fi·as·co
/fēˈaskō/
noun
a thing that is a complete failure, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way. "his plans turned into a fiasco"
Third times the trick as they say…full moon, big ebb, high pressure and light wind forecast, what could possibly go wrong? There were many reasons on the list to skip this years Fiasco. Among them, Hood River is a long way from SF via Santa Cruz and last year we spent 4 hours & 4 miles flushed outside the Golden Gate plus would the clutch on my little truck be able to make it one more time? Not to mention my team mate is a die hard Seahawk fan and I wasn’t sure I could take a full day of his 49er jokes. On Monday morning I went on a dog walk with fellow NW Moore friends (Jen and Ben Braden, Emily French and Doug Archbald) who all were jealous of our adventure ahead and gave us some good energy to pursue the trip. It was overcast and 25 degrees walking along the Columbia River and well, heading south seemed like a smart gamble at that point.
We started our mission on Wednesday in Santa Cruz taking Tonopah out for a nice sunny spin around the bay. The already long work list grew over a cold beer at the people’s favorite yacht club (Brady’s that is). A trip to Ruhne Racing for custom fabrication work, West Marine, Moore Brother’s (the other Moore’s that was tuning our outboard)… Some sunshine, a favorite burrito, Cat n Cloud coffee for the 2nd time of the day… The plan was coming together. Thursday was outboard testing and some help from Peter Phelan, Chris “Biff” Watts and of course the ace mechanic Scott Nelson and now Stevie was committed. Side note, Stevie “Wonder” Erickson agreed to join me again but only if we had a trustworthy and working outboard. It might have been the unintentional trip around Mile Rock last year that had him a little unsure.
Friday we made our trek to St.FYC to launch the boat and prepare for the fiasco ahead. 5 boats rafted together sharing tuning notes, cold beers, stories from the past Fiasco’s and plenty of “which way are you going”… Tonopah was tucked in bed next to some fleet favorites: Wet Spot, Moorigami, Whatts Moore and of course Mooregasm. Biff shared a story of Dave Wahle crewing for him on Mooregasm over 20 years ago and the young lady on a J24 tied up along side asked Dave about the the meaning of the name and in true Wahle fashion he quickly replied “if you keep sailing the J 24 you will never have one”!
The Saturday morning alarm always seems to come early. Maybe it’s the 2nd night cap at the Horseshoe or whatever mischief you get up to on Friday night. I’m sure the east side gang at the RYC know what I mean. It doesn’t take long until the SF winter sun hits your back and the little ducks start circling up at X buoy. 30 boats is an impressive gang but this fleet always turns out for the 3BF. With the 50th just 8 months around the corner the usuals are starting to lace up their dance shoes.
The plan: “We are not getting flushed out the Golden Gate this time” whispered Stevie. He and I have a history of this up in Seattle as well. T.I. just seemed like it wasn’t the answer (models showed more wind North, the late flood looked like a nice ride towards Red Rock. With the light ebb starting to build momentum we set up for a “dip and go” start. Wait a minute, can we do that? I yelled over to a past 3BF winner Vaughn Seifers, “hey, can we cross the line twice” and quick and sportsmanlike “NO” came back so we took his advice and raced around X to not break that rule. With 10 seconds to go we tacked to starboard lining up for the pin but did we give it too much room and let Biff on Watts Moore sneak in under us? That full moon ebb was gaining steam and well Biff paid the ultimate price by painting a little yellow strip on his port side. Sorry Biff…
We headed towards the Angel/Alcatraz slot with the #1 pulling us along. Backstay on and off sailing in good company with the Erkelens and Siegel/Chandler hot on our trail. The north easterly shifted more north and we tacked over to find a nice line towards Southhampton Shoals. Jib lead out, backstay on, hike harder Stevie and off we went gaining on the Olson 25’s and feeling good before getting slammed on by a Westsail 32, doh! This race has its dramas. The 2nd big call (work the Marin shore and the strong NW wind or roll the dice for the Chevron docks, lighter east wind and more adverse current as the ebb started to rumble?). “Where’s Melinda muttered Stevie”? We opted to cover the train of Moore’s reaching up the Pt. Richmond shore which turned out to be a good call. Spinnaker up, quick jibe and T.I. here we come.
The next looming decision (work the Emeryville shallows or the T.I. cone). The wind was slowly lifting so we dug a bit too far into the shift then jibed to starboard and missed the cone but did get into the some relief along the breakwater and Clipper Cove. The tension on board was rising as we knew the potential hole and river of current ahead with the fleet breathing down our necks. Reaching towards the final grey coast guard buoy off the South side of Yerba Buena was a critical point in the race. Sail high for less current but risk hitting the hole and not get around it or taking the safe line outside in more current. Stevie lined us up perfectly using all of his Seattle skills to get us around unscathed. Without a real bow person there was no time to change down jibs so up went the #1 and down came the kite (hopefully not caught on film as my bow skills aren’t what poppa Bobbo’s used to be).
We rode the river West towards Blackaller possibly sailing too high for better current but more distance. At this point we had two 30 something’s on our tail and knew we couldn’t hold onto them but would we possibly be the 1st Moore and 3rd overall or was there anyone close behind that already ticked off Blackaller? Trevor Baylis on the trimaran zoomed into the finish so now potentially a 4th at best. A close call as we made the left turn rounding with Lucky Duck making a right turn just 1 boat length ahead of us. We snuck through, made the jibe and jumped back on their leeward wake for a tow to the finish. Knowing every wave and every second was critical we eased the lead up, put my ass out on the rail and Stevie pumped for every wave we could catch. A few other boats snuck in (Moore owner Will Benedict on his J105…)
We could see a Moore lined up to finish on starboard with us just a wee bit closer to the line on port, and fighting current. Was the ebb going to get them there before us? A pump, a surf and we crossed just before Vikki and Rowan on 75 for a class win and maybe a top 15 overall. There was a train of Moore’s to follow! We docked back at St.FYC licking our wounds and relishing a good day out. As the cooler came on deck we realized we hadn’t found time to drink one beer on the race! On Bruzer we wouldn’t have screwed that up.
A big shout out to some notables: Class Press Sam Corso and Eric for a strong showing, Anne Aldridge and her injured son Karl Robrock for taking on the race (they were scored DNC for not checking in but I swear I heard him on the radio?), Father daughter duo of Claire and Steve Bourdow on 36. 3rd place finishers Conrad Holbrook and Will Paxton on Topper (great to have you in the class Will), Long time Moore board member John Siegel sailing with Mark Chandler sailing a great race, and new SF fleet leader Barbara Briner and Tim Kordas on Ripple. We have a great Moore family and I look forward to seeing you all at the next one. Morgan and Stevie #88 on HWY 84 east bound returning to the rain and gray! California taxes are worth every penny.
p.s. Thanks to our class mom Sydnie for her constant encouragement and stoke. She proudly admitted following the race from home via every webcam that had a glimpse of the race course. We love you Syd!
Morgan
