Alessio and Kleinman Regatta
St. Francis YC’s annual three-day Aldo Alessio Regatta was established in 1992 through an endowment by Aldo Alessio, who was the club’s commodore in 1970. The Alessio trophy was awarded for Friday’s ocean race, a jaunt out the Gate and back.
Winning the ORR division, and thus the perpetual trophy, was Sy Kleinman’s Schumacher 54 Swiftsure II. Photographer Chris Ray reports that Friday was breezy and foggy and featured a big flood current. "All the competitors save one, Swiftsure II, went right looking for relief. While the fleet was apparently trying to visit the Lime Point Lighthouse, nestled under the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, with mixed success, Swiftsure II went left to the beach and steamed out the Gate in fine style to grab line honors for the ORR division some 21+ miles later."
On the weekend, racing continued on buoy courses inside the Bay in the Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta. The Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Cup was awarded to the ORR boat with the best overall performance in the buoy races. That boat was James Mullarney’s Wylie 42 Scorpio.
The only one-design class consisted of 19 J/105s. Phillip Laby’s Godot topped that fleet, followed by Ryan Simmons’ Blackhawk and Bruce Stone’s Arbitrage. The newest hot class on the Bay, the C&C 30s, failed to achieve critical mass for their own division but raced in PHRF. Daniel Thielman’s new-to-him 2006 Melges 32 Kuai corrected out on top of the other seven PHRF boats, and Frank Slootman’s Invisible Hand beat the other two C&C 30s.
