The singlehanded farallons race is hosted by the Singlehanded Sailing Society(
www.sfbaysss.org). There were approximately 70 entrants overall and 7 in the "sportboat" division Elise sailed in. About 64 boats finished. A sportboat is defined by weight and length (a light weight for length helps in particular on downwind legs for surfing). A Farallons race typically involves a very quick spinnaker trip back, so a separate division makes sense. There were three Express 27's entered(Elise, Simba, and Taz) as well as a Moore 24,a Santa Cruz 27, a Wilderness 30, and a Black Soo. Elise owed everyone time except the Wilderness 30, even Simba (which needs some investigation).
I spent a late night prepping the boat and made a "final" (though temporary) installation of the autohelm. In a full-crew or even double-handed event, there's someone to trim the sails but in order to keep Elise at her fastest single-handed you need to be able to leave the helm at least temporarily on a fairly regular basis. She's quite stable, even on a tight reach, so I was able to do fast jib adjustments without worrying about her drifting off course too far even with no autohelm. More extensive adjustments (such as jib car position) required a bit more time, and the autohelm at least kept her from going in circles. The unit itself functions well; the problem is that I didn't have time to install the attachment point properly in the deck and instead tied a board to the stern pulpits. It moved a bit and turned, making the autohelm's job more difficult.
Safety on single-handed races is a bit different from normal full-crew events. Much equipment required even for something less taxing like a crewed lightship isn't required for this event (but I rigged most of it anyway). The key is to stay on the boat. You're not going to throw yourself the horseshoe, MOB pole, and strobe if you don't. I like to have flotation and the lifesling available anyway in case I need to aid someone else.
The start time was 0855 on a significant ebb current, with the start line being in front of the Golden Gate Yacht Club. The permanent X buoy is missing, and a small inflatable was placed roughly on station instead. The line was slightly off square, but the pin end was favored even without that additional edge because of everyone's desire to get out into the main channel as quickly as possible to ride the ebb.
The other two E27's started with large jibs. I opted for the #3 (both playing it safe as my first SHF and because I expected a strong build right after the bridge from watching the winds from the breakwater and forecast from NOAA. Coming off of the starting line, Elise trailed Simba and Taz, slightly lower (towards the shore, once I hit the current Iwent for shortest course). Elise was at a slight disadvantage under those wind conditions with that sail choice. It wouldn't be fatal for a buoy course, but over the 25 miles out she would have been ground down so I was watching the wind for hints about when/if to change.
Right after the GG bridge, the wind started to pick up. About halfway from there to Bonita, Taz changed down to a smaller jib (for some reason, briefly running bareheaded) and lost a lot of distance in the process. Elise was now doing a better job of holding even with Simba, though the latter boat now had a comfortable (by buoy-racing standards) lead. I was now happy with my sail choice: Elise was powered up and comfortable, but not overpowered (little backstay, normal outhaul, etc.).
With a forecast of a strong south shift, I could not see pursuing the usually favored hard northward course. I was able to consistently lay the Farallons and even cracked off a bit at times for speed. Elise proceeded straight out, just outside the north side of the main channel to stay in good current.
The boats I was watching were the other Expresses and the Moore. Around the lightship, I started maintaining station between the Farallons and Taz and the Moore. Simba worked a bit left. The normal rule would be to stay on the side you think the shift is going to, so Simba's course would make sense given the forecast for a southerly swing, except that we could already lay the mark.
Simba gets the nod for upwind trim on that leg- Elise was almost keeping up but even a small fraction of a knot adds up to a lot after 25 miles. We also need to get some stuff out of Elise and do some more tuning (rig, otherwise, and simple practice keeping her rolling).
For several miles just before reaching the Farallons, the wind swung way aft and it would have been time to set a kite with full crew (or even double-handed). As it was, I didn't see any others and gave in to peer pressure (playing it safe my first time through). Elise rounded the first corner closer than some of the PHRF boats, with the sport boats, and still safely outside the track followed by similar groups in the DHF. The conditions on that side were particularly safe with a southerly rather than NW wind (much less wind-driven surf than usual, and you'd be blown away from rather than into the island in the event of a problem). The rounding was a gradual heading up and coming onto a tight reach along the back of the island. Rounding the final corner was (unusually) a tack and beat. I misjudged the layline a bit (from watching an Olson 25, Shark onBluegrass I believe) and rounded closer than intended but not close enough to mandate an additional pair of tacks.
The leg back to Bonita/Seal Rocks was a very tight reach. I took a northerly course (pointing at a spot on land a bit north of Bonita) in order to get better speed (cracked off) under the plan that the wind would eventually swing aft and I'd be able to sail close to a max-speed reach for the entire leg. This was the minority opinion; I think most boats were staying high (South, toward Seal Rocks) in hopes of being able to set their kites first.
This leg was fast and emphasized coordinating trim and helm through windshifts and seas. Elise couldn't quite reliably catch waves. The #3 was still the right choice (just starting to feel overpowered on the tight reach). Elise gradually ground down the boats to the north (other PHRF divisions) and outpaced Taz and the Moore. Simba was doing the same to Elise; I lost track of her not too long after the Farallons.
As we approached Bonita, the wind started to get a little lighter and come aft. The general pattern would have allowed carrying a kite from about that point, but every five minutes or so the wind would go sharply forward for a while. In retrospect, the decrease in velocity probably justified a switch to the #1 for the broader reach back, but at the time I was expecting it to come back up.
As intended, I gave up my northerly position to keep speed up and passed under the gate pretty close to the South Tower (and watching a large heavy PHRFer fail to honor it). The final leg in to the finish was in lighter breeze, and I tried to keep the angle hot for reasonable speed.
Elise finished at 17:35:46 correcting out half an hour behind Simba, eight minutes ahead of the Moore, and 15 minutes ahead of Taz (3 out of 7 in division). The Black Soo(Mirage) and Simba finished 1 and 2 and were also very good overall, 3 and 8 respectively (Elise was 39 overall).
I'm quite happy with the result. Elise was at a disadvantage because she's handicapped for her strong downwind spinnaker performance, which wasn't even tested in this event, and because it was her skipper's first SHF (not really letting the poor girl stretch her legs fully).
Stars and Stripes
Blowing hard.
