RBBS 2025: ‘Arbitrage’ Wins J/105 Fleet; ‘Zeus’, ‘Skeleton Key’ and ‘Ravenette’ Victorious
The 2025 Rolex Big Boat Series concluded at St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC) on Sunday after four days of hard-fought racing across six different fleets. The breeze was a stark contrast to last year’s breeze-on and big-ebb Big Boat Series, with flood currents and light to moderate wind being the conditions during most of the races.
J/105
The J/105 fleet saw wild variance across the fleet from race to race, with a different boat winning each of the seven races throughout the weekend. When all was said and done, Arbitrage (StFYC), sailed by Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault, was the most consistent boat in the fleet. Their final tally was 29 points, 10 ahead of second-place Ryan Simmons’ Blackhawk (SFYC), the winner of the 2023 and 2024 Big Boat Series J/105 fleet.
“It really feels good when you come across the line in first,” Breault tells Latitude. “Winning that race the first day was like a moment where there was suddenly hope that maybe we’re a team that is really in this. The next day we had solid results with a three/three, and it was just a matter of avoiding anything big and disastrous that could really hurt us.”
“I think the key is just being on the starting line and being able to catch the first shift and sailing clean,” Stone adds. “In the last few regattas I hadn’t been getting the best starts, so I just said ‘OK, I’ve just got to shoot the lights out and make sure that I’m on the starting line.’”
Express 37
The Express fleet nearly doubled in size from last year, but Loca Motion (MPYC), sailed by Liam Chaffey and Heidi Hall, repeated as champions. They won the first two races, and then consistently finished in the top three to stay ahead of Andy Schwenk’s Spindrift V (RYC) in second.
“The key moment today was that we got passed by three boats and then won our position back by going in by the Cityfront,” Hall tells Latitude. “We didn’t think there was going to be much current relief there but there was, so we just had to go with it.”
J/88
Though he finished third in last year’s Big Boat Series, Brice Dunwoodie on Ravenette (StFYC) came into the regatta as the odds-on favorite in the J/88 fleet, and did not disappoint. He won all but one race, finishing eight points clear of second-placed Speedwell (RYC).
“We have really good crew work,” Dunwoodie tells Latitude. “Lots and lots of hours together that came through for this regatta … the level of competition, even though we did really well, there was a lot of dogfighting going on at places like the top of the course.”
ORC A
Michael Firmin’s Zeus (CYCA/RSYS) dominated ORC A, recording a picket fence. Notably, the ORC A fleet was sent out to Point Bonita on Saturday, marking the first time in 20 years a Big Boat Series race has gone that far out of the Bay.
“It’s a great offshore boat. We’ve been campaigning for about two-and-a-half years,” Firmin tells us. “We loved [going out to Point Bonita] … we love going offshore, so for us, cracking the sheets with a little bit of twist and driving the boat hard through heavy swells, the boat performs really well. Once we got around the windward can we went straight down and launched that puppy.”
ORC B
The only ORC division to be racing for a Rolex was won by Peter Wagner’s J/111 Skeleton Key (StFYC), besting two Cape 31s to claim victory.
“Friday was a challenging day; the Capes are always a handful for us,” Wagner tells us. “They really showed their form on that day, but it was great to be able to bounce back and get our act together on Saturday and Sunday … the boats were well sailed; there were a lot of really close races. Four of the races were decided by five seconds or less, so I think that the ORC system is working well.”
ORC C
ORC C was won by Zach Berkowitz and his team on Feather for the second year in a row. Despite having a shorter waterline than every other boat in the fleet, Berkowitz kept Feather fast and consistent, and spent long portions of races beating boats with longer waterlines than his, boat to boat.
“It’s always fun to sail against guys like Peregrine, with Tad Lacey, who was my sailing instructor,” Berkowitz says. “I’ve got a great mix of young and old people on the boat. Two guys over 60, myself and Chris Steinfeld. We’ve got two guys in their 30s, and I’ve got two guys in their 20s, and it’s the kids, Hoel Menard and Max Roth, that are very active in sailing and they’re bringing their racing experience to the team, and it’s a great gel.”
You can find the full results of the 2025 Rolex Big Boat Series here, and more in-depth coverage of the regatta will be coming out in the October issue of Latitude 38.
Oakland Dons the Gloves for Saturday’s California Coastal Cleanup Day
Oakland is set to receive two cleanups across September and October, with the first taking place this coming Saturday, September 20. Hosted by I Heart Oakland-Alameda, the City of Oakland, California Coastal Cleanup, and event partners and supporters East Bay Rowing Club, Oakland Ballers, Open Water and Keep Oakland Beautiful, Saturday’s cleanup coincides with the city’s Creek to Bay Day Cleanup and California Coastal Cleanup Day.
“We invite you on a Grand-Garbage-Go-Getting-Adventure, connect with nature, protect and clean the Oakland Shores, Estuary Park, and Jack London Aquatic Center,” I Heart Oakland-Alameda (IHOAE) writes on the event’s webpage.
All volunteers are required to sign in between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m., and sign a waiver. Next is a safety talk, after which everyone will be assigned into teams. The cleanup itself will take place from 10:45 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.
EVENT MUST HAVES: Wear shoes with sturdy soles to protect your feet when you walk the park and shoreline. Please bring water, snacks, sunscreen, an extra layer and mask. We’ll have cleanup supplies on site, but feel free to bring your own gloves/buckets/bags if you’d rather use your own! See full details here.
Next month, on October 12, IHOAE and partners will host the Paddle/SUP Shore Cleanup. This cleanup will be both on shore and on the water. “We need people with kayak/SUP experience. Message the organizer at [email protected] or text 5102834224.” Learn more here.
Although it’s not specifically a cleanup event, you could also answer the call for “Adventurous Paddlers Wanted for Citizen Science.”
“We’re seeking water stewards 🏄🏾♀️ with paddling experience and a passion for protecting our estuary. IHOAE will provide training in shore-monitoring procedures as we gear up for Oakland Estuary–focused citizen science. 🦆” Contact [email protected] for more information.
California Coastal Cleanup Day is the country’s largest annual volunteer event and has been running for over 40 years. Each September volunteers remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash from the state’s beaches, lakes, and waterways. People will be out and about all along California’s shores taking trash out of the environment to protect wildlife and preserve our natural spaces. This year’s cleanup on Saturday, September 20, will become the world’s largest scavenger hunt. Special “trash” items will be hidden at cleanup sites all across the state. If you find one of them, you can redeem it for valuable prizes!
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Will Sailing Feature in the 23rd Annual Ocean Film Festival?
We always look forward to attending the Fort Mason screenings of the San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival. The films feature incredible videos of marine life, exotic locations, and amazing people and cultures on the water. However, we have rarely seen sailing films at the festival. We know they exist, but we’re not sure they get submitted for consideration. If you’re a sailing videographer, consider submitting your sailing film(s) to the International Ocean Film Festival. The early deadline is October 12.
The International Ocean Film Foundation will host its annual flagship three-day event on April 10–12 at the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason. It’s recognized as the premier ocean-centric film festival of its kind in the world despite limited attention to sailing. Imagine how well-recognized the festival would be if it featured some of the amazing sailing videography that’s out there.
Lots of great video (and photos and stories) came from the past week’s Rolex Big Boat Series.
The films are curated to entertain audiences, but more importantly, to educate and encourage active participation in ocean-specific environmental efforts and better ocean stewardship. They’re described as covering ocean adventure, exploration, science, marine life, ocean sports and coastal cultures. There’s lots of material about ocean cruising, racing, sailing as a sustainable alternative, and sailing as a platform to gain an intimate connection to the other 30% of the planet. We’d love to see your sailing film next April.
Submit your film by October 12 so we can all watch it next spring.
P.S. Forward this story to your favorite sailing video blogger or videographer.
Cal Maritime Academy Transpac Team Silences Doubters
The 2025 Transpac featured plenty of great stories, including that of the Cal Poly Maritime Academy sailing team. The “Keelhaulers” competed on Oaxaca — a Santa Cruz 50 donated to the program in late 2024 — in the Cabrillo Boat Shop Division Five with five other boats. When all the results were tallied, they finished fourth in their division and 34th overall on corrected time. Oaxaca‘s elapsed time was 10:22:47:17, with a corrected time of 9:22:05:10.
The team consisted mostly of current Cal Maritime students, with several recently graduated alumni aboard, including Max Roth, who graduated in 2024 and served as the team’s primary helmsman.
“This is a very special race for me,” Roth told Latitude. “I’m finishing at my home yacht club with family and friends there. Diamond Head buoy is my training ground. That’s where I grew up Laser sailing as a kid and watching all the [Transpac] boats coming in. It was my childhood dream to skipper the race. My dad used to tell me bedtime stories about me finishing a Transpac — it’s very special for me living my childhood dream at such a young age.”
Cyrus Khaleeli, another recent graduate and one of Oaxaca’s navigators, said this year’s Transpac was special for him for the exact opposite reason from Max’s. “My home yacht club is where we left from. I watched people start the Transpac and knew I wanted to do it sometime in my life. Being able to do that, and this time as navigator, was a new experience for me. There was definitely some uncertainty. Finishing it was, like, ‘Wow, I can do this.’ It was an immensely proud moment.”
Oaxaca‘s team featured many sailors making their first-ever crossing. Among these was 19-year-old Oscar Perry, a native of San Francisco who just completed his freshman year at Cal Maritime.
“The main highlight was just being able to live sailing,” Perry told us. “That was pretty awesome, for lack of a better word. I was getting up from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. and sailing downwind and down waves as the sun came up. It was a sigh of relief to cross Diamond Head buoy.” Perry hadn’t had a lot of offshore sailing experience prior to the race, but was pleased to have been part of the crew. “Seeing myself and the team come together like that was amazing.”
Both Roth and Khaleeli emphasized that watching the younger sailors and first-time Transpac participants grow into their roles was one of the highlights of the race.
“A Well MISSPENT Youth” by Ben Needly
