June 22 and 23, 2024

This event post several weeks late. And that's an understatement. Like everyone with a full time job and bills to pay, and a newly adopted rescue dog, I have a lot on my plate. I promise to do better.

As I packed my car and hitched my boat in the waning hours of Tuesday evening before this weekend regatta, the folks at Vandenberg Space Force Base completed another successful launch of a Space X rocket putting some Starlink satellites into orbit. This rocket was like many that flew south east, and dropped the lower stage onto a barge off of Tijuana, Mexico. These launches are happening every week or two now, and some are pretty spectacular. Here's a short video I got with my phone:

This annual event has been hosted by the west coast’s Multihull Racing Association for many years, and lately organized by members of the Santa Cruz and San Francisco Bay area Hobie Fleets. This year, it was also Sponsored by Hobie Cat Association of North America.

It's a smack dab in the middle of Summer, situated 1/2 way in the state, so it's a great draw from all over California. Alas, this year saw one of our smallest turnouts. Although 6 Wetas registered, only 3 were able to make it due to car trouble, trailer trouble, or health problems.

About the lake

Located at an elevation 7500 feet, in the western side of Sierra Nevada range south of Yosemite Valley, Lake Huntington is part of an elaborate hydroelectric and flood control system installed 100 years ago by Edison Electric. It’s about six miles long, one mile wide, and oriented East-West. It's almost 200 feet deep!  Rain and snow melt from the upper elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in a huge catchment area and makes its way to Lake Edison. It then flows through a tunnel of solid rock to a hydroelectric station at the East end of Huntington. At the discretion of the power company, water is released from Huntington through the Big Creak station below the three dams on the west end.  The water continues down to Shaver Lake, where another power station releases water to Millerton Lake, which then eases the water into the verdant agricultural region of the San Joaquin valley. It’s no wonder this system is nicknamed “The Hardest Working Water in the World.”

It's nearly dead calm most days at the West end of the lake.  Winds on the eastern 2/3 of Huntington are caused by thermal differences between the Sierras to the east and the hot Central Valley to the west. The contours of the wooded north and south shores cause some amazing lifts on the edges. Conventional wisdom is to sail from the start to the South shore and tack on the shifts up that side of the lake. The central section gets strange puffs and shifts. Sailing to the North side usually doesn’t pay until later in the day.

Sailing at altitude is a challenge here: the Wind looks strong blowing across the water, but since the air is thinner at this altitude it lacks some of the punch you feel at Sea Level. Light air sailing is particularly challenging since a lighter breeze have even less momentum to push a sailboat. In general, the day breaks with a glassy smooth surface on the lake. By 10:30 a.m., there’s a light breeze coming down the lake from the West. Someone seems to feed the Wind Machine around 12 Noon and it blows 10 – 12 kts for a few hours, and then tapers off around 3 p.m..  By 5 p.m., it’s lighter again, with an occasional puff that blows through for a few minutes.

The racing

The Fresno Yacht Club installs several semi-permanent buoys across the lake, and we sail whatever random leg courses the PRO chooses. The RC is set up on land, on a point overlooking the S/F line, just 50 yards from a small beach and launch ramp.  The parking lot at the ramp can hold LOTS of cars.  Across the street from the lot is the Lakeshore resort that is continuing to undergo a multi-year renovation.  The surrounding areas include several large campgrounds, some nearby vacation rental homes and condos, and the China Peak ski area is a couple miles away.

If my memory serves, every single race this year was Course 1, since our fleet was not keeping together enough to warrant longer courses.  The one exception was in Race 6 or Race 7, when they gave us Course 3.  The reach from Mark 1 to Mark 7 can be a challenge since it might seem like you can sail with the gennaker, but if you have to keep bearing away to keep the kite working as your apparent wind moves forward, you could find yourself hitting the submerged rocks to the west of the small island near 7. This year, the wind direction during that race was too close to the nose to carry the chute, but strong enough to make the close reach a fun zip across the lake.

Saturday

Race 1 – Andrew got out on the water in plenty of time and started on time, and Abner was about 5 minutes behind, though not within the time limit to be scored. After helping the others get under way, as I was about to push off the beach, I discovered that I had neglected to install my hull plug while rigging the boat, so I had to beach the boat and try to drain the 5 gallons of water in the hull. I was only partially successful due to the way the boat sits on the sandy slope of this beach.  This delay added another 5 minutes, so I was not scored either.  Alas, I also did not turn on my camera, so there is no footage of me chasing the others all the way around the course.

Race 2, 3, and 4… I managed to do better, but with the camera pointing forward you don’t get to see much of all of us sailing together except at the starts. Andrew improved his sailing and Abner started to feel more confident in the boat.

Race 2 highlights

Race 3 Highlights

Here’s video from Andrew’s cell phone – which I think this is soon after the start of Race 3 or Race 4

Race 4 - Hobie 20 start

Saturday Night

I rented a 2 bedroom condo for the weekend and hosted dinner for the fleet on Saturday night. Our VRBO in the pines was just a short drive from the boat park. Andrew brought some famous Costco bratwurst and Santa Maria Tri-tip from the Central Coast, plus some really strong cocktail mixes.  We ate very well.

The thing about sailing Wetas, is that a full day on the water is a lot of fun but burns a lot of energy. Sailing at this altitude seems to be even more of a workout.  I think we all slept well.

Sunday

Race 5 – I had my daughter sail with me, but the wind was light and very shifty. We experienced some freaky 90 degree shifts on the upwind leg from the start to Mark 4. Soon after the start, Andrew tacked over and got a good lift on the right/north side of the lake and quickly put a lot of distance on us. I was a bit miffed to see that side of the lake win for him. It’s contrary to the conventional wisdom of sailing at Huntington. We never caught up.

Race 5 highlights

Race 6 – my daughter joined me for another race, and this one was even more puffy and shifty. Andrew pulled a horizon job on us again. Clearly, he’s got some chops!

Race 6 highlights (first half)

Race 7 – without my daughter, I was back in contention. Abner was much closer to us at the start, and all the way around.  After I finished, I doubled back to chase Andrew across the finish, and then did the same with Abner. This race had some of the best wind of the day.

Race 7 highlights

After a full weekend of racing, it was time to head back and put the boat away, but that was hard to do since this venue is just a spectacular place and so different from the ocean sailing we do the rest of the year.

Here's the score sheet:

Note: The top 6 in the list were registered Wetas. I'm not sure about the other 2 (Hobie 17s?) who didn't make it to the starts.