2026 Richmond Midwinter #3
Sunday, February 1st was third installment of the RYC midwinter series.
The weather was crisp and sunny with a promise of some wind and lots of tide. Thankfully the race committee was able to locate the course in such a way as to minimize current. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their control of the wind!
Four Mercurys were in attendance. Jeff and Chris Lanzafame in 578, Ben Bradley and Alex Braman in 580, John Hansen and Ken Bodily in 562 and David Bacci and Chris Davis in 548.
Two races were completed in very light and flukey wind when the race committee “pulled the plug” on the day as the westerly never filled in. Everyone got an upper body workout paddling back to Richmond. Bacci/Davis had two paddles and came from behind to pass all the Mercurys back to the club.
The racing between the four was very close with several “restarts” each race due to the vagaries of the wind. Hansen/Bodily dominated the first race from the start finishing with a comfortable 3-4 boat length lead, Bacci/Davis second, Lanzafames , third and Bradley/Braman fourth. Everyone’s place in that race was threatened due to wind changes and, in the end, the finishes coincided with the way everyone rounded the first windward mark. Lanzafames did a great job of taking an outside lane on the run and caught up significantly in this race.
Rac 2 started in a big wind shift which Lanzafames took advantage to start on port at the pin realizing a huge lead over the fleet. Kind of a horizon job. But the wind was gradually decreasing up the first windward leg and by the first windward mark Bacci and Hansen had caught up a lot! It was a close race, and the wind was dying as we headed downwind. Lanzafames headed in toward shore, Bacci/Davis sailed rhumb line and Hansen/Bodily pulled a “Lanzafames” and stayed further out! It felt like the cemetery scene from “Hang ‘Em High” as to who’s going to pull the trigger and jibe first on which lay line to the finish. After jibes and rounding the gate mark everyone ended up within a few boat lengths on the lay line to the finish pin, 578 in first, 548 in second and 562 in third.
A Thistle came from behind us with that big spinnaker and slowed down 562. 548 was trying to pass 578 to leeward and was only a few feet behind at the finish. The top three were within just a few boat lengths at the finish with 580 only a few boat lengths further back.
All in all, a great day racing on a beautiful day. Thank you to RYC for all their work to get off two races. Hopefully more boats will come out for the final RYC midwinter in March.
By Dave Bacci
(4 races on 12/7/25, 2 races on 1/4/26 and 2 races on 2/1/26)
