It was a tough day to cross the Bay. Light winds were predicted from the east, but at noon there was nothing. All the Rainbows had to be towed out to the race course at R “2”. After a 30 minute delay the breeze filled in lightly from the North and the race committee started the sequence for Course B – across the Bay to G “87”, North East to a drop mark and then South to an offset and then the finish line back near R “2”.
The Rainbow fleet was the second start after the CRAB boats. Nimbus started at the pin and found a couple of puffs out of the North and got out to an early lead. Chinook settled in and then set their spinnaker and immediately started moving ahead. As the boats approached the G “87” the wind from the North turned off and the boats drifted north on the flooding tide. Eventually the breeze filled in from the South with enough pressure for three Rainbows to finish. Chinook used her spinnaker to cross 1st, with Sharqi passing Cirrus on the line for 2nd and 3rd. The other boats retired due to the 4:00 pm time limit.
It was very interesting getting all the boats tied up for the six boat train back to the school. We only had one line snap and a couple of bowline missteps though.
A huge shoutout to Heather Maher for designing the winning costume contest outfits and to the rest of the Nimbus crew – Rob Gates and Michele Corvino – for sporting them!
There are some pictures in here that weren’t taken by me. Mel Harrison took a few and some – including the awesome one of Chinook with the spinnaker and smiling crew – are by Wilbur Keyworth. Make sure to visit Spinsheet and buy the high quality downloads: https://spinsheet.smugmug.com/SpinSheet/2025-Events-SpinSheet/CRAB-Cup-2025
The full gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NL39KVSisSeeYgHSA
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