Tim Petersen's blog

The Winter Series continued on Sat. Jan. 21 with race #3. This year the series has both a spinnaker and non-spinnaker division. There were 10 boats in this third race, 9 in the spinnaker division and 1 in the non-spinnaker division.

To date the winter series have been characterized by sunny skies and light winds, but this weekend winter arrived and showed some teeth. Winds from 22 - 25 knots were common, with gusts close to 30. Although we watched a brief squall after the skippers meeting, no rain fell during the race.

A course of 3/4 - Xp - Bp - Ys - 3/4 was selected for a total distance of 8.72 miles. Congratulations to Yellow Brick Road (John Draeger) for taking first place, and to Mirth (Rick Gilmore) and to MADE Easy (Jim Peterson) for taking second and third place respectively in the spinnaker division.

Only 12 seconds separated the corrected times for the first and second place boats, just over a minute separated the corrected times for the third and fourth place boats, and only 46 seconds separated the corrected times for the fifth, sixth and seventh place boats. It was quite an exciting race in all aspects.

Sweet Pea (Tim Petersen) represented the non-spinnaker division.

Race results and Series Standings to date are posted on the bulletin board at the club, and on the Sequoia web site.

The Winter Series continued on Sat. Dec. 10 with race #2. This year the series has both a spinnaker and non-spinnaker division. There were 12 boats in this second race, 11 in the spinnaker division and 1 in the non-spinnaker division.

A course of 3/4 - Xp - 3/4 was selected for a total distance of 5.62 miles. Congratulations to Frequent Flyer (Stan Phillips) for taking first place, and to Relentless (Tracy Rogers) and to Dare Dare (Nico Popp) for taking second and third place respectively in the spinnaker division. Congratulations also goes to Greensleeves (Joseph Curtis) for taking first place in the non-spinnaker division.

Special thanks goes to John Ryan for running the race.

Race results are posted on the bulletin board at the club, and on the Sequoia web site.

The 2012 Sequoia Winter Race Series got off to a great start on Sat. Nov. 19 with race #1. This year the series has both a spinnaker and non-spinnaker division. There were 13 boats in this first race, 10 in the spinnaker division and 3 in the non-spinnaker division.

Both the NOAA Marine Forecast and SailFlow had bleak forecasts for the day, with wind predictions of only 5 knot winds throughout the afternoon. But luckily the forecast was wrong and we enjoyed winds closer to 10 knots throughout the afternoon. The direction, however, was from the SW, which made for an interesting start. Winter sailing is indeed upon us.

A twice-around course of 3/4 - Sp -Ys - 3/4 was selected for a total distance of 7.54 miles. Congratulations  to Pizote (John Ryan) for taking first place, and to Frequent Flyer (Stan Phillips) and Relentless (Tracy Rogers) for taking second and third place in the spinnaker division. Congratulations also goes to Linda Carol (Ray Collier) for taking first place, and to Sweet Pea (Tim Petersen) and Mistral (Peter Blackmore) for taking second and third place in the non-spinnaker division.

Race results are posted on the bulletin board at the club, and on the Sequoia web site.