Porsche 924S Maintenance: Drakes Bay Race 2017 (OYRA)

I sailed the OYRA Drakes Bay race this weekend. Day 1 commenced Saturday at 940AM and finished that evening at whatever time boats were able to reach Drakes Bay. The start was well executed from Corinthian Yacht Club on Racoon Straits, and we headed across the bay and out the Golden Gate. We turned right and beat to windward for seven hours to reach Drakes. The ocean swell was considerable and some, including myself, were sea-sick. Arriving at dusk it was as though we were on another world without any development and without too many human sources of light besides anchor lights. We had excellent views of the Milky Way, and a Perseid Meteor Shower. The night was windy and our vessel danced about our long anchor line denying sleep to some. Three or four boats came in later that night and we heard radio check-ins until about 10PM.

On Sunday, Day 2, we woke up, rigged for spinnaker and made our way to the foggy start line which was challenging to spot at first. We sailed out to sea on a long right-hand gibe, but we saw diminishing winds and witnessed a prudent boat take the turn left back to the coast for better wind. We didn't follow that boat to the detriment to our race. The wind diminished even further and we saw the shore boats take an ever bigger lead, eventually disappearing from sight. When we finally did make our way to shore, the wind built steadily to 20 kts and the direction was perfect for laying Point Bonita in a single go. We made a gibe near the rocky shore and sailed parallel to the coast 10 miles before making a lefthand turn at Bonita. The boat held the spinnaker well and we were able to keep it powered up as we entered the bay alongside an Express 27.

We finished the race around 245PM Sunday and continued to fly the 12-year old spinnaker before it eventually exploded on an overpowered beam reach right by the lee of Angel Island. We hauled in sail cloth and by the time we reached Alameda, de-rigged and prepared to go home it was around 545PM. The event was extremely enjoyable, especially the Spinnaker reach back through the Golden Gate!