Rolex Big Boat Series Goes Nuclear

September 10, 2011

Conditions worsened on Saturday at the 2011 Rolex Big Boat Series before they eased up. The Farr 30 fleet, competing here for their World Championship, decided that they were done for the day after one race out of the three scheduled. The Eight Ball crew are holding onto their lead.

Blackhawk and Whisper, just after a collision took out Blackhawk's port lifelines. They both retired from racing. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

Two J/105s were involved in a collision. Scooter Simmons' Blackhawk (on starboard) was t-boned by Whisper (on port). Blackhawk, which was leading the 21-boat class, was "granted redress per A10(a) from Races 1-4 for Races 5 and 6" (given two points for each unfinished race), retaining their first place position. They said they'd try to fix the damage and get back out racing on Sunday.

The happy crew of Risk got the gun for the second J/105 race of the day. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

On their pass by the clubhouse during the second downwind leg of the first race, the Express 37 Expeditious jibed, broached, spun out of control, and had to douse their spinnaker, which, in these circumstances, led to some shrimping. Once they got the spinnaker onboard, they tried to get a jib up to regain control, but ran out of time and water. With no steerage, the boat drifted into shallow water just off the parking lot seawall. They doused their main and tried to fire up their engine, but the afterguy had wrapped around the prop. (A friend towed them into the dock.) Not everything that could go wrong did go wrong, however, as no one was hurt.

Expeditious runs aground. ©2011 Stephen Buckingham/norcalsailing.com

"Everybody's okay," said crew member Rob Hutchinson. "A diver is checking the keel. We hope to be back out tomorrow." Expeditious had been in second place in their one design class. The diver found no damage to the keel, but the prop shaft is bent. Expeditious will race to win tomorrow.

In other Express 37 mishaps, a round-down on Stewball resulted in a man overboard during the first race of the day. They dropped their spinnaker and, as a precautionary measure, fired up their engine. They didn't have to put it in gear however, as they recovered their crewman under main only. The crew deployed a Lifesling, and the swimmer climbed up the transom with the help of the built-in step.

So that's what those holes on the transom are for! ©2011 Stephen Buckingham/norcalsailing.com

The man overboard was only in the water for three and a half minutes and didn't get too cold, but did wrench a shoulder so will not race tomorrow. The boat was able to finish the first race, but with a shattered spinnaker pole and a torn main leech, they abandoned the second race. Fortunately, they have spares, so they do plan to race on Sunday.

It took a lot of force to break Stewball's carbon fiber spinnaker pole. ©2011norcalsailing.com

This Wicked Farr 36 hails from Tahoe City. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

In IRC C, Richard Courcier's Farr 36 Wicked came in during the first race. "I ran out of sails. I'm looking for a new capital partner." They'd hit a new speed record, 20.1 knots. Then they lost their spinnaker sheet in 34 knots of wind. In the last race on Saturday, the Farr 400 Team Premier likewise ran out of spinnakers and stopped racing.

The fishermen on Happy Hooker wonder what Peregrine is up to. Actually, the J/120 is on their way to getting the gun in the second race. ©2011 norcalsailing.com

A passenger on the Golden Gate Ferry wrote in, "It was really choppy going home. Even in the ferry you could feel the constant pound. It was exciting, but I kept thinking that it must have been a difficult day to sail." Racing wraps up tomorrow with one more race, usually a Bay tour. Results and more can be found at www.rolexbigboatseries.com.