(San Francisco, CA)- The annual extravaganza on San Francisco Bay that
many sailors along the West Coast always look forward to is the famous
Rolex Big Boat Series. This year the event has received heightened
interest since it's bracketed by the two America's Cup Series events
that are being held in the AC45 catamarans. A strong fleet of 48-plus
boats are participating in this annual pilgrimage to the Bay area, most
are hoping to experience its infamous "nuclear wind conditions", where
dogs are truly blown-off chains in the Marina Green or Presidio Beach
where puffs can often exceed 30-35 kts on a good sunny, hot day that
started off in the 50s and dense fog in the morning. The cooler the fog
is in the morning and the sunnier, hotter it is in the Valley beyond
the hills of Berkeley, the harder it blows-- plain and simple. For
sailors who love a breeze, it's an impossible combination to beat!Ready to blast-off the starting line will always be the San Francisco Bay J/105 fleet-- as battle-hardened a group of sailors in the Bay's notorious wind and current conditions as any. With over thirteen boats planning to show up, they will again be the largest one-design fleet racing in the Rolex BBS. Many familiar faces and past Rolex Submariner watch winners will be sailing, hoping to go for that "holy grail" in Rolex regattas, being a repeat winner of a Rolex Submariner! So far, two of the teams sailing are in that category of "rare air", one is Bruce Stone racing ARBITRAGE and the other is DONKEY JACK sailed by the team of Rolf Kaiser, Shannon Ryan and Steve Kleha. Look for these teams and perhaps some fresh new faces to challenge the status quo and give them a "run-for-the-money" and "win da watch!"
The
J/120s often have some of the closest one-design racing of any of the
fleets, with the entire class often finishing within minutes of each
other with 2-3 boats overlapped going into the finish line off the St
Francis YC's expansive RC balcony, finishing between the shore and the
offshore yellow finish marker! "Sea-room" is the order of the day, with
crews scrambling to keep their spinnakers full while hugging the shore
to avoid adverse current (a bit like the Royal Yacht Squadron line off
Cowes, Isle of Wight!). So far, three past Rolex BBS winners in the
J/120 class are sailing, including Barry Lewis's CHANCE, John Wimer's
DESDEMONA and Dick Swanson's GRACE DANCES.
Competing
in the IRC North American Championship are a trio of gun-slingers in
J/125s. If you recall, the past few years have seen the J/125 sailors
crash the party in the Rolex BBS, confounding old and new racing
machines alike-- in fact, absolutely destroying the new Farr 400s
"boat-for-boat"! Last year's Rolex BBS winner, the J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE
has Peter Krueger leading the charge with a team from St Francis YC
that includes offshore/buoy-racing notables like Jeff "Madro" Madrigali
calling tactics and Bill Erklens as Strategist with a "bunch of
locals"-- yikes, if you thought Andy Costello's team last year was
tough, these guys are sheer mercenaries around-the-cans! Joining them
will be Rick Ferris's AUGUST ICE from Tahoe YC on Lake Tahoe and also
Tim Fuller's gang on RESOLUTE from San Diego YC-- all have stepped-up
their games. Look for the J/125s to repeat their win in the fast IRC
Division if they get any kind of breeze on the Bay. Sailing Photo Credits- Daniel Forster (Rolex)/ Sharon Green (Ultimate Sailing)/ Erik Simonson (h2oshots.com). For more Rolex Big Boat Series sailing information
