Little Boat Weekend Racing Wrap-up

John Liebenberg proved on Saturday that age and wisdom never miss an opportunity to beat up on youth, when he beat 31 other El Toros to win the 58th Annual Bullship Race. The 70-year-old Liebenberg may have taken only 50 minutes to get from Sausalito across the slot to the San Francisco Marina, but all it took to beat the 30-something runner-up Will Paxton, was about 10 seconds. After trailing Paxton most of the way across, a little extra in the bank helped Liebenberg slingshot past Paxton just in the nick of time.

“I started on the shore, stayed on shore to the Point, then stayed right," Liebenberg said. "Will went further left because he expected ebb and did not find the ebb that he found at other times. Will had a 20-30 second lead when we separated.”

In third was the first woody, recently built, and sailed by, Jim Savatone, whose autopilot-style tactics were founded on a very simple precept.

“Followed Will is what I did," Savatone said. "You pick a mentor and stay with him.”

His mentor is a third his age. Last year’s winner Max Fraser put off his trip back to Connecticut where he’s conducting a 29er Clinic.Why?

“Perfect conditions 4-8 knots of breeze and flat water," Fraser said. "You could see the Gate; there was no fog. I didn’t have to do a single tack or jibe the entire race. My one saving grace was I stayed inside the current line. I’ve gotten swept out the Gate, and also won this race so my goal was somewhere in between."

Paxton won the cold and rainy ’09 race while his dad Fred was second that year. On Saturday the elder Paxton was way back. He ended-up camped out with Chris Nash near Alcatraz.

“We looked real good for about 2 minutes," Fred Paxton said. "I didn’t listen to my kid.”

This Bullship is a family-and-friends affair, word gets out fast. Even before the awards celebration, Teresa Paxton passed texted congratulations from her daughter, Julia, at the New York Maritime Academy to her nephew, Will. Julia  probably then texted David Liebenberg about his Dad’s victory, which David probably passed to his mom, sailing the Vallejo Race. In spite of all this instant communication, the guy taking finishes didn’t have a watch out, so we’ll never know if Liebenberg actually broke John Amen’s “46-minutes-and-change” elpased-time record. — John Dukat

Emma Creighton Finishes the Select — After a long hiatus following last year’s Pacific Cup, Emma Creighton’s campagin to compete in the ’11 Mini Transat got back on the water over the weekend when she raced the opening singlehanded event of the Mini season, the Pornichet Select, finishing 31st. Creighton has proved to be a prolific and timely blogger of her pursuit, and she already has a full report up on her blog with all the details.

College Sailing Semis — College Sailing’s Seminfinals were hosted by USC over the weekend, to determine which 18 teams get to advance to College Nationals from May 30-June 1 at Cascade Locks on the Columbia River. West Coast Schools had a tough go of it, with only Stanford making the cut at 5th out of nine in the Eastern bracket.

Oppies invade — San Francisco YC is hosting the massive Opti Team Trials this week, which start today and run through Sunday, so keep an eye out for the little ones out there!