Notice of august 2011 sf bay hoppe regatta

Saturday, August 20, 2011 is the NEW date for this year's San Francisco Bay's Hoppe Regatta!

BACKGROUND: The Hoppe Memorial Regatta is a fun race for Ariel and Commander skippers. The principle requirement is that the race be short and fun.

START: The start - finish line is located off the Corinthian Yacht Club in Raccoon Strait. The race will start at 1300 hours (1:00 PM). (Prepatory signal 1250 hours, warning signal 1255 hours.) The power cruiser SOLSTICE is the committee boat. The start will be announced on channel 71.

COURSE: Sail around Angel Island in either direction.

FINISH: SOLSTICE - where you began.


TIDES AT THE GOLDEN GATE
August 20, 2011
======================================
Slack 1204 0.00 kts
Flood 1520 1.90 kts
Slack 1815 0.00 kts
======================================


CURRENTS: Be sure to check your tidal charts, they may be important to your strategy. Note too, that currents near Angel Island are 15 to 20 minutes after max at the Golden Gate. An old sailing adage is “hold to the beach.” Also, be aware of the major wind shadow behind Angel Island.

PROTESTS: No protests will be allowed. Rules of the road apply. First qualified boat to finish wins.

ALLOWANCES & HANDICAPS: No allowances for BBQ grills, TVs, excessive tools, supplies, cruising gear or overweight crew.

REGISTRATION: Just let us know if you plan to participate in the Hoppe Regatta. You may E-mail your intention to participate to rphelon (AT) juno (dot) com, or call Bill Phelon (925) 254-8338. No one will be turned away if they don't register, but they might not get a start or a finish if we don't know they are there – after all, the race committee may be busy with cocktails.

AWARDS GATHERING: The regatta should end early enough to give everyone plenty of time to get to the Encinal Yacht Club for the 6:00 PM awards gathering. If you plan on sailing in, please let us know ahead of time so that we can arrange berthing.

CONFLICTING EVENTS ON JULY 16: There are a significant number of sailing activities this day on the SF Bay. A few may impact our regatta. The first is the annual Bay View Boat Club’s “Plastic Classic.” Several skippers have attended this event in the past. Another possible conflict is the Angel Island - Red Rock Race which appears to take place starting around the East side of Angel Island. It could make for increased traffic on our race course. Those of you planning to enter this year’s Pacific Cup race to Hawaii will also be missing the Hoppe. Too bad. Finally, there is a race titled the Westpoint Marina Regatta that seems to involve Treasure Island, Angel Island and the South Bay course. Looks like it could be another possible traffic enhancement for our intrepid skippers. There are six more races scheduled for July 16, but none appear likely to directly impact our regatta.

Race Committee

Thanks for the change of date Bill!
Hopefully there will be at least a handful of boats out there!

Bill, is the Hoppe Regatta open to other Pearson/Alberg designs like the Triton, Renegade, Wanderer, etc? If not, you may want to consider it. At least seven Tritons competed in the 51st Annual plastic classic. I would think you will attract a large turn out from these other Pearson/Alberg designs.

The more, the merry-er!!! IMHO.
We can have a PHRF race...

OK, you guys. The Hoppe Memorial Regatta is for A-C's. In fact, we're stretching it a bit to add Commanders as they were not part of the "deed of gift" from Mrs Hoppe. Besides, your race committee is totally incapable of figuring out the PHRF business . . .:confused:

We are definately planning to attend and will see you there!

Jeff
C-151 Nemesis

Saturday, August 20, 2011, was a great day for sailing on San Francisco Bay. Winds were in the 15 to 20 knot range with a flood tide helping skippers around Angle Island. The only negative was a marine cloud layer that blocked the sun and obscured the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge’s towers

Three skippers competed for the Hoppe Memorial Fun Regatta trophy this year:

The winning yacht NEMESIS (C-151), a first time entrant, was sailed by the Sullivan Brothers, Jeff, Pat and Terry. There is a great history behind NEMESIS’ and its recently completed restoration.

Next to finish the race was another first time entrant, ORINCO FLOW (A-100), skippered by new owner Bob Temple. Bob recently purchased the boat and this was his first taste of SF Bay racing in an ACYA yacht! Well done, Bob.

Third to finish was MEPHISTO CAT (C-155) skippered by last year’s defending winner Antonio Rico. His was a valiant effort.

The finishing sequence was heavily impacted by an unintentional “staggered start” for the regatta. NEMESIS appeared about an hour before the start and moored near the committee boat while they had lunch. They were the first (and it appeared likely to be the only ones) to cross the starting line. About ten minutes later, however, ORINCO FLOW appeared and was given a start. (She had some engine problems that delayed her departure from Sausalito.) Finally, about twenty minutes after the starting gun, MEPHISTO CAT appeared and crossed the starting line. With such a lead, Antonio was unable to close the distance on the leaders. But, he came close. Antonio promises NOT to be late, next year!

Following the race, skippers and guests gathered at the Encinal Yacht Club for dinner and the awards ceremony. Included in the gathering were two of the association’s senior sailors: Gene Roberts and Don Morrison. Though no longer active sailors, these two gentlemen enjoy meeting with the current generation of ACYA sailors.

Here are some photos of this year’s event, beginning with the winning boat:

The second and third place boats . . .

Here is a photo of the dinner group, followed by one of the winning team (minus one):

Congrats to all! I still think openning up the regatta to other Pearson Alberg classes such as the Tritons, Ensigns, Renegades, Alberg 30's, etc. will make it more interesting.

Well, here is an idea...

As it is clear that there are not nearly enough events for our boats around the Bay - Instead of modifying the Hoppe Regatta's 'Deed of Gift', - why not have a 'Carl Alberg Memorial Yacht Race'?

This could be quite exciting with participation from all sorts of Mr. Alberg's boats. (Whitby's, Bristols, Cape Dorys, Pearsons, etc...)

We could hold the race annually on the Saturday after August 31st (Anniversary of his death) - I cannot seem to find the date of his birth.

Here is a list of 56 of his designs:
http://www.alberg30.org/CarlAlberg/designs.html

http://www.pearsontriton.com/history/art/carl.jpg

The 2011 Hoppe rocked! My first race in my "new" boat, Ariel #100

I enjoyed meeting the group at the EYC dinner. Thanks for a great time everybody!

I think we would have won it if the engine hadn't overheated on the way to the Angel Island (ha ha). Luckily, it was a minor problem and there was other engine damage. The root cause was failure of the raw cooling water pump impeller on the Beta Marine 13.5. While I was at it I cleaned out the whole system and heat exchanger.

See you out on the Bay,

Robert

Nemesis and crew certainly enjoyed our first Hoppe Regatta!

With a good wind and favorable current we set a course clockwise around the island. Stayed out far enough on the lee side to keep a steady wind and, as we were approaching Point Blunt, lost the jib sheet clew shackle (35+ year brass snap shackle finally gave out!); took over ten minutes to figure out the shackle could not be repaired and to lash the sheet to the clew with small stuff. Tacked tight to Point Blunt buoy, held the course as tight to the west shoreline as possible; a quick starboard tack for room and a final port tack to clear Point Knox and a reach back to the committee boat.

It was good to meet and chat with other Association members at Encinal. Thanks to all for hosting and organizing such a fun event. We look forward to next years Hoppe!

We set off from Berkeley with 'plenty of time' to make oit out to the start in typical conditions - but a stiff right-on-the-nose breeze - A NWly as opposed to the usual morning Westerly - and strong flood current conspired in delaying us quite a bit...

As usual, I waited to leave the marina before putting on the foulies and because of the chop, I was completely soaked after a few minutes... We decided to motor-sail in order to save as much time a s possible. About half way there, considering our frustratingly slow progress, we knew it would be nervously close... It was agonizing to see the clock ticking along and the start line still far ahead of us.

We were headed towards the start in the middle of Racoon straits, when we saw 'Nemesis' already racing, coming towards us down the straits. - We waved them along and continued on our way towards the start - still a couple miles away. Then we saw Orinoco Flow coming towards us and chasing after Nemesis - they were both on a clockwise course.

We continued on towards the start - really wanting to get out & push, but unable to...

We finally reached the start and suffered from the light winds there - adding insult to injury after getting pounded right from Berkeley. But we finally crossed the startline sometime between 15 -20 minutes LATE. (Arrg!).

Considering the conditions (and realizing that a chase would likely prove unsuccessful) - we took off on a couterclockwise course...

With no time for preparation, I forgot to turn on the GPS and simply left the O/B motor in the well. :(

With all that time to make-up we hugged the shore (risking a DNF by being becalmed in a lee-shore current - a la C-19 in 2010) but managed to sail through - then we ran towards point Blunt also hugging that mark. A bit before we reached that mark we spotted both C-151 and A-100 coming up not too far behind. We had made some time-up, but had MUCH more to make-up...

We took our chances hugging the east side of Angel Island risking getting stuck in the lee (windshadow), and were lucky and had a beautiful flatwater-sail towards the straits... until the last half mile or so where we were becalmed... We sat there in frustration until the breeze finally agreed to help us again.

We found nice wind in the straits (much more pleasant conditions than when we first came up!) and up to about half way up the straits we had not seen either of the other boats...

We continued on exitedly, and despite being able to get to the other end of the straits with only two or three tacks, we soon saw C-151 finish. They headed down down to meet us and see us to the finish. We saw A-100 cross the line just a few minutes ahead of us.

It was an eventful race for all participants, but we all survived! Congratulations to 'Nemesis' & crew on their victory. They sailed a great race! Orinoco flow also did great in their first SF Bay race! (I believe). It was a great job on thir part in any case...

To be consistent - we managed to show-up late to the awards dinner also! But thanks to the prticipants & organizers it was a very enjoyable day overall.

I'll be looking forward to the 2012 edition of the Hoppe Regatta! I will make it a point to drag another boat out for this fun regatta.

Where was our fearless Forum Admin and his first mate Ebb? I seem to recall pics one year of you two on Maika'i...