Great Vallejo Race: Summer and Smoke Vaporizes the Fleets at Season Opener, 120th
It’s one for the history books—Summer Smoke, Beneteau 36.7 owned by Pat Patterson of Angwin, California and VYC member, hits snake eyes in weekend racing, and smokes the competition with a runaway Best Overall trophy at Great Vallejo Race 2020, April 25-26.
“The odds of rolling snake eyes in a weekend regatta is 1 in 36,” enthused Patterson. “Besting the three dozen other boats in our fleet, and coursing the waves on our grand ole 36.7 gal, was everything BUT bad luck.”
Great Vallejo Race Stunner
Patterson queued in A-OK fleet division aside such downbay favorites such as Bill Helvestine’s Santa Cruz 50 Deception, Jasper Van Vliet’s J/24 Evil Octopus, and Mark Anderson’s newer Melges 32 ride Nuckelavee. Deception tactician Mark Van Selst, stated, “We noticed Patterson taking a cell call moments before the start.”
Distracted, we were able to press him to the pin end 5-seconds pre-gun, thereby getting a leap and squeezing him to a 360 in order to hit the startline before the following fleet start.” With Saturday winds hitting upwards of 42-knots from the east for the first hour, racers pressed hard to maintain northbound laylines.
Patterson, forced to do a spin-about at the start, also lost precious time when obligated to fetch an MOB from the fleet ahead, and falling back of fleet while comparing vintages with a neighboring vessel, managed to gain momentum once past Point Pinole. “We know how to balance and carry that brilliant green chute on a beam reach. And that main trimmer–wow, say her name three times in a row and she knows she’s got to act. I think we clocked as high as 38.2 knots once within view of home.”
Great Vallejo Race 2020 Has Spectacular Win
With Saturday winds hitting upwards of 42-knots from the east for the first hour, racers pressed hard to maintain northbound laylines. “Patterson tacked to starboard to gain rights over the trimaran, elevated to hover, then skimmed just inches below The Mod’s lifted flank side.” One competitor noted, “I have never seen a 36.7 foil.”
Sunday offered far calmer conditions and winds from the south at 8 – 11 for the fleet of 583 racers in the San Francisco Bay season opener.
Despite a monster distance jump on the fleets by Greg Demetrulias’s Argo, Beneteau First 40, Evil Octobus, with Robin Van Vliet at the helm, overtook the Argo vessel during a tacking duel in shallow waters. “Being small, we were able to out-maneuver Argo.
And our master in the pit, Pytlak, was not lacking. Tipped 30+ degrees to lee and still grasping a Rolling Rock, he was like a circus highwire artist on the strings. I would never have thought to carry a spinnaker on that angle,” said Van Vliet.
But it was Patterson to prevail yet again. Even hitting the start line nearly one hour after all fleets, Patterson and crew applied local knowledge to Beneteau-line things on the straightest course ever recorded in the history of the regatta.
Said Anderson, “I swear that boat was tracking an underground rail and periodically lifting the hull three-feet in the air. I have never seen a 36.7 foil. Incredible. It was as if the crew was simply sitting there talking about naked people, instead of managing wind and waves.”
Just thirty feet from the finish line on Sunday, race officials were stunned when Summer and Smoke pinched up to press for line honors over The Mod. In a brilliant last minute move, Patterson tacked to starboard to gain rights over the trimaran, elevated to hover, then skimmed just inches below The Mod’s lifted flank.
Summer and Smoke crossed the Sunday finish in 1 hour 22 minutes and 3 seconds. That is a new record for the event, squarely earning two firsts and the Best Overall trophy.
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