Last Saturday turned out to be a great day for our 2026 West Island Race. We had sunny skies, 12-15 kt SW winds and a slack tide at the start for the 9 boats participating. We had a 4 class start and it was exciting to see 2 sport boats in the sport boat class this year: Hooch (a Melges 24) and Dumpster Fire ( a new to the bay J70).
Our Race Committee- John Holst & crew set the line and provided a perfect 4 class start for the fleet.
The first leg is always the most important for the West Island Race, the "which way" decision must be made by the #10 buoy first mark. The spin, sport boats Naughty Dog & Pandemonium headed east (clockwise) and some broke out the spinnakers for the run to Great River. The rest of the fleet headed south (counter-clockwise). The SW wind increased to 15-20 kts as the CC group rounded C. Charlie and had a good run to Atlantique. Then it was an exciting race past Ocean Beach & Point of Woods to buoy #19. The downwind leg to #9 by Hecksher park was challenging ("keep that jib working"). After rounding #9 it was a fast close reach west to #4 (where is it?!) & #10 and the finish. We watched Hooch-team Kennedy blast north in the West Channel under spinnaker to finish first in fleet. Second was the other sport boat Dumpster Fire- team Smith followed by the non-spin boats Shadow, Tortoise, Kickin' Back & the rest of the fleet.
Final West Island Results:
Spin:
Jewel- L Becker
Sport Boat:
1st- Hooch- B Kennedy
2nd- Dumpster Fire- Smith
Non-Spin:
1st- Shadow- C Margeson
2nd- Kickin' Back- M O'Connell
3rd- Tortoise- B Wheeler
4th- Naughty Dog- J Reichel
5th- Pandemonium- G Sebouhian
Multihull:
Getting There- K Sneddon
Deale Trophy: Shadow
Was there drama? You bet:
-the #4 buoy mark off Bayshore was forgotten by Tortoise & Pandemonium who initially missed it and also for the counterclockwise fleet who at the last minute altered course to pass it to port before finishing!
-The multihull "Getting There" had to withdraw due to a spinnaker wrap & some rigging complications. The good news- no permanent damage sustained,
-The expected ebb tide never really materialized! It helped make the counter-clockwise option the favored course,
-the SW wind lightened up for a time by Crazy Charlie, frustrating the clockwise fleet heading to the finish,
-There were 2 boats with the same sail # and one had 2 numbers, tough work for the RC Committee!
The good news, it was a fantastic sail home for those racers heading west after the race.
My thanks to John Holst & crew for their RC duties and for taking Rich LaBella out for a West Island Race photo session. Look for some great action shots in the next Masthead.
The next weekend race is the BYC Invitational race this weekend, August 9th. Then the SBCC hosts the Annual Mayors Cup race on Saturday, August 29th.
See you on the bay and keep those bottoms clean!
Charlie Margeson
SBCC Regatta Captain