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 Cree Partridge, Jim Antrim, and the $100 T-shirt. ©2012 norcalsailing.com |
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SF2SF Sets a Course November 5, 2012 On Friday night, boat builder Cree Partridge and naval architect Jim Antrim addressed a gathering at Berkeley YC on the topic of their brainchild, sf2sf, a new ocean race. Cree attributes the instigation of the idea to a comment by Jim regarding around the world races: "Why are all these races starting in France?" The first planning meeting to develop an around the world race that would start and finish in San Francisco began over beers at the BYC bar. The organizers have set 2015 as target because: 1. They think it will take that long; 2. they want to build on the interest in the America's Cup; 3. No one could think of any competing around the world race in 2015. They've established a route, with each leg being a little more than 7,000 miles long. The first leg would be from San Francisco to Cape Horn, the second from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope, the third to New Zealand, then home to San Francisco through the most dangerous of waters – the tempting tropical isles of the South Seas. The race would not actually stop in those places, mind you. This is a non-stop race. You can stop for repairs, provisioning, crew changes, etc., if you need to, but the clock keeps ticking. The time limit would be 90 days. In more detail, the course will be:
Cree posed the rhetorical question, "Why San Francisco?" And answered himself, "Why not? It's a great place to leave from and come back to – it's thrilling to sail under the Golden Gate." And they're building on the history of sailing on San Francisco Bay. With a minimum amount of publicity – mostly just word of mouth – they already have 15 potential entries interested with qualified boats. Jim got a call from a guy in Australia just that day, and they've had inquiries from England. The minimum size would be 40 feet for monohulls and 60 feet for multihulls. Singlehanders and full crews would be welcome. Classes will be determined depending on who enters. The event would be run by volunteers, reintroducing Corinthian spirit to round the world racing. They particularly want to encourage smaller teams. That said, they're looking for sponsors, particularly among the big Bay Area corporations. And they're selling T-shirts for $100 apiece! For seed money, they're looking for $50,000. One thought is to match up sponsors with teams. Cree's yard, Berkeley Marine Center is planning to build two 60-ft boats, which will cost $1.5 million each, and they currently have a 40-footer underway. In addition to Antrim and Partridge, the organizing committee consists of Mark Schrader, who ran the Around Alone and did the race twice; Peter Hogg who still holds the record for San Francisco to Japan on the Antrim trimaran Aotea and who set many more records crewing for Steve Fossett; Tim Kent of Everest Horizontal, an Open 50 Antrim design; Bruce Schwab who sailed the Tom Wylie designed Ocean Planet in the Around Alone and then in the 2004-05 Vendée Globe; Cam Lewis of the maxi catamaran Commodore Explorer and skipper of Team Adventure in 2000's The Race; and weather expert Lee Chesneau. "All the cool boats are in France," said Jim. "Thousands of people turn out cheering for the races there. Sailors are as big as Superbowl champs are here." Paul Kamen asked if they'd considered doing it as pursuit race. Jim thought they'd probably using a handicapping system like ORR. Someone asked about monetary prizes. "Free T-shirts to the winners!" was the response, "and free beer!" For more, see www.sf2sfoceanrace.com.
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