race report
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 How many crew does it take to jibe a J/105 spinnaker? ©2011 Stephen Buckingham/norcalsailing.com |
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Fast Friday in Rolex Big Boat Series September 10, 2011 "It's rough out there, like a washing machine," was how the conditions were described yesterday. Gusts up to 30 knots, even up to 35 on the North Course set the scene for carnage on the water in the wild second day of racing in the 2011 Rolex Big Boat Series. Most of the carnage consisted of round-ups, round-downs and broaches, some boats reported damage enough to cause them to drop out, and at least two crew members with injuries were carefully led ashore. One crewman went to the hospital for stiches after getting hit in the head with a boom.
Mayhem on the Farr 30 course, which started yesterday in gusts of 30 knots, continued today and included Deneen Demourkas's Groovederci broaching just after her downwind finish in the second race (which she won). “We came screaming in and went just under her, missing her by 10 feet,” said Scott Easom of Eight Ball. “The runs are where the stuff sorts out. The wind is so high it eliminates some teams. I feel sorry for them, that they come all the way to San Francisco to get their drawers blown off.” Some of the boats in the back of the pack didn't even fly their spinnakers in the afternoon.
Even though Eight Ball is leading after six races, Scott says he is “clawing” to hang on to his lead and the potential to be named class world champion at the end of this event. “Barking Mad (skippered by Jim Richardson of Boston, MA) and the two Groovederci entries (skippered by Deneen and John Demourkas of Santa Barbara) are very, very good; it’s them and us,” said Scott, noting that Barking Mad is now only one point behind him, while Deneen, who won two races today, is four points behind. “We’re local, but there’s not anything we know they don’t know. Boat speed is king; we’re watching them carefully, and they are teaching us a lot. We were leading by more yesterday, so we’ll try to stay close tomorrow and not make the big mistake. With 11 races scheduled and no throw outs, we’ll be a little cautious on the start line and around marks.”
The whole strategy on Friday was to just keep the boats under control. “It was a 20-25 knot day, gusting close to 30,” said Andy Costello of Pt. Richmond, whose J/125 Double Trouble leads IRC C and is the only team with a perfect score after four races. “We were hitting boat speeds in the 17 and 18s off the breeze, but we were fully under control.” That wasn’t true for many of the class’s other sport boats, which were all in the 40-ft range and collectively referred to as the 'Fast Forties.' Some wiped out and others struggled not to, while Andy sailed smoothly with his crew of seasoned dinghy sailors aboard. “They feel the boat, and their response is quicker,” said Andy, explaining that his mainsail trimmer, Trevor Baylis of Santa Cruz, is an Aussie 18, International 14 and 505 class world champion, while another crew member, Matt Noble of Pt. Richmond, is also an International 14 world champion, not to mention that his tactician, Will Baylis of Tiburon, Trevor’s brother, is an Olympic silver medalist. (The Baylis brothers' sister Liz is tactician aboard the Express 37 Golden Moon.) “The J/125 is only 8,600 pounds and 57% of that weight is in the keel; it has a spinnaker that’s 1,900 square feet, so that’s big for a 40-ft boat." The four J/125s hold the top four positions in IRC C. Two of them, Resolute and Timeshaver, are from SoCa; August Ice is from Lake Tahoe.
"Boat for boat, Tim Fuller's Resolute is our best competition. They are fast upwind, but our attributes are in planing downwind - that’s where we excel over the other boats,” said Andy.
You can keep track of results and more at www.rolexbigboatseries.com. Also see our previous reports.
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