Racing on the Ultimate 24 (soon to be Antrim 25)

Pete, the owner was short on crew for the YRA series, this race being sailed out of Golden Gate Yacht Club so he asked Garett and I to join in. Pete’s the guy who loaned us his U24 for the Pacific Sail Expo.

I have to say I was excited at the prospect. The Ultimate 24 (U24) was the Sailing World “Boat of the Year” in 2004 for good reason. It’s a nearly perfect blend of speed and utility. Very lightweight at 2040 lbs (with 750 in the keel bulb) and still it offers a full (for 24 footer standards) interior...amazing. There’s even a porta potti in case you have lady crew :-)

Garett and I met the boat with Pete and his regular crew, Kelly, aboard. Winds promised to be heavy and I was nervous with anticipation. The yacht club was all abuzz with pre-race preparations from a dozen boats nearby. Lots of people doing lots of last minute things. We rigged up the new sails Pete just had Santa Cruz sails design and build for the boat. Nice stuff...push away from the dock and we’re gone.

My first sensation is just how stable this ultra-ultra light boat is. The U24 is a cored fiberglass boat with carbon fiber reinforcements throughout, a carbon fiber mast, boom and bowsprit. It feels light, in a substantial way...hard to explain.

Pre-race maneuvers go well. Pete’s a good helm guy and Kelly knows the boat well so Garett and I just sort of blend in like we belong. We nail a solid start for the beat to weather heading up to Blackhauler buoy at Crissy Field. It’s uneventful except for the building wind. There’s some discussion as to setting the asymmetrical spinnaker and if we have indeed rigged it right for hoisting. We round the windward mark, still a little unsure if we’re setup properly but what the hell, hoist away....WRONG! We’ve hoisted the kite (spinnaker) upside down, that is to say, the clew is flying at the head of the sail. I hate it when they don’t mark those corners with the word “clew” LOL. We actually tried to sail it that way, just to see if we could. Bad Idea, very slow and not too photogenic. A quick douse and reset has us clipping along at 15-16 knots sailing toward the leeward mark, #1 which lies ENE of Alcatraz about half a mile. A pretty uneventful leg of the race except I now realize we’re racing against not only another U24 in our class, but a Flying Tiger too and not just a Flying Tiger but the boat that has been beating all the other Tigers (including the one I occasionally race on!)

The spinnaker douse at the mark goes smoothly, we turn the mark and start our beat to weather. The tide still has some flood left in it so we head off to sail close to the City Front to stay out of the incoming current. The wind has built to a steady 20 knots but the U24 handles this with ease. The other U24 reefs, which turns out to be slower and while they rounded the mark well in front of us (our little fiasco with the first spinnaker set slowed us considerably) we more than make up for it gaining perhaps 30 boat lengths and rounding the windward mark well ahead of them.

The wind has built to a solid 26-28 knots now with 30+knot gusts. We decide to set the kite cautiously and are we glad we did. It’s a WILD ride back down to #1. The boat is skipping along the wave tops. We’re all yelling a screaming like kids on a roller coaster. Pete calmly mentions that we just broke his boats previous 17 knot speed record by hitting 18.4 knots. Certainly something to celebrate. The Other U24 has sailed a great downwind leg and is right beside us. The Flying Tiger is off to port and having a world of trouble...they’ve crashed (broached) the boat hard and can’t seem to get things under control. We urge Pete to just look at the waves, the boat, the kite and get us to the mark. A good douse and mark rounding have us pounding, and I mean POUNDING our way back to the Cityfront and the finish line. The chop built to a steep 3-4 feet and the wind was gusting 35 knots plus. The other U24 was right next to us. We traded tacks all the way back to the Golden Gate Yacht Club and they managed to beat us by a couple of boat lengths. The final beat was filled with exhilaration and carnage. We saw several boats lose their masts, many spinnaker crashes (broaches) and general mayhem among the fleet.

Yup, these are tough little ocean racers, fast and fun. I’m so looking forward to adding these well made sportboats to our fleet....soon!