Beer Can Racing: community, camaraderie and a splash of competition

As with photography, sailing lingo encompasses a bewildering collection of terms, apparently designed solely to bamboozle the novice. I am talking about shrouds and sheets, and cars and cleats. But one phrase, on the surface, appears self-explanatory: Beer Can Races. Surely, this has something to do with beer and trying to go faster than other sailboats? Well, almost. Read on to learn more about the philosophy behind this staple of the midweek sailing calendar.

Learning the ropes

“Run the jib sheet outside the shrouds, through the car, and be sure to tie it off in a stopper knot — the ‘pirate’ one I’ve shown you”, says Captain Tom to his rookie crew member. See what I mean?

Until recently, I had regarded sailing trips into San Diego Bay as an opportunity to take photos rather than learn to sail. But, all along, I had been listening intently to the banter and directions exchanged between captain and crew: ‘Ease the main!’; ‘Jibing!’; ‘Tacking!’.

So, after a hesitant start, I am now slowly ‘learning the ropes’. I have begun to put my camera aside and take on specific crew duties. And, under the patient tutelage of our salty-dog captain, I am picking up both the terminology and techniques of this ancient craft.

Sailing events run the gamut from casual sightseeing trips around the bay to competitive regattas run over carefully prescribed courses. Success in the casual trips involves fun, a relaxing atmosphere, tasty snacks, refreshing cold beverages, and not running aground. Success in a regatta requires a fast boat, experienced crew, a skilful skipper, judicious reading of the wind, and a desire to win.

Beer Can Races

Beer Can Races sit nicely between these two extremes. They are races in that they follow a prescribed course, but they are short, and when the horn is blown at the halfway point (30 minutes), everyone turns around and heads for home. They are casual in that friends and family are often invited to come along, and they give novice sailors a chance to learn and practice.

The origin of the name is not entirely clear. But, it successfully conveys a sense of informality and fun in the setting of a race environment. Beer Can Races take place midweek, after the working day is over. If you are reading this on a Wednesday, there is almost certainly one this evening. We aim to leave the dock around half past five, ready for the starting horn at six.

Motoring out into the bay and away from other boats, we hoist our sails. Facing into the wind, we raise the mainsail, followed by the jib. Our boat then joins the other vessels circling in anticipation of the start.

Let’s get started

The start sequence is carefully choreographed by the Race Committee. Just like sprinters try to be quickest off the block when the starting gun fires, sailors try to cross the start line just as the starting horn sounds. This is facilitated by a sequence of horn blasts, alerting crews to the countdown.

Four blasts of the horn are sounded at six minutes to go — time to pay attention! A race committee member then blows a single horn blast at five minutes, four minutes and one minute before the start. At the starting horn, the boat first in line rounds a flag, a marker buoy, and then heads off down the bay.

Go Mall

It goes without saying that the boat first in line has been the most skilful at positioning itself for the start. If it had crossed the start line too soon, it would be circling around and crossing the start line again.

In case you didn’t know, Rolex produces a watch specifically geared to managing these crucial minutes at the start of a race: the Yacht-Master II. For $43,500, you can adorn your wrist with an 18k yellow gold version complete with a programmable ten-minute timer. Surely, possession of this timepiece would virtually guarantee being on that front boat?

If this all sounds hectic, it is. Not for us, though! We adopt a more relaxed, Beer Can Race-attitude, avoiding the fray and potential collisions with other boats. It’s all about taking part. Our boat, a 32-foot Kettenburg, is named Go Mall, Gaelic for ‘slowly’.

Its name and green livery reflect the Irish roots of Captain Tom. Its design, with a deep keel, reflects an emphasis on stability rather than speed. Consequently, as we finally round the start line, we see the sails of the faster boats off in the distance.

Along Glorietta Bay

The race starts at a sheltered spot in front of the Coronado Yacht Club (marked in red on the map) at the end of Glorietta Bay. The course proceeds along this inlet, with a turn to port leading eventually to the larger San Diego Bay.

An early challenge involves dealing with a capricious ocean breeze from the southwest. The wind makes its way through gaps between high-rise condominium buildings, creating unpredictable gusts. Eventually, we pass these towers, our sails inflate, and we are ‘making trees’, that is, seeing visible movement relative to stationary objects on the shore — such as trees.

Our next challenge is to maintain a course through a safe, deep channel defined by coloured buoys. At low tide, the risk of running aground is not to be dismissed – both Glorietta Bay and San Diego Bay are relatively shallow. As well as watching out for the buoys, we keep an eye out for paddle boarders, kayakers, swimmers, and oncoming boats.

Making the halfway turn

The lead boat decides whether to lead the flotilla South along the Bay or North under the Coronado bridge. When sailing under the bridge, we have to avoid the enormous concrete stanchions and negotiate the swirling breezes they create. The fastest boats can travel a surprising distance beyond the bridge. Whichever course is chosen, when a horn sounds at thirty minutes, we all turn and head for home.

The beauty of the Beer Can Race-format is that at the turn, boats which were lagging now take the lead. This invariably includes us. By this stage in the proceedings, the actual beer cans have been opened, and the snacks have been broken out. Cheese & crackers or shrimp cocktail are ideal finger foods for anyone feeling peckish.

We relax somewhat as we watch the faster boats overhaul us, tacking back and forth, criss-crossing amongst each other. It’s a good time to reach for my camera.

Camera choice for Beer Can Races

I try to capture close-up shots of the boats and crews as they sail by, sometimes in very close proximity. There are rules governing the right of way on the water, with which I am not entirely familiar. I have complete faith in Captain Tom and his peers to negotiate these finer points and avoid any collisions, so I concentrate on framing my shots.

I have explored multiple camera/lens combinations in pursuit of the ideal configuration.

The Q2 works well, especially since it is easy to use single-handedly. It is most important to maintain three points of contact with the boat at all times, e.g., both feet and one hand. No one wants to end up in the drink.

The Panasonic Lumix S5 and kit 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 combination is also light and easy to use single-handedly. It has the additional benefit of its modest zoom capabilities.

But, I have obtained the best results with a Leica SL2 equipped with the 24-70mm Vario-Elmarit-SL f/2.8 zoom. It requires both hands, but with elbows planted on the roof of the boat’s cabin, I am safely locked into place.

The finish line

Since the races take place in the evening, light conditions vary considerably throughout the season. At the height of summer, blue skies and bright sunlight abound. In early spring, the sun is close to the horizon as we wend our way back to the start point. The dusk light, together with gently illuminated clouds, makes for some beautiful images.

As each boat rounds the flag marking the end (and the start) of the race, it receives a horn blast. Crossing the finish line, we salute the race committee and turn our attention to lowering and furling the sails. This is also undertaken facing into the wind. The jib is lowered first, followed by the mainsail, which is folded neatly or ‘flaked’ onto the boom.

We motor back to the dock, the captain proclaiming that, once again, we have cheated death. Ropes are tied neatly and stowed, sails are enclosed in their covers, and crew members head to the bar for well-deserved refreshments.

The camaraderie amongst the crew, the sense of community amongst the boat owners, and that smidgeon of competition make beer can racing a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an evening. As well as capturing a few more photos, I reckon I have added a few more nautical terms to my growing thesaurus.

All photographs were taken by the author. 

Do you have any experience of sailing? Have you ever taken part in a sailing race? Do you know your halyards from your hawsers? Let us know in the comments below.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Very nice article about our unique CYC beer can races. I say unique because no where else that I have sailed uses the ‘turn around at 30 minutes’ approach. What you would normally experience – and you can see this on the Cortez Racing Assn beer cans on San Diego Bay is a fully defined sailing course that must be navigated. The race committee will set a course based on the day’s wind such that boats finish before dark. Cheers to this long standing tradition that gets us out on the water.

    • Thank you Anne – I am glad you enjoyed the article! I had not realized what a special format the CYC Beer Can Race employs. Let me know if you are ever short of a crew member! 🙂 Cheers, Keith

  2. Dear Keith,

    thanks for sharing this. The images are beautiful, I like the one with the USA 706 and Coronado bridge best. Generally, the backlit images are stunning and reveal the qualities of modern sensors. Sun and sea are no easy combination in many instances. All the vocabulary I had to look up but this did not help throughout. Even if I was brought up here on the Bodensee and returned here 20 years ago, I was never much into sailing. It is very time consuming, and the Bodensee is beautiful but tricky in terms of wind. Sometimes we have complete calm for days, then suddenly gusty winds come from the Alps. The kayak is often the better choice here.

    Cheers JP

    • Hi Joerg-Peter, thanks for your comments! I have found it quite challenging to take photographs of these moving objects from another moving object, especially one that is moving on an X-Y plane while also undergoing a rolling motion! Add to that the changing orientation relative to the sun. Iit ends up being a complex problem multi-dimensional photographic to solve! Great fun though. All the best, Keith

  3. When I saw the headline I had expected a beer can regatta in true Aussie style. Each year in Darwin (the tropical north of Australia) they hold the Beer Can Regatta where all the boats have to built from emptied beer cans.

    https://beercanregatta.org.au/rules/

    It’s usually total mayhem but all for a good cause.

    • Hi Tom – thanks for the link. Those Aussie-style ‘Beer Can’ races look like a real hoot. What skill to fashion a boat out of Foster’s lager cans! I think I will stick with more traditional forms of nautical transport. All the best, Keith

  4. Dear Keith,

    wonderful images of my most loved city. In fact I have been sailing in the harbor and out to the islands with my cousin.
    I like your description of the starting sequence. Did you know that the flag signal is the valid signal?
    I have been sailing beach catamarans races for 20 years by now, no idea how many single starts that have been over time.
    Regatta sailors will get back to the beach and can talk for about two hours about the day’s races and a non sailor won’t understand what they are talking about.
    Keep up the beer can races. You will learn many things.

    Greets Dirk

    • Welcome to Macfilos comments, Dirk. What readers do not know is that you are shortly to become a Macfilos author. Watch out for Dirk!

    • Hi Dirk, many thanks! I would love to sail out to the Coronado Islands. I am hoping that as my skill as a crew member improves, someone will invite me to join them on a trip out beyond the Bay and into the ocean. Until then, I will just look longingly at the islands off on the horizon as I stroll along the beach! All the best, Keith

  5. “..Do you have any experience of sailing?”. “Do you know your halyards from your hawsers?”. Again in my case, the answer is yes to both questions.

    Besides dinghy sailing I have done quite a bit of big boat sailing, mostly cruising but with the odd race. Much of my sailing was courtesy of the British Army, either from near Southampton on England’s South Coast or from the British Kiel Yacht Club on the Baltic Sea. Otherwise it was on a relative’s boat based at Aldeburgh on England’s East Coast. So I have sailed and felt seasick in the
    English Channel, the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

    During my two years of polishing boots and brasses as an officer cadet, I along with four others volunteered during our Easter holiday in 1968, to be one of thirty odd crew on the maiden voyage of the three-masted Schooner, Malcolm Miller. She belonged to the Sail Training Association. Its purpose was to develop character by you’ve guessed it; polishing brasses and “holystoning” the teak deck. That taught me for the rest of my army career not to be so keen on volunteering. As compensation I did helm the 300 ton schooner for a couple of hours.

    Also we did sail into Rotterdam and up the River Thames to moor next to the Tower of London.
    Tower Bridge was raised especially for us.

    Thank you Keith for bringing back memories.

    Chris

    • Hi Chris – sounds like that was quite an experience! Happily, Captain Tom has not asked me to polish any brass, swab any decks, or oil any teak so far! Did you take any photos of the sailing trip you describe? That would make for a great article! All the best, Keith

    • Hi JL Williams, the range of sailboats and yachts cruising around San Diego Bay is enormous – in terms of age, size, and cost. There is certainly no shortage of superyachts around here, but the boats I have been invited to sail on all sit comfortably at the lower end of the size and cost spectrum! Cheers, Keith

  6. “..Do you have any experience of sailing?” ..Yes. “..Do you know your halyards from your hawsers?” ..Yes.

    Do I have a $43,500 18k yellow gold sailing watch complete with a programmable ten-minute timer? No: I have a two-and-sixpenny (..we-ell; maybe a £100..) Lufthansa on-board-sales Swiss made stainless steel ‘sailing timer’ watch, complete with two teeny hands (elapsed hours and minutes), normal hours, minutes and seconds, plus a Yacht Start hand, and segments 10 mins, 6 mins, 5 mins, etcetera, to the Start, just ordinary steel – but complete with optional rubber straps, and a jeweller’s thingummybob to push out the pins which hold the stainless steel strap and to insert them for the rubber strap.

    £100 ..optional onboard duty-free purchase.

    It’s like those £9,500 f0.9 photo lenses ..you get exactly the same – or better – look with a £250 Canon screw thread (or M-fit) 100mm f2 ..indistinguishable results ..well actually, likely sharper results, with the same shallow depth-of-field, as the f2 is so much easier to focus! ..with less flare and vignetting, too, than the £9,500 lens.

    But sailing? Yup, at a brisk 11.5 knots from St Mawes (Cornwall) to Brighton, south of England. And through the Dutch inland seas, and all down and along the UK east and south coasts.

    “..Have you ever taken part in a sailing race?” ..Nope; our boating’s more ‘cruising’ than racing ..slow (usually), taking your time, making cups of tea, nibbling biscuits etc.

    For example: https://tinyurl.com/T0Eastbourn3

    (Shot with a Sony movie camera (sorry) not a Leica stills camera.)

    • Hi David, thanks for the comment and cost-saving tip! Sounds like you are a very experienced sailor! I might be checking in with you before posting any future nautical articles. 🙂 All the best, Keith

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