Scooter Simmons Wins J/105 Swiftsure Regatta(San Francisco, CA)- On May 19-20, nineteen Fleet One J/105s participated in the St Francis Yacht Club's Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta, a 6 race regatta which replaces the Stone Cup. The weekend weather was beautiful and uncharacteristically warm with clear skies. The breeze of around 15 kts in the mornings built to the low-to-mid 20’s, with gusts up to 31 kt on Saturday afternoon-- almost double the forecast. The wind, plus the flood tide, placed a premium on superb starts, good crew work and lane planning when short tacking the City Front upwind for tide relief, and rewarded coordinated boat handling in the downwind planing conditions.
Going into the last race, any of the top six boats could have won the regatta. Scooter Simmon’s BLACKHAWK pulled out a race bullet after two upwind tacking duels and two downwind drag races against Bruce Stone’s ARBITRAGE, both boats hurtling across the Bay at sustained speeds of 16-18 kts, including a wild surf to the finish. ARBITRAGE had entered the day in seventh, but with a 2-3-2 in Sunday’s three races, worked up to second, just a point behind BLACKHAWK. RISK, MOJO and JAM SESSION filled out the top 5 places. At the awards ceremony, there was a lot of chatter among people who said they had never gone that fast in a keelboat. For more J/105 Swiftsure Regatta sailing information
