(San Francisco, CA)- The 2015 J/Fest regatta hosted by St Francis YC has
an excellent turnout of fifty boats for their upcoming regatta that
will be sailed from April 18 to 19th on San Francisco Bay. Five
one-design J classes are sailing, including J/24s, J/70s, J/105s, J/111s
and J/120s.The enormously popular J/105 class continues to gain new adherents to their fleet after nearly 20 years of sailing on San Francisco Bay. With the 2015 J/105 North American Championships being hosted by StFYC later in September, it is not a coincidence that the top-flight competition has attracted the best teams from across California (north and south). Multiple fleet champions include Scooter & son Ryan Simmons on BLACKHAWK; Bruce Stone & Nicole Breault-Stone on ARBITRAGE; Jeff Litfin’s MOJO; the trio of Shannon Ryan/ Rolf Kaiser/ Ken Turnbull on DONKEY JACK; and Adam Spiegel on JAM SESSION.
The
half-dozen J/111s will include all the top local teams that have
enjoyed close one-design racing over the past year. Depending on
conditions, the outcome is less than deterministic amongst this
closely-matched fleet. Needless to say, the betting parlor over/under
on the six teams would easily be the hardest group to lay odds on—
Dorian McKelvy’s MADMEN, Rich Swanson’s BAD DOG, Nesrin Basoz/ Reuben
Rocci’s SWIFT NESS, Roland Vandermeer’s BIG BLAST, Gorkem Ozcelebi’s
DOUGLE DIGIT, and Rob Thies’ AEOLUS.
The
J/120 fleet has their usual cast of characters participating and, as
has been the case in the past, the entire top three is all dependent on
“karma”. OK, this may be a California thing, but it has to be true
since seemingly any one team can win at any time. Look to any one of
these teams to be in the hunt- Tom Grennan/ Shane Palmer’s KOOKABURRA;
Barry Lewis’ CHANCE; David Halliwill/ Mike O’Callaghan’s PEREGRINE;
Steve Madeira’s MR MAGOO and Timo Bruck’s TWIST.
As
one might expect, the J/24s continue to have fun on San Francisco Bay
after 30+ years of thrashing around in the craziest conditions anyone
can imagine. Perhaps the most famous locals are Val Lulevich’s SHUT UP
& DRIVE as well as Jasper Van Vliet’s EVIL OCTOPUS, Darren Cumming’s
DOWNTOWN UPROAR and Mike Whitfield’s TMC RACING. While the event is still over a year away, there is no question a number of local J/70s are looking at this event as part of their long-term practice for the 2015 J/70 World Championship on San Francisco Bay. Top local boats include John Brigden’s COOL STORY BRO, Justin Kromelow’s LOOSE LUCY, Chris Andersen’s PERFECT WIFE, Peter Cameron’s PRIME NUMBER and Chris Kostanecki’s JENNIFER. Sailing photo credits- Pressure-drop.us. For more J/Fest San Francisco sailing information
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