Encinal Yacht Club Spring Series #3
on 5-9-26
Click here to see some drone footage of the racing
(Drone footage and pictures by Tim Eaker)
A very healthy fleet of Mercurys showed up for the penultimate Encinal YC Saturday Series, 15 in all! And a total of 18 have been out over the series - as other classes fade, the Mercury Class is going strong! In addition to our large complement of long-time Mercury sailors, we had two growing elements of the fleet - relative newcomers (Klario Spindler, Mike Kennedy, Ernesto Perez and crewing for Chris Lanzafame our brand-new owner, Eric Johnson) and next generation regulars (Ben Bradley, Jeff Lanzafame) on the water.
Results wise it was quite close at the top with the short courses and fickle wind on the Oakland Estuary scrambling results in nearly every race. But typically, the cream still managed to rise.
Individual race winners include Shaum Sinawi in race 1, Chris Davis in race 2, Jim Bradley in race 3 and John Ravizza in races 4 & 5. Sailing John Hansen’s boat and with a remarkably consistent top-of-the fleet performance, Ken Bodily, skipper and crew Drew Guay sailed to an after-throw-out 10 total point victory for the day, just edging out John Ravizza and son Michael who totaled 12 points after their throw-out. Jim and Kathy Bradley were third with 16 points total. It is noteworthy though that due to the vagaries of the throw-out process, Jim and Kathy, who had used up their throw-outs due to missing April’s racing entirely, would have won for the day had all five races counted for everyone.
The final race of the series is Saturday, June 6th. PRO Aaron Lee has guaranteed a steady 10 knot Northwesterly will blow right down the Estuary for all five races. You wouldn’t want to miss that!
The following weekend is the Hart-Nunes Regatta, a two-day five race Travel Trophy event hosted by San Francisco YC. So, mark your calendar and let’s get all 18 or our proven, active, local Mercuries over to the other side of the Bay for a special weekend of fun and fellowship.
By David West
PS: A big thank you to Encinal Yacht Club, Aaron Lee (PRO) and the other race committee members for another great regatta!
