(Belvedere, CA)- One of the more popular events on San Francisco Bay
late in the spring is the Elite Keel Regatta hosted by San Francisco YC
in Belvedere, CA, on the north side of the Bay. The regatta has proven
to be a popular one for the large J/105 class, with twenty-six boats
participating in the two-day event. This year, a J/70 class was invited
as well.The J/105s are beginning to see a “wash, rinse, repeat” for the top of the leaderboard. Once Tim Russell decided to jump back into the fleet two years ago (after a long reprisal due to work/ family stuff), he bought Lowell North & Dennis Conner’s J/105 #3 (ever heard of them?), purported to be the lightest and fastest J/105 ever built (about 600 lbs light- a “pre-scrimp” boat). He renamed the boat NE*NE and over the last two seasons, the two decades old classic continues to show her tail feathers to the fleet, once again winning a major J/105 regatta on the Bay by a significant margin. Russell’s talented crew posted a 2-3-3-1-2 for 11 pts total to win by 7 pts. However, behind them it was a real battle for the balance of the podium. The final results were not determined until the last race between Ryan Simmons’ BLACKHAWK and Phil Laby’s GODOT. Both teams are consistently at the top of the leaderboard, but it was
the
BLACKHAWK crew that held on to take the silver with a 4-4-2-2-6 for 18
pts. Just one point back was the GODOT team with a record of 3-2-4-5-5
for 19 pts. The rest of the top five include Adam Spiegel’s JAM SESSION
in 4th with 23 pts and Ian Charles’ MAVERICK taking 5th with 25 pts. Perhaps the most dominating performance of the regatta was Chris Kostanecki’s JENNIFER, winning the J/70 class by 8 pts with a record of three bullets and two deuces! The balance of the podium was determined by a tie-breaker at 15 pts each between Peter Cameron’s KANGAROO JOCKEY and the duo of Tom Thayer & Robert Milligan on RAMPAGE. Taking that countback was KANGAROO JOCKEY over RAMPAGE. For more Elite Keelboat Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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