Any sailor who says they have raced the best downwind race truly has not done so till they run the ditch! Racing up the delta is loaded with decision making, sail handling and challenges waiting at every bridge and turn.
This race attracts all types of boats. At the start you will see various JBoats, fast planning monohulls like the M38 and Melges 20's, original Santa Cruz downwind flyers like the Moore 24 and Express 27s, IOR death roll machines and some regular cruising type boats and then an assortment of multihulls ranging from beach size cats to Formula 40 style catamarans and last but certainty not least, throw a foiling moth into the mix!
Racing 67 miles up river in a J70 in a typical medium to high breeze downwind "gybe, crash and burn times 50" race sounds too good to be true. I joined Karl Pomeroy and Erik Mayol from BCYC in SoCal to race in the 2013 Delta Ditch Run hosted by Richmond YC and Stockton Sailing Club. I had raced this race in Hobie 33's and Melges 24's, so I instantly became the local expert. To date I still have not hit dirt, so at least I know where deeper water is compared to some of the racers who park their boat in the mud every year!
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| San Francisco Bay on the left, Stockton on the right 67.5 nm |
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| Erik and Karl concentrate on trim & speed in the light air |
On "Zero to 60" our strategy changed at turning buoy #19. The two lead J70's were within sight but were getting 5-7 minutes ahead and the race was getting shorter, not longer. All the boats we could see were headsail reaching on the dog leg left turn, no spinnakers. The breeze is usually windier and gusty here, so spinnaker sailing is a big no-no (unless you are a Wylie Wabbit with big cojones and carry the spin with full trapeze and flog the main and jib), so we put the spinnaker up and let it all hang out. The J70 sailed the razor thin line of spinning out and keeping the foot on the gas pedal at full RPM passing boats, squeezing in to the lead boats and pulling away from the boat chasing us.
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| crew view of bridge in Delta Ditch Run |
As the river gets closer to Stockton, there are more turns with one or two more tight reaches and then almost dead downwind to the finish line. The breeze "usually" starts to die off, but this year it started to blow with some gusts in the mid-20's. "Zero to 60" pushed hard with the spinnaker up and down on the tight reaches with boats around us spinning out trying to match the narrow angle to stay off the rocks on the leeward side of the channel and out of the mud on the windward side! This was awesome sailing with very little room to maneuver and burn down in the puffs and try to avoid submerged trees sticking out of the water and dozens of water ski boats and jets ski's. We were sailing in a real life sailing combat zone video game, don't spin out Karl!
After the last tight reach, the dead down angle was the only way to go. By this point, most asymmetric boats have jibed 40+ times with 10+ more jibes before the finish in 5-7 miles. Finally some carnage started to hit the race course with the breeze picking up instead of dying, more jibe wipe outs were happening and one FT-10 stuck in the mud after a spin out! "Zero to 60" went into our 2 minute "no huddle" offense wtih "wing on wing" sailing down the puffs. We were closing rapidly in on the lead J70's as we could get on the step and start planning with the wing on wing sail trim. Erik steered dead down wind or just by the lee, I trimmed (held) the spinnaker sheet while Karl was letting out the tack line for better separation from the spinnaker and main. It was exhilarating sailing as each puff would hit and the boat jumped in speed as the boats around us kept wiping out during their jibes. Erik would simply sail toward the spinnaker when the boat got out of balance and kept the boat and sails in perfect balance and trim, it was wicked fast and as good as VMG as you could get!
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| J70 #59 JAYA skippered by Craig Tallman |
In the end, we ran out of race course and crossed 3rd behind "DFZ (3m:30sec ahead)" and "Baby War Pony (0:33sec ahead)". Keeping the spinnaker up on the reaches and the wing on wing technique was a big reason we were able to get up next to the lead J70's by the finish. The earlier part of the race where we jibed away from bigger slower boats and sailed out of the best water and wind made too much separation. The J70's performed amazingly well in this race and will be a factor in next years race for sure. But, the best part of the race for the J70's was at the hoist with all of the other trailer-able boats there. Watching (not really helping) Karl and Erik put away the boat and ready it for the hoist and dropping on the trailer made me a believer. It was so dang fast and simple I could not believe it. Seeing the other trailer boats get their ladders out and mess with gin poles to drop the rigs, the J70 experience was fast and easy.
I would expect to see close to 20 of the J70's at next year's race after taking 1,3,4, 7, 12 in their class and fun it was to race with your friends and how easy the boat was to launch-race-put away at the end of the day.
-Fly Over of DDR-
http://youtu.be/Ct6hQqKJfdw
-DDR Home Page-
http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/6400#_home
