Strong J/125, J/120 and J/105 Turnout(San Francisco, CA)- This year's Rolex Big Boat Series is hosting a Fast Forties Class, including the venerable J/125s against some of the latest boats off renowned designers drawing boards. Says Regatta Chairman Norm Davant, "it's providing a division where boats of similar characteristics can race together just makes sense, especially when it has been proven time and again that the rating systems work very well under these circumstances."
Viggo Torbensen (Laguna Beach, Calif.) is making his way up from Southern California to compete against Northern California rivals in the Fast Forties Class in what will be one of his first major regattas since purchasing the J/125 TIMESHAVER a few months ago. "This will be my first time sailing on the Bay," said Torbensen. "I’ve sailed in Rolex Regattas before, and it is just immense fun with unbelievable organization behind it. This particular regatta is dominated by the local guys, and we are excited to step up and meet some new competition."
Since purchasing TIMESHAVER, Torbensen has focused mainly on offshore sailing. 'We do very well with boat handling, and our team is experienced. During long legs we rock out super-fast downwind, but buoy racing is different,' said Torbensen. 'Thirty percent of your race is right at the start, and one mistake can cost everything.' Other J/124s entered in the Fast Forties currently are Richard Ferris’s (Tahoe City, Calif.) J/125 AUGUST ICE, Tim Fuller’s (Murrieta, Calif.) J/125 RESOLUTE and Andy Costello's (Point Richmond, CA) band of local speed merchants racing the beautifully refinished shiny silver J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE.
Included
in the large one-design fleets are the J/105 and J/120 classes,
traditionally always some of the largest fleets participating at Rolex
Big Boat Series. Leading the charge in the nineteen boat strong J/105
class, by far the largest and most competitive one-design keelboat class
at Rolex BBS, will be a number of previous Rolex Big Boat Rolex
Submariner watch winners and top three finishers, including Bruce
Stone's ARBITRAGE, Scooter Simmon's BLACKHAWK, Rolf Kaiser's DONKEY
JACK, Phil Laby's GODOT and Adam Spiegel's JAM SESSION. Notably missing
are some of the top J/105 teams from Santa Barbara, San Diego and Long
Beach, California. In the J/120s, it's anybody's guess as to who's
going to lead this extremely competitive pack home this year as the
boats are so incredibly evenly matched. Look for the following boats to
be amongst the leaders, Steve Madeira's MR MAGOO, Barry Lewis' CHANCE,
John Wimer's DESDEMONA and Don Payan's DAYENU. It's often the case that
several J/120s finish overlapped as they slide into the StFYC finish
line off their famous deck, pretty darn good competition for such a
modest fleet.The Rolex Big Boat Series annually attracts many world-caliber sailors, all of whom are eager to win one of the six specially engraved Rolex timepieces given to winners of the St. Francis Yacht Club’s Perpetual Trophies. From its inception, the Rolex Big Boat Series has showcased top sailing talent and boats. From the glory days of SORC, IOR and IMS to today’s Grand Prix and One Design classes, the Rolex Big Boat Series continues to be the West Coast’s premier regatta where the best of the best meet for four days of challenging racing. For more Rolex Big Boat Series sailing information
