Big Boat Series Recap

The 2008 Rolex Big Boat Series is in the books, and after four days and seven races, a lot of familiar names ended up at the top of the heap. With a win in the final race John Kilroy Jr.’s Botin and Carkeek TP 52 Samba Pa Ti took IRC A with the help of tactician Morgan Reeser, strategist Russ Silvestri and navigator Nick White, finishing one point clear of Jim Mitchell’s chartered R/P IRC 52 Vincitore.

Never finishing worse than second over seven races, Brad Copper sailed his Pt. Richmond-based Tripp 43 TNT to a first in yesterday’s final race to win IRC B with the help of team coach and tactician Brian Ledbetter.

Manhattan Beach’s Dave Kirby was aided on tactics for the second year running by Norman Davant, and for the second year in a row it proved to be a winning combination in IRC C, where they sailed Kirby’s TKO to a nine-point win.

At last year’s Big Boat Series, Redwood City’s Mike Garl and his Beneteau 40.7 White Dove were a fraction of a second away from a Rolex. This year, IRC D was thought to be excluded from the ‘watch list’ but that didn’t deter Garl and tactician John Stewart from racking up a two-point win, and Garl’s thoughtful crew presenting him with a dime-store timepiece to commemorate the win. But not only did Garl win IRC D and a Rolex, but his performance also earned him the 2008 Northern California IRC Series championship.

Gary Boell’s Richmond-based Diabalita took the 1D35 class with first in the final race when regatta leader Mario Yovkov and his Great Sensation finished fifth. It wasn’t all bad for Yovkov though, as his spinnaker marriage proposal to fiance Elizabeth Gaynor was accepted.

The Melges 32s were decided on a tiebreaker between John Porter’s Full Throttle and Pieter Taselaar’s Bliksem, with Porter and tactician Harry Melges winning the nine-boat class and a Rolex to go with it.

Ed Durbin proved once again why he’s the king of the Beneteau 36.7 class, coasting to a three-point win with Mistral in the class’ Big Boat Series debut.

Bartz Schneider sailed his Expeditious to a convincing win in the Express 37 division, finishing 10 points clear of Steve Brown’s Brown Sugar.

Barry Lewis’ Chance won the J/120 division in the last race, putting two boats between it and regatta leader Steve Madeira’s Mr. Magoo to finish a point ahead.

Unfortunately, the regatta’s largest division wasn’t won on the water. Chris Perkins and Dave Wilson’s Good Timin’ took the J/105 title after on-the-water winner Donkey Jack was chucked by a Race Committee protest for failing to heed the directions of an escort vessel in a commercial traffic crossing, despite the fact that the ship’s pilot never made the five sound signals — which is an automatic DSQ and a hefty fine.

Full results are at www.stfyc.org, and more of the great stories that come out of an event this good, can be found in October’s Latititude 38.