March Inshore Racing Preview
With spring arriving in the third week of March, Midwinter Series are wrapping up this month. Laser District 24 will kick off their 2018 Svendsen’s Grand Prix Series this Sunday at the final Richmond Yacht Club Small Boat Midwinters.
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This Saturday, March 3, the NorCal Series for Mercurys on the Estuary, hosted by Encinal YC, will kick off.
RYC’s Big Daddy Regatta offers a ‘Performance Tune-Up’ on March 10-11, with three drop-mark races on Saturday and a pursuit race on Sunday.
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St. Francis YC gets back in the regatta action this month with the California Dreamin’ Series (invitation-only match racing in J/22s) on March 10-11; Spring One Design for J/120, J/111, J/105, J/70, J/22, Express 37, Express 27, Melges 24 and Moore 24 classes on March 17-18; and Spring Dinghy for 5O5, C420, Nacra 15, F18, Int 14, Laser and Radial fleets on March 24-25. (Avoid a late fee for Spring One Design by registering before March 14. The early entry discount for Spring Dinghy ends March 7.)
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San Diego and Coronado YCs will host the San Diego NOOD Regatta March 16-18.
On March 17, Oakland YC offers the Rites of Spring for singlehanded, doublehanded and full crews. The race will start in the Berkeley Circle, round marks in the Central Bay, and finish in front of OYC in the Estuary. Awards, dinner and a St. Patrick’s Day Party at the club will follow.
March certainly came in like a lion, but will it go out like a lamb? Only time will tell, and the women skippers in Island YC’s Sadie Hawkins will find out on March 31. "The crew can include men, as long was they don’t touch the Sacred Wood during the race," cautions one boat owner. "Although males can’t touch the tiller, they can get yelled at and disciplined by the skipper."
Folsom Lake YC will host the Trans-Folsom (aka Champagne Challenge), a 21-mile pursuit race for "self-righting keelboats," on March 31.
We can tell there’s a lot going on this month because we had to split our racing preview into two parts this week. In case you missed it, our March Offshore Racing Preview was posted on Wednesday.