Muscle Milk MEGA Athlete, Memo Gidley, and his Basic Instinct crew had a strong 5th place at the YRA season closer this past weekend on the San Francisco Bay despite battling very tricky conditions.
Scheduled as a double race weekend, Saturday’s race got off to a very slow start. “It has been a long time since we have had such a lack of wind,” said Gidley. “For the first five hours we barely made it halfway around the course!” The entire one hundred boat fleet not only battled the effects of no wind, but they also were hammered by currents that were many times dragging them the wrong way. In the end, none of the boats in Memo’s start were able to complete the race in the allotted time limit.
“We were all disappointed with the lack of wind and not being able to finish the course,” said Gidley. “For the last month we had been practicing and were really gearing up for a good result. With the forecast of even less wind on Sunday, we were trying to keep positive.”
For Sunday’s race, the boats had the option of sailing the course one of two ways. This would give the crew’s the choice to read the currents and wind forecasts, to try to help them in out smarting some of their competition. “I studied Sunday’s currents, along with the wind forecasts, and then factored in some of what we had learned from Saturday,” said Gidley. “We came up with a real solid game plan that I was sure would work to our advantage,”
At the start it was once again, a battle of who could go the slowest as the wind was almost non-existent. “It was very tricky sailing the start because we had no wind and a current that was forcing us the wrong direction,” said Gidley. “But, as is normal on the bay, depending on where you are in relationship to the land masses, there are many areas of current relief, as long as you can get your boat in them.”
Basic Instinct got a great run to the first mark and was one of the first boats to actually get in some wind and actually start sailing. From then on, it was up and down for all the boats as they each found wind, and then lost it just as quickly. By the time the boats came into view for the finish, “Basic Instinct” was in a battle for a top five.
“We had a great race, with good battling with other boats,” said Gidley. “It was such a tricky race battling the shifty wind, and then the currents. My crew did a great job. It seemed like we were changing sails all the time to try to keep up with the conditions. It was a great race to wrap up the season for us!”