race report
| home contact us movies galleries stories store |
 The TP52s Beecom and Vesper have their own private match race going on in IRC-A. Vesper has won all six races so far. One remains, Sunday's Bay Tour. ©2013 norcalsailing.com |
|
Saturday at Rolex Big Boat Series
September 29, 2013 The forecast was dire, with the weather prognosticators calling for no more than seven knots of wind. Much to the relief of the race committee and the sailors at Rolex Big Boat Series, the forecast was wrong.
The westerly filled in much earlier than on Friday, and built to as much as 20 knots depending on where you were on the four racecourses. Jim Swartz of the TP52 Vesper called the conditions "nice. We haven’t had the really honking breeze this year." About racing sistership Beecom, he said, "Both boats have their edges and assets, and I think the crew work has been good for both teams. Our guys have been flawless and just haven’t made any mistakes. There is also a real premium on the starts, because it’s hard to come back, unless you get a tricky shift or someone makes a mistake. We’ve been fortunate enough to do well in most of the starts.”
in the IRC B class, Sy Kleinman’s Schumacher 54 Swiftsure has a comfortable lead after six races. “We hope to continue on the path that we’re on,” said helmsman Steve Taft. “The harder it blows, the faster this boat goes.”
In the 38-boat Melges 24 Pre-Worlds, Franco Rossini’s Swiss entry Blu Moon, skippered by 2001 Melges 24 World Champion Flavio Favivi, remains at the top of the scoreboard for the third consecutive day, with eight points on its closest competitor, Scott Holmgren's Oklahoma-based Rosebud. Argyle Campbell, the skipper of the Newport Beach-based Rock N' Roll, was injured in a collision with the J/120 Chance and received 11 stitches. The Melges 24 fleet have two windward-leeward races on Sunday instead of the regatta's usual Bay Tour.
In the new J/70 fleet, Eos and Little Hand are tied for first. Frank Slootman, the owner of Little Hand, said that Eos has more bullets. "So we need to beat them on points. It's been close racing along the club with shifts and plenty of passing." Crew Andrew Dura added, "All the crews are new to the boat, so we are learning as we go. We stepped aboard just a few days before the racing. It's a fun little boat that's easy to sail but will get up and go."
In the HPR class, Peter Krueger’s J/125 Double Trouble traded places on Saturday with Dan Thielman’s R/P 44 Tai Kuai to take the top spot in HPR, and Jerome Ternynck’s Extreme 40 SmartRecruiters flip-flopped on the scoreboard with Urs Rothacher’s SL33 BridgeRunner in the Multihull fleet.
In the J/120 fleet, Mr. Magoo, Chance and Desdemona are tied on points. Kame Richards’ Golden Moon and Tad Lacey’s Archambault 35 Mirthmaker maintained their leads in Express 37 and IRC D.
As we post this, Sunday's single race, a Bay Tour, is underway in light air, on flat water, below building cloud cover. The softest breeze of the series is making for a stately parade of boats, but with any luck everyone will be snuggled inside St. Francis YC's Golden Gate Room for the awards ceremony before any drizzle comes. See www.rolexbigboatseries.com for more, and be sure to check out our previous reports, and our photo galleries from each day's racing.
|
