Act 1
When it rains, it pours and when it blows, it blows the dogs off their chains in San Francisco.
Things started off
pretty heady for the first St. Francis Yacht Club Friday night slalom race of
the season on May 12th as the puffs hit 30 knots & 4-6' breaking swell
buried the 2nd downwind slalom mark, set a few hundred feet of Crissy Field. A dedicated group of
wind junkies, half of which were on extra small bump and jump or wave gear,
braved the conditions to carry on a tradition that has been going strong since the early days of windsurfing in California.
Downwind slalom
racing, especially in a big breeze is one of the most spectacular to watch & one of the most exciting disciplines to compete in.
At 1 min before the
start, its a chaotic symphony of windsurfers jockeying for position as they
scream towards the starting line set just off Anita Rock on the San Francisco
city front. Like clockwork, the fleet blast across the starting line in an all
out sprint towards the 1st gybe mark, hitting speeds of 25 knots and flying
across the chop all within a few feet of each. The first to arrive quickly lay down their sails to de-power
while carving around the mark. In an instant, they are back on the new gybe
going deep across the troughs of breaking swell. A few get knocked down, while
the rest hold it together.
Its an all out
obstacle course as several fleets of inbound ocean racers cross at the exact
time the fleet gets ready to round mark 2. Chaos erupts as the yachts broach in
a hellish 30 knot+ westerly puff and the mark is buried in the breaking rollers
coming in the San Francisco Bay. A few boards go down, just to save
themselves from what would otherwise be an impending death sandwich between the
fiberglass hulls. Those that emerge, do so by the skins of their teeth,
threading the fine needle of control and all out balls to the wall, hold it
together for your life windsurfing.
2 more gybes to go
and its all over.
The fleet rips back
towards the east end of Crissy Field where there's a slight relief from the 4k
flood tide ripping across the course. Even the racers on 4.5 m wave sails
effortlessly carve around the mark in stiff 25 knot breeze and quickly make
their way towards the last gybe mark set in an all out furry of wind and waves.
Positions change as rapidly as the wind but the top racers are able to maintain
control and consistency in their maneuvers around the course.
1 more 'OMFG reach'
and the 2-1/2 minute race will be over.
If you can avoid
stuffing the nose of your board in the breaking swell and round the StFYC B
buoy- set just in front of the club, the race is over. If not, you'll have to
watch the rest of the fleet fly by as you try to muster the energy water start
to make it across the finish line in dead fucking last (DFL.)
When its all over,
everyone heads back upwind for another shot at redemption.
You're only as good
as your last race and for the rest of the fleet who didn't score a bullet,
there's victory to be had or lost once again.
4 more races
are run as the breeze settles down to a reasonable 20k and the flood builds and
flattens out the course.
I have the duty of
race committee this evening with 2 other racers as the only way this series
works is by volunteering 1 of the 4 race nights towards race management. You
get to see how and why the series works by actually taking part and running it.
The marks don't set themselves, nor does the start or finish go off without the
help of 4-5 person team. A huge thanks to the kite racers who showed up and
maned the race deck for finishes.
By the time its
over, the fleet looks like its returned from a naval battle with broken sails
& twisted carbon but there's a slight twinkle in the eyes of these wind
junkies- ready to do it all over again tomorrow.
Act 2
18 hours pass and
the fleet is back where they stood the day before. This time, the Crissy Field
Slalom Series breaks ground for their 3rd season.Its a grass roots
effort to get out the fleet and encourage new racers to join in the party It's 2 pm and
already blowing their dogs off their chains for the 3rd day straight day in a
row. The San Francisco
Bay is a sea of white caps, frothing in a wind blown seascape. The marks get
set & 18 racers get consolidated into 1 fleet for a winner take all 10 race
series.
photo
credit: @lyrahcolvin
I'm not sure if I
was just stubborn or stupid but it took me the better half of the day to get my
shit together. I was a hot mess trying to keep down a 7.6 rig and 105l slalom
board with a 42cm fin in the 25k+ of breeze.
It's definitely
doable but not advisable.
I'm smart enough to
know that if you hold out long enough you can pick a few racers off at each
rounding but being overpowered- I was not doing myself any favors in pushing
the top of the fleet. I go down hard the 4th race breaking a foot strap and
retire before swallowing my pride and switching down to my smaller gear. I
haven't sailed the 85l board & 6.3 m rig in what seems like years but
its rigged and ready on the beach. It takes me a few runs between races to
adjust the harness lines and get things settled but before I know it, race 5
has started and Im in the lead at mark 1 just in front of Xavier who is
breathing down my neck. I put everything I have into the next reach, closing
the gap on the 6.3 m rig and sending it faster than I ever have before. The
59cm board just flies right over the top of the water until it doesn't
& I charge right into the backside of the breaking swell and get catapulted
over the handlebars spinning like a rag dog in the spin cycle of a washing machine. I emerge and try
to water start as the fleet goes wizzing by but realize my boom head has disintegrated in the chaos. A few more
rollers wash over me for good measure sending my gear tumbling and me swimming
after it. I finally manage to jury rig the boom back together with some spare
line and drift back to shore in a water start position.
photo
credit: @lyrahcolvin
As luck would have
it, we have a 30 min break after 5 races and I regroup on the beach derigging
the 7.6 and switching the boom to the 6.3. I fine tune the mast position back
1/2" and go out for practice run. The board & rig feel dialed and Im off like a
race horse leading the entire 6th race and taking the bullet!
It's all about the
come back I remind myself.
I stay in the top 3
for the rest of the races except when I get taken out at the 1st mark in race 8
as Jean is squeezed out of a tight rounding and drops his rig in front of
me.
In years past, I
would have been furious, yelling, screaring & protesting but now, just let that shit go.
You've got to take
the good with the bad.
No reason to get
upset, just move on.
Going into the last
race I know its tight for points between 3rd and 6th and need to finish strong
as I've already used my share of throw outs and then some for the day. Its
already starting to lighten up to 18-24 knots but have no choice but to stick
with the small gear. I send it and get a flying start near the pin end neck neck with Xavier. We go into the 1st mark overlapped but he squeaks out
with just a bit more speed and finesse and gets a jump on the next reach. I
follow suit and am able to hold off the rest of the fleet for a strong 2nd
place finish on the last race. This puts me tied for 3rd with Vincent who's
been sailing very consistent all day in the top 5. I lose the tie breaker as
windsurfers go by who ever has the better throughout to determine the
tie.
Back at the beach,
every racer recaps his day with postmortems and 'what should have beens' but its
always the racer who sails the most consistent and makes the fewest
mistakes that ends up on top.
As with most races
here, it's Xavier Ferlet who takes 6 bullets for the day and walks away with a
nearly flawless afternoon of racing. In 2nd, local board head, Soheil Zahedi
shines with his best performance to date; however, the awards work a bit
differently in this series than most.
We gather our prizes
and in kind gifts from sponsors and first let the volunteers come up and choose
the best items because without them, none of this would be possible. Next up is
the B fleet who aren't even expecting to be recognized, nonetheless get a
prize. From the back of the fleet up, we call off the racers names to come pick
a prize. The racers in the back and middle of the fleet are stoked. They never
get prizes but will sure to be back again for the next race.
This is how you
build and maintain a fleet- from the bottom up.
Beer and pizza
slowly bring back the fleet to life and if they could, these wind junkies would be back tomorrow
for another race.
Luckily for my
recovery time, the next race is a month away on June 9th & 10th with
the Friday Night Slalom & Crissy Field slalom Series. Until then, I've
got plenty of kite racing to keep me occupied and humble again in the back of
the fleet.
A huge thanks to the Crissy Field Slalom Series sponsors for making it possible. Without you guys, we'd just be sailing back & forth!
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