Rolex Big Boat Series — Building Thrills
Rather the opposite of last year’s edition, the conditions at the 2024 Rolex Big Boat Series ramped up each of the four days of racing, September 12–15. Thursday was the sunniest day and made for pretty pictures. Saturday was the grayest day — the fog never did lift — and freezing cold. And Sunday was full-on madness with big winds and waves. Crew on the Express 37 Pazzo Express (a maiden RBBS team) noted a gust of 38 knots.
The seven divisions raced out of two starting areas, trading back and forth between the North Course and the Treasure Island Course. The race committee set a mark at Point Diablo, allowing for jaunts out west of the Golden Gate Bridge. All divisions except the Classics got in two races on Thursday–Saturday, with one Bay Tour course on Sunday ahead of the awards ceremony. The Classics started off the clubhouse race deck and sailed one race each day.
Host St. Francis Yacht Club was celebrating this 60th edition, and was pleased with the turnout of 70 boats. In 1962, the first year of the regatta, the boats were big but the fleet was a small nine entries.
Classics Division
Classic Cup Perpetual Trophy
Among the biggest boats this year were three classic woodies: Mayan, Hurrica V and Brigadoon. Ocean Queen V had been signed up, but couldn’t make it out of the boatyard in time. Brigadoon suffered gear failure and found wear to the hull (she did turn 100 this year), and thus was unable to complete the series. Scoring a perfect four bullets in four races was the 1947 60-ft Alden schooner Mayan, which essentially match-raced the 100-year-old Hurrica V, a 71-ft Nicholson ketch.
Mayan’s skipper, Beau Vrolyk, tells the tale: “Saturday was the first time we just had two of us on the line. Adam Gamble, the vice commodore, was driving Hurrica V. He’s a good friend of mine, so as soon as I saw him try to hook around behind me, we immediately went into circles. It was like the 1960s in 12-Meters, going round and round at a very slow rate, chasing each other. In the middle of that, our navigator, Chris Lewis, pointed out that we could just break off and hit the starting line. We did, and it was a tremendous amount of fun.”
