, and the regular main trimmer. Dave Jackson – V15 sailor at TI, first time ever sailing on a Knarr, did jib both days. Alex Beattie – My coworker and causal sunfish sailor, first time ever on a keelboat and first time ever in a sailboat race, did bow on Saturday, had a good time but politely told Ty he bit off more than he could chew, and Erin O’Rourke – Also my coworker, first time sailing ever, did bow on Sunday, had a ton of fun and 3 beers on the way in, said she’d be willing to race again anytime.
“Nothing remarkable from our racing, we had good starts but felt like the key to racing this weekend was having boat speed and going the right way neither which we did. I’ll be away for the next regatta, but we’ll be back for redemption at the Woodies.” Said, Ty Ingram. What a Guy!
What a great weekend it was.
In the final race of the regatta, things took a turn.
Skipper Risley Sams on US-47 “Kraken” with tactician Brooks Price, Jim Egbert, and Klario Spindler onboard, committed themselves to the pin end at the start. In previous starts they fought for this end with US-104 “Flyer” by skipper, Chris Kelly, who won most of the battles with great speed off the line. US-47 “Kraken” one-tacked it on the left side to fetch the layline on port and cinch the weather mark on the first upwind leg. “After rounding the offset, we had clear air and the flood tide and stretched our lead. Our winning move was never to take anything for granted because US-120, US-128, and US-134 were nipping at our heels the entire race! Everyone was fast that last race because it was “perfect” Knarr conditions. “said a very satisfied skipper, Risley Sams.
We had good pace at the start and good company at the leeward end and had to fight over the top of one boat and had to work our way over a couple of boats to windward to put them in our bad air, which did force a couple of boats to tack away. Risley held a very fine line of keeping speed up while squeezing to windward. We did do a good job picking a port layline and as often happens, and Risley mentioned, getting around first in a flood tide quickly releases you from the rest of the fleet. We stayed committed to the left side of the course even though the right gate was not favored. We felt that taking the favored gate but then having to immediately tack to go left was break-even, which it appeared to be. The fleet basically cooperated by following us up the left side, so we didn’t have to make any strategic covering decisions…” Brooks Price added, about the win in the 5th and last race.
A very convincing winner in the series, Russ Silvestri, Randy Hecht, and crew onboard US-128 “Niuhi” with a 4th in the last, ahead of US-120 “Snaps III” in 2nd overall, and US-134 “Alinea” in 3rd by only 1 point.
Congratulations to Russ and Crew on a well-managed regatta!
What a great weekend it was.
Words from the Knarr Racing Enthusiast:
We go out in very rough conditions and the Berkley Circle delivered on its full potential, “welcoming” and providing a training ground for new crew, heavy air lessons, and never-to-forget rides home to port in the ebb tide.
It is evident that we are very competitive –
· 4 different boats managed to win a race.
· Only 5 boats had a series of single-digit finishes.
· 2 boats, only, had all TOP 5 finishes.
· 2 boats had old timers onboard – we always love seeing Knarr friends like Don Nazzal, David Wiard, and John ‘Chewie’ Steward returning to Knarr racing.
And, most importantly – no collisions, and only a few appropriate protest flags flown in this regatta, but no visits to the protest room. Thank you for keeping it competitively safe for everybody!
TIPS for the Newcomer:
This write-up regarding sail choice for the regatta was offered by Randy Hecht, US-128 “Niuhi”.
128 has used the same design North main sail since we entered the class in 2016. The only change has been to 3Di sail material from Dacron. The 3Di material has an extremely long life. We are using a main that was built in 2021 and it still has lots of life. On jibs, 128 has tried several 3Di designs from North and one (standard) Dacron design from Doyle. The North 3Di jib we like is a very powerful deeper camber design that performs at its best in choppy water – like what we mostly had on the circle on Sat. We switched to a flatter Doyle Dacron design (built in 2020) for Sunday for the lighter wind and flatter water conditions. The Doyle design is very versatile. We do not use the North AP jib as we feel it is too flat in the bottom third and is not competitive vs the Doyle jib. I personally do not think Dacron has any advantage over a properly designed 3Di jib and I think the 3DI jib stays competitive a lot longer than a Dacron jib.
Wow! Ask a fellow skipper about sail use, there’s a lot to learn from the most experienced skippers and crew! Also, don’t be afraid of asking your sailmaker for time on the boat.
