We held our Annual SBCC/BSYC Discoverers Race last Saturday, Oct 10. The Race Committee was Eric Winberry- SBCC and Matt Rainis- BSYC.
It was a nice day with clear skies and a 5-8 kt East wind. Six boats came out for the race and the wind was light & shifty at the start. It took about a ½ hour for the ESE wind to finally settle in at a variable 10 kts which meant tacking up west channel to Crazy Charlie. Eric & his son Jack on Aleboat took a long east tack early and picked up some fair wind up the west channel for an early lead. The key was to find & stay in the shifty wind. The fleet also had to battle the outgoing tide in rounding Crazy Charlie which was challenging. The run to the next mark #8 included running a gauntlet of crab pots in the channel (whats up with that?!). Shadow picked up a nice lift and passed Chimera. Then it was an upwind tacking exercise all the way to the finish. Aleboat led the fleet but at one point Pandemonium caught up to challenge for 1st place. However Aleboat picked up some fresh air and ultimately took the 1st place finish. Chimera also caught up to Shadow on this leg and almost regained 3rd place with some good tacking work.
Final 2026 Discoverers Race results:
1st Place: Aleboat- Eric & Jack Winberry
2nd place: Pandemonium- G Sebouhian
3rd place: Shadow- C Margeson
4th place: Chimera-
5th place: Jubilee-
DNF: Bertha - M Rainis
It was an exciting last leg and a big Congrats to Eric & Jack Winberry on Aleboat for their first ever 1st place finish in the Discoverers Race. Looks like Jack is the good luck charm Eric! (Note there was some excellent race strategy involved as well!).
With a "CLOSED" sign up at Atlantique due to storm damage, we all missed having our awards party but enjoyed a nice sail home. I sailed to Great River to join the Fall Family Weekend RV. Returning home down west channel, Gary on Pandemonium did see Berthas big gaff main off in the distance enjoying a beautiful sail down the Bay. It was that kind of fall day and a great way to end our last SBCC race of the 2026 season!
Enjoy the fall sailing!
Charlie Margeson
SBCC Regatta Captain
