Category Archives: News

Spring Series 2020-21 Race Day 1 Recap

17 January 2021


Hey Sailor,


We had a great turnout for yesterday’s kick off of our Spring Series and lots of wind!


  • 14 of the 16 registered boats were out.  The wind started out a little light but the forecast was for things to build maxing out near 20 knots by 1 PM.  It did.  

  • PRO Tim Snyder set a start/finish mark 0.6 miles east of the Pier with two mile downwind run to Big J for leg one and a 3 leg zig zag back the the finish.  It was near 70 minute race #1 for the two spinnaker boats and  110 minute race for the last of the cruising fleet.  However in that last 1/2 hour the wind piped up to just below 20 knots steady and gusts approaching 25.

  • The Optis were out too.  They were set up just west of us and closer to the Pier.  While our race was going on, the Optis moved their leeward mark closer to our committee boat.  Their mark is also orange and much bigger.  A few of the SPSA racers were headed toward that bigger Opti orange mark but were saved by a curtesy announcement from RC that the correct SPSA finish mark was on the east side of the signal boat.  You should have seen those kids in the Optis, they know how to fly when the wind pipes up.

  • Race 2 went down to Lil’ J and back to finish.  8 of the 12 cruisers and one of the two spinnaker boats had had enough and called it a day, skipping race two.  The wind held steady just below 20 knots with gusts approaching 25 knots and slowly diminished over the race, but not by much.  It was a tough and invigorating day on the bay.  The lone spinnaker boat finished in 46 minutes and the cruising fleet finished in 120.

  • At the tree, an attempt to award the last December race liquid trophies to George Lewis went foul because George had gone home.  George had finished in a three way tie with Tony Sanpere and Steve Short in the December 5th race.  The best of Spring Series Race Day 1 awards were announced for Warrior and Surge.  George and Grant please arrange your trophy pick up. TreinenRich@aol.com  Act quickly, we will recycle your trophy. Surge’s crew does not take any chances.

  • See the results Race Day 1  Here’s the link  http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/  Click the Spring Series Results button and then the 1 or 2 to see the race details.

  • A special thanks go out to Tim Snyder for stepping up to do race committee and Brian Conlin for quick scoring of the race results.  Without these two guys there would be no reason to gather under the tree.

  • Spring Series Race Day 2 is February 20th.  Our Race Committee will be Tack Tick.

16 Jan 2021 Series Race, under the tree & parking

15 Jan 2021

Hey Sailor,


Here’s your last minute Spring Series Race Day No. 1 important information.  That would be tomorrow Saturday January 16th, first Start at 11 AM.

  • The Boat Show and Saturday Market are competing for your parking space.  
  • The Sailing Center will be open for most normal operations.  We will be able to grab our trophies which are safely stored in the SPSA locker, you will be sail your reserved Sailing Center Sonar and launch your trailer boat, and for those utilizing the Sailing Center, park in the Sailing Center.  That’s is if you can talk your way past the Sailing Center gate guard.  
  • It will be a bit breezy, the winds are forecast in the 15 to 19 mph range.  Please sail safely.
  • Post race is at the tree – likely in the 3:30 time frame.  It’s another BYO everything event.  Please respect the health concerns of your fellow sailors.

Let’s Go Sailing!

SPSA News and error reports

Hey Sailor,


Here’s your dot points of SPSA stuff to get you through January.

  • New Year’s Day Pursuit Race:  We had 16 boats swarming around the starting line for this years race.  However only 13 boats reported finishing times, one new member was out fact finding and I have no idea about why the other two were there.  Congratulations to Arista and Tack Tick for taking the liquids in the spinnaker fleet and Desiderata, Legacy and Cayennita III for earning their bottles in the cruising fleet.  The racing was close as all boats finished within a 20 minute window.  We also welcomed Legacy, a Catalina 310 and her skipper Dave Roberts and Meridian, a Beneteau Oceanis 331 and her skipper Jon Meliferas to the SPSA Racing Scene with their earned SPSA burgee.
  • Winter/Spring Series kicks off 16 January at 11 AM.  This is the first race day of the 2nd half of the SPSA Series.  Tim Snyder of Sea Life will be the race committee.  Please register for the event so we know who’s coming.  This helps get the race records in order. Here’s the link. http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/  Click the  Enter  button.  As a member, you race for free (other than the measly $49 annual membership fee we charge).  If you intend to use a cruising chute please read the second sub dot point in the Board Meeting recap.
  • 6 January Board Meeting Fallout.
  • The WSIEH handicap system is taking a break.  We will be racing under PHRF for the remainder of this year and maybe longer than that.  The WSIEH system, which changes handicaps after every race, was too aggressive with handicap adjustments when only one or two race results are in hand.  Although this system shows promise that old boats with old sails can be competitive, it needs more development work.  It was a unanimous vote.  We look forward to one day having a perfect handicap system that everybody loves.
  • Cruising class boats may use cruising spinnakers, as described by WFPHRF Class Rules-Appendix E.  You’ll pay a handicap hit and you must inform the Race Committee Chair of your intention by the Tuesday before the first race of any race or series.
  • Watch for the updated SI’s to b posted very soon on the SPSA web site.  Here the link http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/ on the  Menu Bar, click on the Documents drop down menu and select List/Search.
  • We discussed other stuff not worth reporting here.
  • King of the Bay update.
    • Surge captured the December honor and will ow be displaying the large and beautiful KoB flag for all of January.  Charles Archer and his Surge crew ran the course twice on Dec 21st, a really windy day.  Once with full sails and once with a reefed main. Fritz Kloepfel and his crew on Libèlula were also out on December 21st.  All three runs on the the 21st scored in the top ten of all corrected times.   Surges full main was the top performance.
    • Libèlula appears determined to acquire KoB honors having already posted the time to beat for January.
    • The most recent KoB data will be posted soon. Look for a January 2021 time stamp.   Here’s the link http://spsa.us/spsa/wp/wp-content/uploads/KOB_results.pdf 
  • Awards for our Fall Series Race Day 4 were corrected.  An error in the time entry for the last race day of the fall series was discovered.  While it had been announced that Cayennita III had won the day, the discovery of the error changed that.  Instead of a pair of threes, Cayennita III scored a 3 & 4, placing her in a 3-way tie with Hula Girl, that would be the svelte Hula Girl, and the Lewis Sonar, having placed 5 & 2 and 2 & 5 respectively.   With the tie breakers being what they are, Hula Girl, the svelte one, finished 1st, Lewis Sonar 2nd and Cayennita III dropped to 3rd. Lucky for us Cayennita II had left the post race before grabbing her bottle.  To the delight of all three top performers, we awarded all three a liquid trophy.  By the way, did you see Steve Shortt’s new boat, Hula Girl II?  Very nice and a very reputable source said “a roomy” Catalina 36.
  • Call for pictures.  If you took a nice photo out on the water while racing, or not, or while under the tree, please share them with us.  Please know we don’t want all one hundred pictures that you took that day.  One or two, maybe three good ones will suffice.  Please send them to our picture depot.  Here’s the link  spsapictures@gmail.com

    • Start Times & Course for New Year’s Day Pursuit Race

    30 December 2020  



    SPSA Sailors,


    Attached you’ll find the course and your start time forth SPSA New Years Day Race.  

    It looks like great weather and a great day to get out on the bay.  Let’s kick of 2021 with a great sail.

    To participate all you need to do is show up and run the course.   We expect everyone to finish around 3 PM.  
    Please record your finish time and the boat finishing ahead of you and the boat finishing behind you. 

    Put your boat up and head to the tree, report your finish time and for awards. You can also send me an email with your finish time.

    pdf icon 2021-New-Years-Race-6.72-Starting-Times.pg1_.pdf
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    pdf icon 2021-New-Years-Race-6.72-Starting-Times.pg2_.pdf
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    SPSA January Events and further out in time

    28 December 2020


    Hey  Sailor,


    Here’s opportunities to participate in SPSA events in January and beyond.

    • January 2021 SPSA activities
    • Jan 1st New Year’s Day Pursuit Race.  2 PM 1st Start, Cruising chutes are allowed but must be declared by 5 PM on Dec 31st.  Watch for your starting time to be posted on the SPSA web page news, delivered to your email box and posted on the SPSA’s Sailing Center bulletin board by 10 PM on Dec 30th. However the Sailing Center locks up around 6 PM.  It might be there by early Thursday morning.  Here’s the link to the NOR and Sailing Instructions.  http://spsa.us/racing/regattas/   Click on the  Docs  button.
    • Jan 1st Post race gathering under the tree.  Probably around 4 PM.   Liquid trophies to be presented.  If anybody cheats at the start, that’s where we will talk about them.  If you are new to the SPSA, looking for a crew spot or need crew for your boat,  please come to the post race and introduce yourself.  Once this pandemic ends, we want every boat to have all the crew they need.
    • January 6th Board meeting.  This is a Zoom meeting starting at 6 PM.  The usual topics plus the fate of our WSIEH handicap system will be discussed and decided.  If you’d like to sit in or can’t sit in but have something to add on any topic, please send me an email and I’ll send you the Zoom link.  Commodore@spsa.us
    • January 16th Spring Series Race Day #1.   1st Start at 11 AM.  Your race committee is still not known.  Watch for further news regarding RC and our post race plans.
  • Race Committee volunteers for the 2021 Spring Series.  Here’s what our September arm twisting and  pen scratchings records show.
    • 16 January TBA
    • 20 February Tack Tick
    • 20 March Hula Girl – that would be the big Hula Girl
    • 17 April Cayennita III
  • King of the Bay News 
    • 3 reports for runs in December have reached reached me.  Two for Surge and one for Libèlula.  All three were run on the same day.  It was windy.  All three runs scored in the top ten of all time.  Surge is the current leader for December.  There are just a few days left to steal it away.
    • We are still working the final details of the monthly and annual keeper KoB flags.  We just need the final design or I’ll order the ugly design nobody liked.
    • Amber Looe has been proudly displaying the Big KoB Flag she captured for the month of November.  Looks like it might be turned over to Surge on Jan 1st.
  • New SPSA hats available.  These are new hats available through Bonfire.  They are not the old hats found in the SPSA locker that I’ve been trying to give away.  Click the link to order yours.  https://www.bonfire.com/spsa-classic-cap/?utm_source=mailgun&utm_medium=initial&utm_campaign=buyer_new_campaign_launch_BUYER