It was an exciting day on San Francisco Bay this past Saturday as the Bay filled up with beautiful classic schooners getting ready to race in The Great San Francisco Schooner Cup. Winds were between 15-20 kts the whole afternoon, with a strong ebb flowing out of the bay. The sailing was fabulous, with a strong showing from the Bay schooners. MARTHA’s new sail plan worked very well. We hit all the design parameters and were pointing very high and footing. Kudos to Sandy Goodall, Sean Rankins of Northwest Sails, Holly Kays, and all the volunteers who helped put MARTHA’s sails together.
The start was staggered, and MARTHA started 35 minutes after the first boat. There were 10 schooners overall and an honorary schooner/ketch chasing everyone. We started catching other boats by the windward mark and were able to reel in the fleet by the bottom of the course. We were able to pass Elizabeth Muir as the boats started climbing back to weather (between Alcatraz and the city front). Local knowledge prevailed on the beautiful schooner Elizabeth Muir and they nipped us by 3 seconds with an exciting gybing duel at the finish. The schooner sailors were impressed with MARTHA’s speed and we think they are going to adjust our handicap.
For some more photos of Martha during the Schooner Cup, Jamie Sherman took some wonderful photos. Here is the link:
http://campsherman.smugmug.
Password is:
Martha (case sensitive)
