Race Report, courtesy of Jason Woodley on Risk:

“The weather could not have been better for this year’s J105 Invitational at the San Francisco Yacht Club with 18 boats participating in the regatta. It was downright hot on Saturday with the wind coming out of the NE, it was not the typical marine air out of the NW. Saturday’s racing was extremely tricky because of the wind direction and the course was set with the windward mark and offset just south of Richmond. The race committee did an excellent job of setting up the course and adjusting as the wind was extremely shifty with some easterly gusts coming through. I heard someone ask the race committee over the radio if there was enough water to give you perspective of how inside the course was to accommodate the strange wind direction. With a nice flood there were several general recalls (I lost count) before the fleet could put the first race in the books. With the flood and the course basically being opposite a typical day I think the fleet mentally had trouble adjusting as normally in a flood you are a little more aggressive to get to the line.

Finally the fleet got off the line clean and with several wind shifts up the first beat and the boats that played them the best rounded in the top. Going downwind there were multiple wind shifts and fleet position changed at the bottom mark as well. Going upwind the wind seemed to stabilize more and the shifts were much smaller than the first two legs. The next two races the wind become much more constant in the range of 12 – 17 knots with shifts much more moderate. The conditions were absolutely beautiful with the warm wind everyone was in shorts and t-shirts throughout the day. We kept saying it was like sailing in SoCal except for with wind.

Sunday the fleet headed to the race course and the normal San Francisco conditions were back, except without the fog. The wind picked up considerably from Saturday with a range of 17-23 knots consistently with a few big puffs coming through. It was extremely exciting and close racing throughout the day with a few wipe outs happening occasionally on the downwind legs.

Before the last race we calculated we were a point ahead of Jam Session in the regatta. We just wanted to get off the line clean for a good start and not win a particular side. We started closer to the left side which we thought was a little favored along with Racer X underneath us close to the pin. Once we tacked over we could cross the fleet and this gave us the advantage to lead around the windward mark with Racer X a few boat lengths behind us. Luckily for us it was a 3 leg race as on the douse we had a massive knot in the roller furling line and after trying for a few seconds to untie the knot we resorted to cutting the line. Needless to say it was not a great rounding and Racer X took advantage. Upwind we went to cover mode and finished a one or two seconds behind Racer X with the rest of the fleet close behind. The top five for the regatta was Risk, Jam Session, Racer X, Abritrage and Mojo.

Big thanks to the San Francisco Yacht and Svendsens for putting on a great regatta both on and off the water. All in all it was a great weekend of sailing and sunshine! Hopefully we will see everyone at the NOOD in a couple of weeks.”