Building on a successful day 1 the second day of NOOD San Francisco was even better. With the fog bank fully pulled back behind the Golden Gate Bridge by the start of racing the weather was a good 5 degrees warmer while winds, although lighter than yesterday, continued in the 15-25mph range.
A merciful race committee moved the course up closer to the bridge after experiencing a wild and crazy day one blow fest down at Blossom Rock.
A 1 pm start and a shortened course also meant a more subdued day for the kiters and allowed for 3 races to be held.
Race one saw the fleet split in half. Half the fleet sailed out to the middle of the bay on one big long tack while the other half worked up the shoreline of San Francisco hoping to minimize the impact of the day’s flood tide.
Making between 8-10 tacks each these racers were gambling the relief from the flood would outweigh all the tacking.
Leading the field up the shoreline was Adam Koch closely followed by Chip Wasson. Both were whipping tacks with impressive speed. On the outside of the course, Joey Pasquali was leading the fleet.
Pasquali tacked over and got to the windward mark just after Koch. Both Koch and Wasson were hampered by a large dead zone halfway between the shore and the windward mark that allowed Pasquali to make up significant ground. Koch never relinquished his lead and Pasquali was able to get the better of Wasson who came in third.
Race two again saw Koch and Wasson working the shoreline with Koch again out front. Wasson however learning from the last race a took a few extra tacks to come in the shoreline above Anita rock giving him a better angle for crossing the dead zone which by this time had actually grown.
It was a smart move and allowed Wasson to overtake Koch; a lead he never relinquished. Koch took second while Pasquali came in third. Race three and the wind had backed down a bit.
Koch took first, Wasson second, and Pasquali third.
Notable performance of the regatta came from Kasey Campbell who just kept sailing faster. His 9-5-5-4-4 scoring line showed he prefers the lighter breeze but can be a threat to podium future races.