The 2026 Rolex Big Boat Series at St. Francis Yacht Club
Perhaps the annual highlight of sailboat racing on San Francisco Bay is the St. Francis Yacht Club’s (StFYC) Rolex Big Boat Series (RBBS) in September every year. The 2026 edition featured 81 different boats and more than 700 sailors racing on San Francisco Bay, across eight different divisions.
Racing took place from September 17 through 20, and the regatta saw a variety of conditions, excellent seamanship, tight racing and several wild parties. The eight fleets were the classic yachts making their triumphant return after a one-year hiatus, three one-designs (J/105, Express 37 and J/88) and four ORC fleets. Of note, the regatta saw a much higher ORC turnout than it had in recent years, with the event also serving as the 2026 ORC North American Championship.
This year’s regatta featured several new twists, with the ORC boats sailing in an ocean race on day one of racing (on different courses depending on the ORC fleet), and the one-designs sailing several more races than in previous years.
J/105 – Winner: Niuhi, Randy Hecht, SFYC
The J/105 fleet has consistently been the largest fleet at RBBS, one-design or other, over the past few decades. The 2026 RBBS was no different in that it drew 30 J/105s to the starting line. With the size and competitiveness of the J/105 fleet, the winner is normally awarded one of the Rolexes up for grabs at the event, but that was not the case this year as the two Rolexes went to the ORC A and ORC C fleets. This likely had something to do with the fact that the regatta served as the ORC North Americans.
What was new for the fleet was the number of races: Instead of the seven races that had been the norm in recent years, the J/105 class (and all of the other one-design classes) raced 10 races across four days — three each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and one Bay Tour race on Sunday to wrap up the regatta. The fleet was as competitive as ever, as shown by the fact that across the 10 races, seven different boats won. With that many boats capable of a bullet, and even more capable of a top-three finish, the winner was decided by consistency.
