Encinal Yacht Club Spring Series #2
on 4-4-26
Once again, the Alameda estuary was predictably unpredictable. After getting 12 boats in the water, it looked like there would be no wind, maybe for the day! Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, although light and from the south the wind did fill enough to get the regatta started. Aaron Lee (the PRO) set a relatively short course. David West and crew Chris Krueger got a good start, were first around the weather mark and continued on to win. Randy Hecht, sailing his first Mercury regatta this year was second and always tough in the estuary, John Hansen and crew Brendan McNally bagged third.
The second race had very similar conditions, Andy & Marie Goodman got a bullet, with John & Michael Ravizza getting second, Randy Hecht had another strong finish, in third.
The wind died, then filled in from the west, forcing a short delay and the PRO shifted the course 90 degrees as was needed. As you can see from the results, Randy still has his chops and took the win in the third race, with Andy & Marie second, Dave Bacci and crew Scott Jenson finally got their act together and recorded a third.
To everyone’s relief, the wind continued to build, and although no one was really hiking out, it was steady. The next race saw Mike Kennedy and crew Melissa Ward fight tooth and nail with John Ravizza, with John scratching out the win, Mike second and John Hansen finishing third.
The last race saw another close battle, between West, Hansen, and Hecht. West rounded the first windward mark in second and got inside of Hecht to move into first. Hansen, going up the left side on the second beat, found good wind and edged Hecht for second. As the results show, West won, but only by a few boat lengths.
As many old-timers in the Mercury fleet know, the Carmiggelt trophy was donated by Coen Carmiggelt’s parents in his honor, as one of the early losses and tragedies of the AIDS epidemic.
The 2026 Carmiggelt trophy was won by Andy and Marie Goodman and in Andy’s words “It was a beautiful day to be on the water. The talent in the Mercury fleet is always top-notch, and the competitive spirit is matched by the camaraderie and kindness of the group.” Andy went on to explain his boat’s name (La Trompeuse), “I took a mythology class in college and remember that Mercury was known as a prankster—a trickster. I believe there is even a story of him stealing Zeus’ lightning bolt. Later, while listening to The Pirate History Podcast, I heard about a pirate ship named La Trompeuse, which they explained is French for “The Trickster.”
As usual, The Encinal Yacht Club was a great venue and host, with Staff Commodore Theo Rohr providing his home brew dockside. A big thank you to Aaron and the other RC members: Kevin Clark, James Downs, Mike Dibella for running another successful regatta. Surely all participants (and other Mercury skippers) are looking forward to the next race day on May 9th.
Article and some pictures by Scott Jenson, a big thank you to John Buestad for additional photographs.
For Carmiggelt Results Click Here
For Series Results To Date
(Click on Harbor 20 for dropdown in upper left corner then Mercury in Clubspot)