(San Francisco, CA)- While their friends and colleagues on the north
side of the Bay are hosting the Elite Keel and the J/24 Westerns, the St
Francis YC will be playing host to the Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure
Regatta, an event named in memoriam to a highly regarded member and
contributor at StFYC. The regatta will be sailed from May 16th to 17th
on the western end of the Bay between Alcatraz Island and the Golden
Gate Bridge- a.k.a. “the city front course.”Three J classes are participating, the J/105s, J/111s and J/120s. Many of the usual suspects in San Francisco’s famous J/105 fleet will be on hand to pay their respects to Phyllis, but also enjoy some great racing and camaraderie. With a tremendous degree of parity being displayed in the fleet, many of the teams are keeping a watchful eye on how to gain even a nanosecond of advantage as their teams prepare for the upcoming J/105 North American Championship on September 17-20 (held in conjunction with the Rolex Big Boat Series on the Bay). The class leaders include a raft of good boats such as Ryan & Scooter Simmons’ BLACKHAWK, Bruce Stone’s ARBITRAGE (with trophy-winning wife Nicole Breault calling tactics), the DONKEY JACK trio (Shannon Ryan, Rolf Kaiser, Ken Turnbull), Adam Spiegel’s JAM SESSION, Jeff Litfin’s MOJO and Jason Woodley/ Scott Whitney’s RISK.
Gaining
new adherents all the time is the SF Bay J/111 class, it’s exhilarating
to watch a fleet of 111s screaming across the Bay at 15-18 kts in the
classic 18-25 kts afternoon Bay breeze. Newcomers ready to do battle
include Peter Wagner on a brand new boat- USA 115- as well as Bennet
Greenwald’s San Diego YC crew on his new PERSEVERANCE. Happy to provide
tuning and speed tips will be class leaders such as Dick Swanson’s BAD
DOG, Gorkem Ozcelebi’s DOUBLE DIGIT, Dorian McKelvy’s MADMEN and Nessrin
Basoz’s SWIFT NESS from Richmond, California.
The
grand dame of the J classes on the Bay are the J/120s. The fleet
continues to enjoy their friends and family racing on a boat that easily
doubles as an incredibly comfortable weekender to cruise up the Delta
or around the Bay. The latest addition to the fleet is Tom Grennan’s
KOOKABURRA. Given that class veterans may have at least a dozen years
under their belts, Grennan’s crew may do well to increase their bar tube
budget to soak sail trimmers on other boats for all their tips and
tricks. Nevertheless, like their J/105 amigos, on any given weekend
anyone can win, including Barry Lewis’ CHANCE, Steve Madeira’s MR MAGOO,
Dave Halliwill’s PEREGRINE or Timo Bruck’s TWIST. For more St FYC Swiftsure Regatta sailing information
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