The Mercury NORCAL series got off to a great start with 11 Mercurys racing the first 5 races of this 20 race, 4 Saturdays NORCAL regatta.

It was a ‘normal day’ for the Alameda Estuary with the wind at 10 to 12 knots with lots of shifts.  The fleet stayed very close both up wind and down with the exception of John Hansen with crew Tony Basso who sailed to a win in each of the first 4 races.  The only race to get away from them was the last race which went to Mark and Liz Chandler.  The Chandlers came up from Monterey for their first time sailing on the estuary and they had a great start to the series scoring a 1st, plus a 2nd and a 3rd.   It was a perfect sunny day with the wind moving back and forth down the channel so getting up to the windward mark required a lot of tacking on the shifts.  The class wants to thank PRO for the day Aaron Lee, and special thanks to Commodore Kevin Clark for providing us with all the Club’s facilities  both on the water and the after race festivities in the Club.  Next races in the series are schedule for Saturday April 3.