It was a big day on the SF Bay this past weekend as 150 sailboats showed up to contest the CYC Mid Winter Series finale held out of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon, CA.
Muscle Milk MEGA Athlete, Memo Gidley, and his “Basic Instinct” crew were there to knock off some winter rust and see what they could do against a very competitive field. With 13 classes of racing and big grids for each of the separate starts, the action would be fast and furious.
“I have been so excited to get out there for our first race this season that the last few days I didn’t sleep very much!” said Gidley. “I think the constant variables of the ever changing conditions, and the tuning aspect of trying to find those precious tenths of speed all the while side by side other boats, makes sailboat racing super addicting to me and my mind just can’t stop thinking about it leading up to a race.”
As excited as Gidley and his crew was, the first race Saturday, turned out to be one for them to forget as they miscalculated the start and ended up going across the line with an earlier group. “Saturday started pretty good but then as we got out to the first rounding mark, we realized that we started in the wrong class.” said Gidley. “We kept our foot in it and did a pretty good job against the bigger boats but really it just ended up being a practice at that point as we would get a penalty and not be scored.”
Sunday’s race proved to be much better as “Basic Instinct” got off to an on time nice start and settled into a good groove heading to the first mark. “We were looking good for a nice start, but got to the line a few seconds early and had to spin around to keep from going over too soon.” said Gidley. “That was a little tricky as we are in a 35 foot boat with boats on either side of us!”
However Gidley and his crew got pointed in the right direction and went on to have a clean race to finish 13th overall. “I was very proud of my crew today,” said Gidley. “It’s not easy for them crew to jump around the wet and slippery boat, raising and lowering sails, all the while the sailboat is constantly moving, leaning and bucking. It would be like trying to play tennis in a bouncing fun house at the fair!”