Blast from the past

From Mark Weinheimer:
With all the talk about big cats racing in San Francisco Bay, I thought I’d share this blast from the past. This Geri Conser photo is from August of 1988, when the Pro40 circuit was running the same weekend as the Big Boat Series on San Francisco. While the foreshortening makes this look closer than it really is, the SuperLube Pro 40 still commanded the full attention of the railriders on the sloop heading upwind. However, we didn’t get a picture of the best incident of the weekend.

After rounding the leeward mark, Randy Smyth headed toward the shore in front of the St Francis Yacht Club for current relief, and as he tacked away from shore just off the rocks, a 5-foot diameter buoy was anchored directly in his path. Unable to bear away fast enough to miss the buoy, Randy called for trim on, popped the weather hull up and flew the boat over the top, grazing the tramp and bouncing crew in the air like popcorn. Everybody stayed put and they continued the race for the win. An amazing sight and just yards from shore…looking forward to this summer for more.