2016 Ditch Run - Outrunning the wind

by Pressure-Drop.US on 8 Jun 2016 The 2016 edition of the 67nm march up the Delta will be remembered for numerous things. From the last minute notice from authorities at Port Chicago, that training exercises would be running into the weekend and venturing into verboten space could result in bad things for crew, boats or both.

Also memorable will be the weather. Not for howling winds and record runs, but for a surprising low that moved over the area, providing fickle winds here and a surprising north wind through the Carquinez Strait, but yielded ghosting conditions across San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bays yet provided a pleasant cloud cover for much of the course, dropping temps by 10-15 degrees before exiting late afternoon.

With a cold marine layer amassing along the coast and three digit temps forecasted inland, the probability of the marine surge eminent, but timing of same in question, 138 boats ranging from small beach cats to 40' plus boats departed the northern reaches of San Francisco Bay on Saturday morning headed east. A strong flood, and cool sub 10 knot wind would lead the parade up and to the Carquinez Bridge where winds compressed and ran straight down the strait.

The first of the racing fleet emerged just after noon, led by Philippe Kahn's full foiling Nacra 20' Pegasus in full flight across the strait. Shortly thereafter the much larger D-Cat, Bill Erkelens Adrenaline followed by a pack of beach cats and the first monohull, Michael Pohl's Farr 40 Twisted. And the flood gates opened, the big trimarans and sportboats followed closely by a gaggle of Express 27's and Moore 24's. The march down the strait was without much drama, the northerly 12-15 knots lacked the usual major shifts and gusted enjoyed during a more normal southwesterly.

The fleet exited the strait and into Suisun Bay, and did their volunteer check in with the 'Authority' monitoring 72, and slowly worked their way towards Port Chicago. With lots of restarts along the way, the boats in back sometimes got the better of the leaders, and the Suisun park up for the Moores, Bart Hackworth's got the golden nugget. Avoiding what appeared to be a semi submerged land mass, Bart and crew Simon Winer took an evasive maneuver and drove away from the pack to the south. Within minutes a windshift from the south began to build and the lads found themselves in fat city.' Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good' Simon recalled 'We had it handed to us on a golden platter, but with the Moore's, you take what you can get!'

Up ahead, Adrenaline and Pegasus had engaged in a gybing duel, working their way through New York Cut and past the Antioch Bridge before things got light and Pegasus lost her foiling ability, and the foils became drag and not lift. 'It was great for a couple miles anyways' Bill SR commented. His D-Cat recently tuned and excels in the lighter conditions, had left the other big cats back up the track. But then Adrenaline outran the wind just past mark 19, and commenced on a four - five ghost drift all the way to Tinsley before the building westerly caught up with them and they could finally reach to the finish. '7 and 1/2 hours, that's a long time on the D-Cat', said Bill 'We are used to 3 1/2 to 4 hours, so we were real happy to get to the Club and get a bite to eat and enjoy a cold one on the grass!'

Further back on the river, the mass of boats found wind again just past the Antioch Bridge as the predicted westerly began to fill just after the 17:00 dinner bell. Good pressure until the S Turn lead to another short term restart and then a mass reaching party for the fleet as sun descended in the west, sunset gave way to twilight and eventually the only lights were the finish lights and running lights.

Another Ditch Run in the books, along one this year, more memories made, with tired yet satisfied crews already thinking about what the next chapter will unveil!