Monday, April 18, 2011

Elvstrom Zellerbach Regatta

Elvstrom Zellerbach Regatta hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club was a fantastic event. The team drove down to San Francisco for the weekend. We left Thursday afternoon, drove to Portland that night, and then down to San Francisco the next night. The first day of the regatta brought lighter wind for the start of the first race quickly building as the day went on. I finished 12th in the first race. The second race brought more wind and more current, the current was out going, dragging you over the start line. This made for some fast up wind and long downwind legs. I was 10th in that race. By race 3 the wind was really starting to blow at over 20k. I had an ok start and got to the top mark in good shape, I think top ten. I then sailed a great down wind and went round the right gate. From this point on it was pretty much a drag race although I was able to make up one more spot on the next leg. I finished 4th in the last race of the day.




Day 2 brought more wind and 3 more races. I sailed a solid first race finishing 10. I could have sailed the downwind better. I tried to work my way in to shore to get out on the current but it did not come back with any great favors. The 2nd race was respectable. I sailed well and had better down wind speed and tried to just keep the boat rolling through the waves. It seemed to come together and I ended up 5th. By race 3 well over half the fleet had packed it in. I sailed an ok first half and a bad last beat ending up 8th in that race, which is the same place I finished over all out of 27 boats. We packed up the trailer and were out of San Francisco by 5:30. We drove to the Oregon border where we stopped for the night and then finished the drive home on Monday.