Ten Mercs entered the last regatta of the 2017 NORCAL Series on a beautiful day on the Oakland estuary. The water was smooth with very little boat traffic. The wind was shifty with a max of 7 knots, but mostly in the 5-6 knot range. There were only four races as we ran out of wind ending the fourth race. 

Race one was a sausage finishing on the wind. Jim and Kathy Bradley tacked to port a the start and worked the shifts very well. They led the entire race to win the race. Pax Davis and Tony Basso had to hold off Dave West and Chris Krueger to place second. West was third.

Race two Paul Mueller and Peter Wolfe had a terrific start, tacking to the port and they were gone. Lyn Hines and Tigran Demurjian also were very quick off the line on this windward-leeward course finishing on the wind. Hines recently purchased 565 from Myron Erickson. However Bradley was moving very fast and caught Hines. Bradley was second and Hines was third.

The next two races were windward-leeward-windward finishing downwind. To try to say what side of the course was favored would be difficult, the wind did not seem have any pattern. Several Mercs were off to a fast starts, but faded as the race progressed. Bradley got the lead, but had to hold off Doug Baird and Cody Kim to win. Baird was second. West overtook three boats at the finish to place third.

Race four, the boats were bunched pretty close on the first downwind leg. Davis and Baird had a good race going with Davis leading until Baird found a puff at the finish and won the race. West was third. Bradley won the day and the series. Congrats to Jim and Kathy for some good sailing.

We want to thank Maryann and Ken Popplewell for conducting the races for the entire series. The placement Of the buoys, with the wind conditions today was excellent. There were nineteen Mercs participating in the series. The biggest turnout was the first regatta, where 12 were entered.