Corsair

A Serendipity 43 currently located in Sausalito

From Nov/Dec 2007 Squeegee, newsletter for the Sausalito Yacht Club.

EXHUMING A DINOSAUR, By Past Commodore Craig Brown
We recently exhumed CORSAIR, my 1980 Serendipity 43, yet again, for a quick run at Long Beach Race Week, and did well.

Most of my team members hailed from my UCLA days and had never sailed in anything larger than a FJ (14 feet), so it was a new experience to play with 3-speed winches. However, after a few practices, including breaking a Carbon-fi bre Spin pole and tearing a chute, the team was ready. I assigned study articles from Sailing
World magazine on big boat sailing. The class included 7 other boats from 70 to 38 feet, and CORSAIR was low boat in the fl eet. Courses were 13 to 19miles around the greater Long Beach area, and scored PHRF.

Race 1 was a 19 mile trek in 8 to 12 knots of breeze, and after 3 hours of racing, CORSAIR lost 1st place by 28/100ths of a second, corrected. Second day was more of the same and CORSAIR was a close 4th place, but tied for 1st in the series with a Santa Cruz 50. The fi nal day was another 17 mile jaunt and CORSAIR placed 2nd again, tied for 1st place. Pendragon, a highly modifi ed Davidson 44 lengthened to 48 feet, waited around at the fi nish, and cheered our UCLA Bruin Crew for a job well done. CORSAIR lost the tie-breaker to X-Rated, an X - 38 that had beaten them by .28 seconds in race one. Not bad for a novice crew, old boat, old sails, and
an even older Senior Member of SYC.

Editor’s Note: Craig Brown is presently a Senior Member of SYC living in Blue Jay, (Lake Arrowhead near LA) California and is a Past Commodore of SYC, Past Commodore of Pacifi c Coast Yachting Assoc., and Past Member of the Board of US Sailing. You can fi nd a photo of CORSAIR in the Clubhouse as ‘89 YRA Season Champion, and will also fi nd a half-model of CORSAIR in the dining room.