Hansen and Basso Win the Mercury NorCal Series

The four-month-long 20-race Mercury class NorCal series ended on Saturday, June 1, with 11 boats racing on the Alameda Estuary in warm sunshine with a very shifty southerly breeze. The NorCal series was interrupted by rainy weather the first weekend of May, but the top racers were out on the course for 14 of the 20 races scheduled. Randy Smith of SFYC scored the most wins in the series. John Hansen and crew Tony Basso took first place, with consistent scores ensuring they never fell out of the top four. Congratulations to John and Tony, this year’s NorCal champions.

For the June 1 part of the series, 11 boats were on the race course. PRO Aaron Lee set a cross-the-channel “sprint” windward/leeward course that really challenged the fleet. Shifts were changing the favored side from left to right throughout the day. Everyone had a time when they were “golden,” only to see the fleet from the other side sailing on a big lift crossing their bows. However, longtime Mercury and 110 sailor Dave West, with crew Chris Krueger, read the shifts better than everyone else and scored three wins in five races. Dave and Chris took the day, with Jim Bradley and John Buestead finishing second, and the Hansen/Basso team taking third.

With the NorCal series finished for the year, the Mercury fleet moves on to San Francisco YC for a weekend series at the end of June. They then go to Huntington Lake in July for the Championships, followed by the Stillwater Regatta in August. Plenty of racing ahead for the Mercury class. As the fleet advises, “Get your boat out racing.” The full schedule is here.

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