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Rolex Big Boat Series - Consistency pays on Day 2 in San Francisco

by Meredith Laitos on 17 Sep 2016
- Day 2 Rolex Big Boat Series, San Francisco Rolex/Daniel Forster/Rolex Big Boat Series http//:www.rolexbigboatseries.com
Consistency has been the name of the game in nearly every class after the first two days of racing at the 52nd Rolex Big Boat Series.

After yesterday’s opening day in grey conditions, today saw the marine layer over San Francisco Bay burn off early and that enabled the westerly breeze to increase into the 20s by the end of racing. With an ebb tide running in the afternoon, a short chop kicked up that made the downwind leg to the finish off the St. Francis Yacht Club a wild ride with broaches aplenty.

All class leaders, however, continued the consistent form that propelled them to the top of their class yesterday. The only crew to continue to post all firsts is Kame Richards’s (Alameda, Calif.) Golden Moon in the Express 37 Class. Golden Moon has four points, good for a nine-point lead over Bartz Schneider’s (Crystal Bay, Nev.) Expeditious.

After winning both of yesterday’s races, David Halliwill’s (New York, N.Y.) Peregrine finished second in today’s first race followed by a first in the second race and leads the J/120 Class by three points over Barry Lewis’s (Atherton, Calif.) Chance, which has a three – two – one - two scoreline.

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In the Sportboat division, Daniel Thielman’s (San Francisco, Calif.) Kuai (Melges 32) finished one - two today and now holds a one-point lead over Paul Dorsey’s (San Francisco, Calif.) Gentoo (Soto 30), which has a two – one – three - one scoreline. Thielman has competed in the Rolex Big Boat Series for eight years with a variety of boats, from a Melges 20 to a Reichel/Pugh 44. He says Kuai, which he notes means “fast” in Chinese, is a fantastic all-around boat.

“The Melges 32 has a big rig and is super light. We crush it in light air,” said Thielman. “When the breeze is on the competition is closer. We’ve just been working every puff and keeping upright. We saw a few boats on their side today in the strong wind.”

Tony Pohl’s (Alamo, Calif.) Twisted leads the California 40 Class with eight points on finishes of two – three – one - two, good for a two-point lead over Michael Shlens’ (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) Blade II. Shlens’ crew finished one - one on the water yesterday, but had to take a scoring penalty in Race two, which dropped it to second for the race.

Victor Wild’s (San Diego, Calif.) Fox leads ORR A with five points on a scoreline of one – one – two - one. The Pac 52 design is similar to a TP52, only faster, said tactician Gavin Brady. “We’re lighter, have more sail area and a higher righting moment than the TP52s,” said Brady. “We hope to have four of these designs racing on the West Coast next year.”


The only crew to upend Wild so far has been Sy Kleinman’s (Saratoga, Calif.) Swiftsure II (Schumacher 54), which won today’s first race. Kleinman, who has participated in the Rolex Big Boat Series since 1980, is in his 90s and hasn’t raced yet this year, but is expected aboard tomorrow. Filling his place at the helm this week is Steve Taft, who is racing in his 42nd Rolex Big Boat Series.

“I’ve done everything from bow to back of the bus,” said Taft. “We’re having an OK week. There’s no way we’ll be able to catch the Pac 52—on a windy reach they can make up all their time on us—but we’re winning the battle for second.”

The J/70 Class continues to be a battle between Julian Fernandez Neckelmann’s (Valle de Bravo, Mexico) Flojito y Cooperando and Joel Ronning’s (Excelsior, Minn.) Catapult. Led by world champion tacticians Bill Hardesty and John Kostecki, respectively, the two crews are tied with nine points, each with three firsts and three seconds. Flojito y Cooperando, however, won the final race and therefore holds the tiebreak advantage.

These two crews have connections that run deeper than San Francisco Bay, and the thread is Hardesty. Hardesty sailed with Catapult for two years, including the inaugural J/70 Worlds three years ago. He also was tactician for Neckelmann last year when he won the J/70 Worlds. Additionally, Hardesty raced Lasers against Neckelmann 20 years ago, when both were training for the Olympics.


Hardesty said that whoever gets to the right side of the racecourse on the Berkeley Circle and rounds the windward mark in the lead is able to extend. “I think there’s a shaft of wind coming off of Angel Island that makes the right favorable,” he said.

Besides watching the wind, Hardesty has been keeping a close eye on Kostecki. “He’s sailed here all his life. He knows this place like no one else,” said Hardesty. “So if I see he’s tacking one way or the other, we’re going to tack soon after.”

Flojito won the day’s final race in such fashion. “We lined up to start at the boat end but had a general recall,” said Hardesty. “We saw that Kostecki was starting at the pin end. So in the second start we were at the pin end. We had a long beat all the way across the Bay to the city front. Because we started at the pin we were able to nose into the ebb tide first and then just got swept out the Bay. Good thing we had a general recall.”

In the J/105 Class, Rick Goebel’s (San Diego, Calif.) Sanity overtook the lead from Ryan Simmons’s (Sausalito, Calif.) Blackhawk. Simmons won both races yesterday but placed 12th in today’s first race and third in the second while Goebel finished three - five. Although Goebel is the only class leader to not win a race, he leads with 12 points to Simmons’s 17.


Goebel is another veteran racer at the Rolex Big Boat Series, but hasn’t competed here since 2011. In fact, his history on San Francisco Bay stretches back to the mid-1980s when he was a crewman for the Canada II syndicate for the America’s Cup and they were in town training against Tom Blackaller’s USA syndicate.

Goebel trailered his boat to San Francisco from San Diego because they’re ultimately headed to the East Coast for the J/105 Nationals later next month and needed practice. As he noted, eight of the 26 entrants are past class winners.
“It’s a ton of fun to travel to San Francisco and race in the big breeze,” said Goebel, who’s originally from Edmonton, Canada. “It’s a different world here from San Diego, with the waves and chop. You always have to be conscious of the current. There are some areas that are hard to handle under the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s like a washing machine.”

Racing resumes tomorrow beginning at 11 am PST.

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2016 Rolex Big Boat Series - Preliminary Cumulative Results

   



Bow Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race
1
Race
2
Race
3
Race
4
Race
5
Race
6
Total
Rolex Big Boat Series Racing

One Design Division


J 70


1.
  MEX 384 Flojito Y Cooperando J/70 Julian Fernandez Neckelmann 2 2 1 1 2 1 9.0


2.
  USA 187 Catapult J/70 Joel Ronning 1 1 2 2 1 2 9.0


3.
  USA 370 Jennifer J/70 Chris Kostanecki 8 10 6 3 6 5 38.0


4.
  USA 353 Heartbreaker J/70 Robert Hughes 4 3 3 5 14 14 43.0


5.
  USA 32 USA32 J/70 Shawn Bennett 3 5 4 25 8 4 49.0


6.
  USA 369 Cool Story Bro. J/70 Snow Brigden 7 9 5 11 12 6 50.0


7.
  USA 348 USA348 J/70 Tom Kassberg 10 12 9 20 3 3 57.0


8.
Doyle Sailmakers  USA 179 Africa J/70 Jud Smith 14 16 7 6 7 10 60.0


9.
  USA 96 Savasana J/70 Brian Keane 11 4 8 8 4 30 65.0


10.
  USA 585 Running Wild J/70 Peter Vessella 5 11/RDG 11 13 19 8 67.0


11.
  USA 534 1FA (Corinthian) J/70 Scott Sellers 9 8 17 18 10 17 79.0


12.
  USA 375 Lickity Split J/70 Stanley Edwards 28 7 10 9 5 25 84.0


13.
  USA 51 Black River Racing J/70 Douglas Strebel 17 14 18 7 16 18 90.0


14.
  MEX 415 Flojito y Cooperando II J/70 Jorge Murrieta / Luis Telles 21 11 25 4 15 15 91.0


15.
  USA 95 MUSE J/70 Joe Bardenheier / Heather Gregg 12 19 15 21 20 9 96.0


16.
  USA 34 Perseverance J/70 Bennet Greenwald 6 21 13 26 9 22 97.0


17.
  USA 94 Lifted J/70 Jim Cunningham 19 18 19 15 17 11 99.0


18.
  USA 29 Prime Number J/70 Peter Cameron 16 26 22 22 11 7 104.0


19.
  USA 389 Hooligan: Flat Stanley Racing J/70 Trey Sheehan 22 20 12 17 22 12 105.0


20.
  USA 240 Stampede J/70 Pasquinelli Bruno 13 17 14 23 13 29 109.0


21.
  USA 380 Pied Piper J/70 Gannon Troutman 18 6 16 28 21 27 116.0


22.
  AUS 007 Vamos J/70 Tim Ryan 26 24 30 12 23 16 131.0


23.
  USA 58 3 Big Dogs (Corinthian) J/70 Pat Toole 15 27 23 16 26 24 131.0


24.
  MEX 401 Vincitore J/70 Ricardo Brockmann 23 28 24 10 28 19 132.0


25.
  USA 347 Sugoi (Corinthian) J/70 Chris Raab/Dale Williams 27 13 20 19 29 31 139.0


26.
  CHI 687 Black Sails J/70 Per Von Appen 31 22 29 14 18 26 140.0


27.
  USA 582 Rampage (Corinthian) J/70 Tom Thayer 32 25 26 27 31 13 154.0


28.
  USA 351 CAKE J/70 Scott Deardorff 24 23 27 24 25 32 155.0


29.
  USA 060 Flotek J/70 Justin Foox 25 29 28 29 30 20 161.0


30.
  USA 898 Christine Robbin (Corinthian) J/70 Tracy Usher 20 37/DNF 37/DNS 31 27 21 173.0


31.
  MEX 680 Bala J/70 Yon Belausteguigoitia 29 37/DNF 21 37/DNF 24 28 176.0


32.
  AUS 7071 Juno J/70 Reg Lord 30 31 31 30 32 23 177.0


33.
  USA 584 Wingman Racing (Corinthian) J/70 Jim Diepenbrock 33 30 34 34 35 33 199.0


34.
  USA 371 Spitfire J/70 Tyler Karaszewski 35 32 32 32 33 35 199.0


35.
  USA 306 Velocite J/70 Pete Woodhouse 34 33 33 33 34 34 201.0


36.
  CAY 580 Powerplay Racing J/70 Peter Cunningham 37/DNC 37/DNC 37/DNC 37/DNC 37/DNC 37/DNC 222.0
 


J 105


1.
  USA 88 Sanity J/105 Rick Goebel 2 2 3 5

12.0


2.
  USA 40 Blackhawk J/105 Ryan Simmons 1 1 12 3

17.0


3.
  USA 119 Mojo J/105 Jeff Littfin 3 8 8 2

21.0


4.
  USA 116 Arbitrage J/105 Bruce Stone 7 9 2 4

22.0


5.
Quantum Sails  USA 44 Godot J/105 Phillip Laby 15 3 7 1

26.0


6.
Quantum Sails  USA 216 Perseverance J/105 Stephen Kent 6 13 1 6

26.0


7.
  USA 149 jabberwocky J/105 brent vaughan 9 5 5 14

33.0


8.
  USA 26 Donkey Jack J/105 Shannon Ryan / Rolf Kaiser 4 16/SCP 10 7

37.0


9.
  USA 434 Jam Session J/105 Adam Spiegel 10 6 11 10

37.0


10.
  USA 196 Risk J/105 Jason Woodley / Scott Whitney 11 10 9 8

38.0


11.
North Sails  USA 16 Akula J/105 Doug Bailey 8 4 15 16

43.0


12.
  USA 266 Wonder J/105 Tom Kennelly 5 27/BFD 4 9

45.0


13.
Quantum Sails  USA 388 Hazardous Waste J/105 Chuck Cihak 16 14 6 15

51.0


14.
  USA 431 Spartan J/105 Pat Doyle 14 12 17 12

55.0


15.
  USA 84 Advantage3 J/105 Pat Benedict 12 7 18 19

56.0


16.
Quantum Sails  USA 112 007 J/105 Justin Hersh 13 11 14 18

56.0


17.
  USA 28447 Big Buoys J/105 Peter Colin Baldwin Miller 25 20 13 13

71.0


18.
  USA 405 moonshine J/105 David Mace 18 27/DNF 19 11

75.0


19.
  USA 355 Yunona J/105 Artem Savinov 17 27/BFD 16 17

77.0


20.
  USA 394 Javelin J/105 Charlie Abraham 22 16 20 20

78.0


21.
  USA 157 Walloping Swede J/105 Theresa Brandner 21 15 22 24

82.0


22.
Quantum Sails  USA 147 JuJu J/105 Tim Sullivan 19 22/RDG 26 21

88.0


23.
Quantum Sails  USA 342 Nirvana J/105 David Gross 23 18 24 25

90.0


24.
  USA 319 Lightwave J/105 Simon James 20 27/BFD 21 22

90.0


25.
  USA 85 Russian Roulette J/105 William Woodruff 27/DSQ 17 25 23

92.0


26.
North Sails  USA 562 Special K / Frisky J/105 Don DeLoatch 24 19 23 27/DNS

93.0
 


J 120


1.
  USA 25487 Peregrine J/120 David Halliwill 1 1 2 1

5.0


2.
  USA 28484 Chance J/120 Barry Lewis 3 2 1 2

8.0


3.
  USA 28289 Mr. Magoo J/120 Stephen Madeira 2 3 3 3

11.0


4.
North Sails  USA 153 Kookaburra J/120 Tom Grennan 4 5 4 4

17.0


5.
  USA 28442 Twist J/120 Timo Bruck 5 4 5 5

19.0
 


C&C 30


1.
  USA 30009 Extreme2 C&C 30 Dan Cheresh 2 1 1 1

5.0


2.
  USA 11 tiburon C&C 30 Steve Stroub 1 4 2 4

11.0


3.
  USA 28 Invisible Hand C&C 30 Frank Slootman 4 3 3 2

12.0


4.
  USA 30026 Don't Panic C&C 30 Julian Mann 5 2 4 5

16.0


5.
Ullman Sails  USA 004 Loco C&C 30 Edwin Feo 3 5 6/DNF 3

17.0
 


Express 37


1.
  USA 18488 Golden Moon Express 37 Kame Richards 1 1 1 1

4.0


2.
  USA 18478 Expeditious Express 37 Bartz Schneider 4 2 5 2

13.0


3.
  USA 87700 Elan Express 37 Jack Peurach 5 3 2 3

13.0


4.
  USA 18278 Stewball Express 37 Robert Harford 2 4 4 4

14.0


5.
  USA 18410 Loca Motion Express 37 MarkHeidi Chaffey 3 5 3 5

16.0


6.
  USA 40311 Bullet Express 37 Laurence Baskin 7 6 6 6

25.0


7.
  USA 18257 Phat Jack Express 37 Robert Lugliani 6 7 7 7

27.0
 


California 40


1.
  USA 40046 Twisted Farr 40 M. Tony POHL 2 3 1 2

8.0


2.
  USA 37 Blade II Farr 40 Michael Shlens 1 2/SCP 4 3

10.0


3.
  USA 1211 Coquille Farr 40 Gary Ezor 3 7/DNF 2 1

13.0


4.
  USA 50060 Foil Farr 40 Gordon Leon 4 2 3 5

14.0


5.
  USA 69 Cal Maritime Farr 40 W. Greg Clark 5 4 5 4

18.0


6.
  USA 888 White Knight Farr 40 Zoltan Katinszky 7/DNC 7/DNC 7/DNC 7/DNC

28.0
 
 

PHRF Division


PHRF Sportboat


1. 76   USA 7676 Kuai Melges 32 Daniel Thielman 1 2 1 2

6.0


2.
  USA 001 Gentoo Soto 30 Paul Dorsey 2 1 3 1

7.0


3.
  USA 75 M Squared J/88 Marc McMorris 5 3 4 3

15.0


4.
  USA 15 Cento Miglia Flying Tiger 10M Mark Kennedy 4 5 2 5.5

16.5


5.
  USA 6 Racer X Farr 36 OD Gary Redelberger 3 4 7 4

18.0


6.
  USA 3 Wicked Sister Farr 36 OD Richard Courcier 8 7 6 7

28.0


7.
  USA 77 Courageous J/88 Gary Panariello 9 10/RET 5 5.5

29.5


8.
  USA 23 White Shadow J/88 Jim Hopp 7 6 9 8

30.0


9.
  USA 125 Intruder Melges 32 Greg Dyer 6 10/DNF 8 9

33.0
 
 

ToT Division


ORR A


1.
  USA 55052 Fox Pac52 Victor Wild 1 1 2 1

5.0


2.
  USA 16 Swiftsure Schumacher 54 Sy Kleinman 2 4 1 4

11.0


3.
  USA 28474 ELYXIR Santa Cruz 52 Skip Ely 5 2 3 3

13.0


4.
  USA 8956 Octavia Santa Cruz 50 Shepard Kett 4 3 4 2

13.0


5.
  USA 97263 Deception Santa Cruz 50 William Helvestine 7 5 6 5

23.0


6.
  USA 48005 Bodacious + 1D 48 John Clauser 3 8/DNF 5 8/DNF

24.0


7.
  USA 8927 Oaxaca Santa Cruz 50 Michael Moradzadeh 6 6 7 8/DNF

27.0
 


ORR B


1.
  USA 51517 Resolute J/125 Tim Fuller 2 1 4 1

8.0


2.
  USA 11139 Topzy Turvy J/111 Peter Wagner 1 4 1 4

10.0


3.
  USA 400 Rock & Roll Farr 400 Bernard Girod 4 2 5 2

13.0


4.
  USA 7065 Timeshaver J/125 Viggo Torbensen 5 3 6 3

17.0


5.
  USA 103 Bad Dog J/111 Dick Swanson 6 5 3 5

19.0


6.
  USA 94 Double Digit J/111 Gorkem Ozcelebi 3 6 7 6

22.0


7.
  USA 101 Swift Ness J/111 Nesrin Basoz 7 7 2 7

23.0
 


ORR C


1.
  USA 52002 Audacity Morris Yachts M52 Scott Kokka 1 1 3 1

6.0


2.
  USA 28900 Scorpio Wylie 42 James Mullarney 2 2 1 3

8.0


3.
  USA 3632 Encore Sydney 36 CR Wayne Koide 3 4 5 2

14.0


4.
  USA 4216 Elusive Swan 42 Club Thomas Furlong 5 3 2 4

14.0


5.
  USA 43690 TNT Tripp 43 Cal Maritime 7 5 4 6

22.0


6.
  US 39 Dare Dare Jeanneau SunFast 3200 Nicolas Popp 4 8 7 5

24.0


7.
  USA 56456 Lugano Beneteau First 40.7 mark Stratton 6 6 6 10/DNF

28.0


8.
  USA 3883 Zamazaan Custom Farr 52 Greg Mullins 8 7 8 7.5

30.5


9.
  USA 93714 Victoire Beneteau First 40.7 Robert Atkins 9 9 9 7.5

34.5
 


Multihull - BAMA


1.
  USA 02 Orion MOD 70 Tom Siebel 1 1 3 1

6.0


2.
  USA SmartRecruiters SmartRecruiters Extreme 40 Jerome Ternynck 3 2 1 2

8.0


3.
  USA 007 MA'S ROVER Corsair F-31r mark eastham 6 3 4 3

16.0


4.
  USA 74 Wingit F27 Amy Wells 7 5 2 9/DNF

23.0


5.
  28557 Cumbia Corsair F-27 Juan Tellez 9/DNC 4 5 9/DNF

27.0


6.
  USA 1 Miller Racing Marstrom 32 Randy Miller 2 9/DNF 9/DNC 9/DNC

29.0


7.
North Sails  USA 201 Trident Corsair 31R Damien Campbell 5 9/DNF 6 9/DNF

29.0


8.
  USA 1350 Aston Harald Marstrom 32 Ravi Parent 4 9/DNF 9/DNC 9/DNC

31.0
 
2016 Rolex Big Boat Series - Corinthian Teams - Preliminary Cumulative Results




Bow Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race
1
Race
2
Race
3
Race
4
Race
5
Race
6
Total
Rolex Big Boat Series Racing

One Design Division


J 70


1.
  USA 534 1FA J/70 Scott Sellers 9 8 17 18 10 17 79.0


2.
  USA 58 3 Big Dogs J/70 Pat Toole 15 27 23 16 26 24 131.0


3.
  USA 347 Sugoi J/70 Chris Raab/Dale Williams 27 13 20 19 29 31 139.0


4.
  USA 582 Rampage J/70 Tom Thayer 32 25 26 27 31 13 154.0


5.
  USA 898 Christine Robbin J/70 Tracy Usher 20 37/DNF 37/DNS 31 27 21 173.0


6.
  USA 584 Wingman Racing J/70 Jim Diepenbrock 33 30 34 34 35 33 199.0
 
 
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