After a summer of perfect Sunday's, Fleet 12 sailors faced a hazy light-air day for what proved to be a single, final race for the season championship. The Marshall brothers' Bad News led FJ Ritt's Paladin by only three points, so the series title was still very much up for grabs. Race Committee, Commodore Bert and Linda Brodin set a course of Rp, 13p with the tide turning to flood and the breeze a fickle six to eight knots from the south. All nine active racers were there for one last hurrah, Rob Salk's Besame having received a high-speed tow from its home north of the bridge on account of the light wind.

The start itself was a bit ragged with several boats caught away from the line with little breeze as the sequence began. Machbuster and Paladin won the start at the pin end and drag raced each other into the channel where the current was surprisingly still slack. Boats going right had less air and no current advantage. Bad News immediately tried to cut her losses by coming back left, but now no better than fourth, trailed Paladin on the water for the series title. Paladin cemented her lead at the windward mark when she slam-dunked Machbuster who had successfully worked the left side of the course but couldn't quite cross Paladin 50 yards from the Clingstone Bell. Bad News gained on the left as well, and rounding third, reestablished a one-point series lead.

Finding herself in a Paladin/Bad News sandwich early on the run, Machbuster jibed back to the right and was eventually joined by Besame, who sailed high jibing angles to great effect in the dying breeze. As the fleet approached the bridge, the back markers made up considerable ground carrying the last of the decent pressure with them. Besame sailed a masterful downwind leg and rounded the can first, followed closely by Paladin, Bad News, and Machbuster. With the flood tide finally a factor, the others were soon around, but immediately took their respective spots in a growing J/22 parking lot between the can and the bridge, as everyone struggled to windward against the tide.

A silent but palpable tension built as the zephyrs first helped one boat and then another. At one point Machbuster threatened to pass Bad News while Paladin was passing Besame to their left, again putting Bad News' title in jeopardy. Finally a righty puff filled in and lifted Bad News to well-deserved race and series wins. Paladin finished second after a valiant effort to dash the title hopes of the Marshall brothers in the last 1000 yards of the season. Besame nipped Machbuster for third, and then the wind shut-off again forcing the remainder of the fleet to stagger in. Chaos, Blues eRacer, Good News, and Rhapsody eventually finished in that order.

Rhapsody had almost passed the entire fleet on a left end run, only to be crushed by the final right hand shift. Able to throw out her ninth, Bill and Alice Porter's Rhapsody finished the series in third place, a single point ahead of last year's champ, Louis Mariorenzi and Priscilla Szneke's Blues eRacer. Five of the nine boats won at least one race this season, proof of the fleet's competitive balance, and the winners often had active crew under the age of 14. But Michael and David Marshall consistently sailed Bad News to the front in all conditions, ending the season with an impressive three straight wins to capture the Fleet 12 Championship against some determined opposition.