Rolex Big Boat Series Recap

With some of the wackiest weather in anyone’s recent memory, the St. Francis YC’s 46th Rolex Big Boat Series proved to be a worthy test for all 98 of the boats split between four IRC and five one design divisions. Although the pervasive gray skies and fog that dominated the event did finally break in the afternoons on both Saturday and Sunday, odd and variable breeze directions replaced them, and the result was one of the most visitor-friendly Rolex Big Boat Series in a while.

IRC A came down to a two-boat race in yesterday’s Bay tour between Jim Mitchell’s R/P 52 Vincitore and Jorge Ripstein’s TP 52 Patches. Tied on points going into the race, the pair scrapped in the pre-start with Vincitore getting the upper hand before Patches initiated a tacking duel that saw the two boats rattle off four tacks within a few minutes of the starting line. By the time they’d made their way around their course, Vincitore had managed to put an extra 30 seconds between them and Patches on corrected time for the overall win and the St. Francis Perpetual Trophy.

Dan Woolery’s Pt. Richmond-based King 40 Soozal went on a tear, clinching the regatta on Saturday, but sailing on Sunday anyway and winning both its division and the West Coast IRC Championship for the second year in a row. Woolery took home the City of San Francisco Trophy. In IRC C, the new sportboat division that sailed for the Richard Rheem Perpetual, Dale Williams dedicated his Kernan 44 Wasabi‘s impressive, straight-bullets-win to late boat partner Mike Campbell.

IRC D and the Keefe-Kilborn Perpetual went to Tom Brott’s Long Beach-based J/109 Electra, which bested two-time defending winner Gerry Sheridan’s Elan 40 Tupelo Honey. Electra needed to put only one boat between it and Tupelo Honey to win the regatta, but ended up with two.

The Melges 32s represented the smallest boats at this year’s Rolex Big Boat Series, but drew the largest fleet, and thus qualifying for the Commodre’s Cup, with 27 boats. Twenty-seven-year-old Italian Luca Lalli’s B-lin won the tight division with no local knowledge aboard after dispatching its closest competition in the final race in a class that was replete with America’s Cup, Volvo Race and Olympic talent.

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Sailing over half the regatta in a borrowed boat, Bruce Stone’s San Francisco-based Arbitrage beat 23 other J/105s for the Atlantic Perpetual Trophy in the regatta’s second-biggest division. Kame Richards and Bill Bridge’s Golden Moon repeated as the Express 37 champion on the strength of four bullets, while Don Payan’s Dayenu — always a contender — won the J/120 division. Oakland’s Jonathan Hunt wrapped up the 1D35 title on Saturday aboard Dark and Stormy. As always, this is just a recap, and there were plenty more great stories to come out of the West Coast’s premier big boat regatta. You’ll find those in the October issue of Latitude 38. In the meantime, make sure to check out the Melges 32 Worlds at St. Francis YC from Wednesday through Saturday.