(San Francisco, CA)- Last weekend, April 12-13, the St. Francis Yacht
Club hosted the first of two West Coast (Area GHJL) qualifiers for the
US Match Racing Championship, also known as the Prince of Wales Bowl
(POW). The POW dates back to 1931 when the Bowl was donated by Prince
Edward Albert to promote small boat sailing among junior yachtsmen. In
1975, the event morphed into what we know now as the US Match Racing
Championship.Selected from among numerous applicants, the eight skippers included Newport Harbor Yacht Club members Payson Infelise and Jack Thompson, Royal Canadian Yacht Club member Landon Gardner, and St. Francis Yacht Club members Jackson Benvenutti, Nicole Breault, Russ Silvestri, Bruce Stone, and Shawn Bennett (past winner of the overall championship).
The boats were splashed on Friday to give the teams a chance to practice on the J-22’s used for the event. StFYC did a great job making sure the boats were in top condition for the regatta.
Saturday dawned with a typical overcast sky, but then the fog burned off and revealed great conditions for a regatta. The westerly breeze filled in with 8 to 12 knots, and the course was set just north of Crissy Field and the StFYC. As is typical in match racing, the races were two lap affairs, with a downwind finish. PRO Bartz Schneider indicated the goal of the two days was to get two round robins completed if possible. A building ebb tide made the races a bit longer than anticipated, but also made the racing very close, as any advantage gained at the start or during the weather legs could be quickly erased as soon as the boats turned downwind. This made for some close racing and lots of action at the bottom mark rounding, with the on-the-water umpires getting quite a workout. At the end of the first round robin, it was Team Silvestri with a 7-0 record, followed by Team Bennett and Team Infelise with an equal 5-2 record. The race committee decided to squeeze in the start of the second round robin, and one more race was run. It was pretty obvious that there were some tired teams on the water at this point, with some questionable boat handling, lots of flags, and general mayhem. Team Silvestri managed to squeak out another victory at the finish with some heavy sans-pole hand-guyed spinnaker reaching and lots of yelling to finish the day with an 8-0 record. Many interesting stories were exchanged at the debrief following racing, including a few truthful ones, but Chief Umpire Kim Kymlicka and his team made sure that the record was set straight.
On Saturday evening, Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault hosted a party at their Marina District home, a short walk from the StFYC, with festive socks the uniform of the evening. Country and western recording star Phil Claypool, a St. Francis club member, provided great entertainment, and libations continued well into the evening. On Sunday morning, the fog was absent, and so was the wind. An at-the-dock postponement was welcomed by the tired crews. When the breeze did fill in, it was the typical westerly at 8-10 knots, with another building ebb tide guaranteeing close racing with penalties burned at the last possible minute, boats overlapped at the finish line, and other hand-to-hand combat between competitors keeping the umpires and race committee busy. When the dust settled, the final tally was Team Silvestri with a 12-2 record, Team Infelise at 11-3, and Team Bennett with a 10-4 record. Silvestri advances to the US Match-Racing Finals, also being held at the St Francis, on October 3-5.
Many thanks to the St. Francis for running a fantastic regatta, PRO Bartz Schneider and Chief Umpire Kim Kymlicka for their talented RC and Umpire teams, US Sailing Area Rep Bruce Stone for organizing the event and hosting the regatta dinner, Phil Claypool for the entertainment, and Sports Basement for providing sponsorship. For more J/22 Match race sailing information
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