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Rolex Big Boat Series Begins With a Bang

Dee Smith and the crew of Team Premier smashing downwind yesterday afternoon. Smith said, “We didn’t get the boat here until Tuesday afternoon, we’ll be a little more organized tomorrow.”

© 2011 Sharon Green

After last year’s light, mellow event, the ’11 Rolex Big Boat Series got off to a banner start yesterday. Under sunny skies with breeze that started in the low-teens in the morning and built to the mid to high-20s throughout the day, the 80 or so boats in the fleet had their throttles pegged all day long.

Jim Swartz’ Vesper is nipping at the heels of Ashley Wolfe’s Mayhem.

© 2011 Sharon Green

“I just love sailing here,” said Bill Turpin of the Santa Cruz-based R/P 77 Akela, IRC A’s scratch boat. Turpin’s enthusiasm wasn’t hampered by the fact that the TP52s ended up sailing in the same division and didn’t have any trouble passing the bigger boat downwind. “It’s not that we weren’t sailing well, but the TP52s are fantastic boats and our rating is much higher,” he added. “It’s great to see these grand prix programs here.” The TP 52s are indeed grand prix programs, and it was a local one — Ashley Wolfe’s Mayhem — that carried the day in IRC A with a 2-1 for a one point lead over Jim Swartz’ Vesper. In IRC B, Sy Kleinman’s Schumacher 54 Swiftsure II is tied with Brad Copper’s Tripp 43 TNT. Andy Costello’s J/125 Double Trouble scored two bullets to lead IRC C —aka the “Fast Forties” — which features four of J/Boats cult favorite 40-footers.

“Keel? Check. Rudder? Check. Saildrive? Check. Kite? Hmmmm. Standard Deviation demonstrates the typical downwind experience for many of the Farr 30 sailors.

© 2011 Sharon Green

Don Payan elected to sail in IRC rather than with the rest of the J/120s a year after winning the one design’s division last year, and his Dayenu leads IRC D after a 1-1 yesterday. North Sails’ Pete McCormick was onboard and called the boat, “an IRC crusher.” As a one design, the J/120s unsurprisingly ended up with a three-way tie for first in a division that has been settled on the final run of the final race for three of the last four years. The nine-boat Express 37 division also features a tie between Bartz Schneider’s Expeditious and defending champ Kame Richards’ Golden Moon. Twenty-one J/105s came out and a pair of usual suspects — Scooter Simmons’ Blackhawk, and Ted Conrads, Rolf Kaiser and Shannon Ryan’s Donkey Jack — were tied for first, each with a bullet and a fourth.

Scott Easom’s Eight Ball completely lit-up downwind.

© Sharon Green

Certainly one of the main events, the Farr 30s were an absolute blast to watch sail their three brutalizing, wipeout-marred races on the Circle. With the regatta counting as their World Championships, the Farrs are sailing exclusively on the North Course, and Scott Easom’s Pt. Richmond-based Eight Ball proved to be right at home, finishing a wild day with a 2-4-1 to lead going into today’s racing. “We learned a lot about setup at the pre-worlds earlier in the week,” said crewmember Matt Siddens. “It’s an eleven-race, no-throwout regatta, anything can happen.”

The regatta continues on through Sunday, and although slightly smaller than the last couple year’s events, the vibe on the docks is great, and the action on the water is even better. With great viewing right off the Cityfront, there’s no reason not to come down and check it out!

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With the Ha-Ha entry deadline of the 18th annual Baja Ha-Ha rally rapidly approaching, the number of paid entries have recently surged to 150, with a bunch more expected to be processed in the next few days.
Dozens of boats had an extra long weekend by playing hooky on Friday afternoon.