After their awesome first win last month at the Great Vallejo Race, Muscle Milk MEGA Athlete, Memo Gidley and the Basic Instinct crew were looking forward to another strong race this past weekend in the YRA Summer Sailstice Regatta held on the San Francisco Bay. The Summer Sailstice race is held during the annual celebration of the longest sailing day of the year.
A good field was signed up for this YRA regatta, and with ten starts of boats, the racing was sure to be good.
Basic Instinct got off the line third, but quickly moved into second place during the first upwind leg. “The start was great for us”, said Gidley. “And the breeze blowing in the 15-25 knots range, we were in the conditions that “Basic Instinct” shines in.”
The Muscle Milk Crew rounded the first windward mark looking good. Unfortunately on the run down to the next mark, the spinnaker had a problem which forced them to sail without it and at a big disadvantage.
“A lot of what we had gained, we lost due to the lack of our spinnaker,” said Gidley. “We knew we were going to be at a big disadvantage for the rest of the race.”
The Basic Instinct crew decided to roll the dice a little and sail away from the fleet, going for a little channel called Raccoon Straights to get to the next windward mark. “Well, it is usually avoided because of the lack of wind caused by the huge wind shadow from Angle Island,” said Gidley. “But, we needed to roll the dice to make up for our missing sail and we went for it!”
Unfortunately, Basic Instinct was stuck for about fifteen minutes with zero wind, which was enough to make any short cut advantage not work in their favor. “San Francisco Bay is a crazy place when it comes to wind,” said Gidley. “One minute you are in 25knts of wind blowing the hats off your heads, and literally the next minute…zero because wind shadow pockets coming from the many islands and steep hills.”
The Basic Instinct crew still managed to finish a respectable fifth. “We had three new people on the boat today we were training, and I was happy with what they did and our performance,” said Gidley. “I also learned a few things sailing upwind today and look forward to our next race to get back to the top.”