A big shift for Pumpkin Pursuit in Richmond

by Erik Simonson, Pressure-Drop.US on 28 Oct 2014 A gorgeous, warm October day with wind 180 degrees, the opposite of Saturday for the Great Pumpkin Pursuit Race. Out of the north, we had 8-15 knots with a downhill start. Most boats opted for the sleigh ride to Alcatraz, but that's where things got sticky.

The flood still in play and the (wind)cone in effect made for a sizable pileup at Alcatraz. Boats attempting to get around near The Rock in the clockwise direction found things slow and agonizing. A few who chose Racoon Straits and negotiated the light air and adverse currents prospered once out of the lee of Angel Island and got richer riding the remnant of the flood and breeze deep in the Bezerkeley Flat.

A close finish as John Kernot's Moore 24 Banditos duked it out to the finish with Scott Easom's Farr 30 8 Ball working their way up the final leg, while the clockwise boats were languishing in Racoon Strait waiting for the wind, a spectacular sight as the cove filled with kites in the late October afternoon!