Trophies awarded at Rolex Big Boat Series

by Susan Maffei Plowden - KPMS on 17 Sep 2007 Today's final race at the Rolex Big Boat Series, called the Bay Tour, set the 112 competing boats on a two-hour pursuit around the Bay ranging in distance from 15.44 nautical miles for the larger IRC handicapped boats to 9.05 miles for the one-design classes.

In the end, six skippers were awarded the St. Francis Yacht Club's six Perpetual Trophies and also presented with Rolex Steel Submariner timepieces in recognition of their achievements.

The St. Francis Perpetual Trophy, dedicated in 1964, is the only one that does not rotate among the classes each year. It was deeded to the premier handicap division, the IRC A class in this 43rd annual regatta. Samba Pa Ti, the new TP52 owned by John Kilroy (Los Angeles, Calif.) won the five-boat division. Roger Sturgeon's (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Rosebud, the STP65 which made its debut here this week, took line honors in today's race and finished second overall. 'Big Boat in 1965 was my first one and since Rolex has been here it has gotten better and better,' said Kilroy, moments before giving his Rolex to crew member Justin Smart, who has sailed with him for the past 31 years.

In the IRC B class, Lani Spund (Los Gatos, Calif.) and his SC52 Kokopelli2 won the City of San Francisco Trophy, one of the two golden spades used to break ground for the Golden Gate Bridge in 1933. Kokopelli2 won the last race and earned the one point needed to break its tie with second-place Rancho Deluxe, the Swan 45 owned by Michael Diepenbrock (Sacramento, Calif.). Third place went to Swiftsure II, owned by Sy Kleinman (Saratoga, Calif.) who counted this as his 27th straight Big Boat regatta.

The Richard Rheem Perpetual Trophy, established in 1972 in his memory of Richard Rheem whose famous yacht Morning Star was the elapsed time winner in the 1949 and 1955 Transpac races to Honolulu, went to Expeditious, in the Express 37 class. By mid-regatta, Bartz Schneider (Crystal Bay, Nev.) took the lead in the 10-boat class, however winning the regatta overall was not as easy as one might think.

'Kame Richards on Golden Moon got three bullets in the first three races and was ahead of us,' said Schneider. 'Then, we won the next three races, so all we had to do today is keep him from getting four boats between us. But, when we came up the city front on the last weather leg he had four boats between us. We had to pass one, at least, to win. We passed two. Believe me, it wasn't over till it was over. We sure didn't make it easy on ourselves. When we crossed the finish line, my whole body went numb, after 20 years of trying!'

Dave Kirby (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) on his J/122 TKO won the Keefe-Kilborn Memorial Trophy. Established in 1976 to honor Harold Keefe and Ray Kilborn, the trophy was awarded to the leader of the IRC C class.

The Atlantic Perpetual Trophy, established in 1978, features the ship's bell of the yacht Atlantic, long-time TransAtlantic Ocean record holder (1905). The bell was donated by John C. 'Jack' Morris, and the trophy by Jack H. Feller Jr. Jean-Yves Lendormy (San Francisco) won it and the IRC D class.

The newest Perpetual Trophy is the Commodore's Cup, established in 2004 to be awarded to the largest one-design fleet. Chris Perkins (San Francisco) won the 34-boat J/105 class on his Good Timin. 'We've had the boat for seven years and we've been lucky enough to win five of those years,' said Perkins. 'Unbelievably, we have won four Rolex watches at Rolex Big Boat Series.'

One of the more exciting finales of the day, Good Timin and Donkey Jack were only six points apart going into today's final race. 'We decided to do whatever they did,' said Perkins of Scott Sellers and his crew on Donkey Jack.

'They got pushed left after the start and we went left. It was scary because we knew right was the way to go. When we rejoined the fleet at Angel Island we were hoping to be in the top 10, but we came in more like 12-14. Scott was in front of us and had the possibility to put some boats in between us. We steadily marched through the fleet; I think we wound up fifth and they were 4th. We're going to celebrate our win tonight at my son Charlie's seventh birthday party.'

Andy Costello (Point Richmond, Calif.) won his second straight Rolex Big Boat Series by besting the seven-boat 1D35 class, while in the Melges 32 class, Philippe Kahn won the six-boat fleet with a remarkable five first place finishes. Jeff Pulford (Coral de Tierra, Calif.) won the six-boat Sydney 38 class.

The 2008 Rolex Big Boat Series will be held September 11-14 at the St. Francis Yacht Club.

Regarded by sailors as one of the world's premier sailboat racing events, the Rolex Big Boat Series joins the list of other prestigious Rolex-sponsored events in 2007: the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, the Rolex TP52 Global Championship and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

www.stfyc.com

Final results - Top 3 in class (112 boats total competed)
Rolex Big Boat Series (Sept. 13-16, 2007) at St. Francis Yacht Club

Position, Boat Name, Boat type, Skipper, Hometown, Race 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, total points

IRC A class (5 boats)
1. Samba Pa Ti, TP52, John Kilroy, Los Angeles, CA, 1-1-2-1-3-2-2, 12 points
2. Rosebud, STP65, Roger Sturgeon, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 2-3-3-2-1-1-1, 13
3. Sjambok, R/P 45, Michael Brennan, Annapolis, MD, 3-2-1-3-2-3-3, 17

IRC B class (10 boats)
1. Kokopelli2, SC52, Lani Spund Los Gatos, CA, 1-3-1-3-1-4-1, 14 points
2. Rancho Deluxe, Swan 45, Michael Diepenbrock, Sacramento, CA, 2-2-3-2-2-2-3, 16
3. Swiftsure, SC52, Sy Kleinman Saratoga, CA, 6-1-2-1-3-3-2, 18

IRC C class (13 boats)
1. TKO, J/122, Dave Kirby Manhattan Beach, CA, 1-2-1-3-1-7-2, 17
2. White Dove, SC52, Mike Garl San Carlos, CA, 2-1-3-2-5-2-3, 18
3. Scorpio, Wylie 42, John Siegel San Francisco, CA, 5-4-5-1-2-3, 27

IRC D class (10 boats)
1. Acabar, Custom 45, Jean-Yves Lendormy, San Francisco, CA, 4-1-2-1-2-1-1, 12 points
2. Tupelo Honey, Elan 40, Gerard Sheridan, San Francisco, CA, 1-2-1-2-1-2-3, 12
3. Mintaka 4, Farr 11.6, Gerry Brown, Sunnyvale, CA, 2-3-5/20%-5-3-4-2, 24

1D35 (7 boats)
1. Double Trouble, Andy Costello, Point Richmond, CA 5-1-1-1-5-1-1, 15 points
2. Shadow, Peter Stoneberg, Belvedere, CA 3-2-2-2-7-2-5, 23
3. Sweet Sensation, Gary Fanger, San Francisco, 4-4-7-3-3-3-3-, 27

Express 37 (10 boats)
1. Expeditious, Bartz Schneider, Crystal Bay, NV, 2-2-4-1-1-1-4, 15 points
2. Golden Moon, Kame Richards, Alameda, CA, 1-1-1-7-4-2-2, 18
3. Elan, Bill Riess, Oakland, CA, 3-3-5-2-2-3-3, 21

J/105 class (34 boats)
1. Good Timin, Chris Perkins, San Francisco, CA, 4-12-11-1-3-1-5, 37 points
2. Donkey Jack, Scott Sellers, San Francisco, CA, 1-20-7-3-5-2-4, 42
3. Brick House, Kristen Lane, Tiburon, CA, 13-14-8-9-8-4-3, 59

J/120 (9 boats)
1. Mr. Magoo, Stephen Madeira, Menlo Park, CA, 4-4-2-3-1-1-5, 20
2. Chance, Barry Lewis, Atherton, CA, 3-1-1-1-4-5-8, 23
3. Dayenu, Donald G. Payan, Hillsborough, CA, 2-5-5-2-5-3-4, 26

Melges 32 (7 boats)
1. Pegasus 32, Philippe Kahn, Santa Cruz, CA, 4-1-1-1-1-1-3, 12
2. Red, Joe Woods, Torquay, U.K., 1-3-3-3-2-2-1, 15
3. Southern Cross, Richard Leslie, San Francisco, CA, 2-2-2-5-4-3-2, 20

Sydney 38 (6 boats)
1. BustinLoose, Jeff Pulford, Coral de Tierra, CA, 1-1-1-3-1-4-1, 12
2. Copernicus, Michael Kennedy, Chicago, IL, 2-2-6-1-3-3-3, 20
3. Howl, Peter Kruger, Reno, NV, 3-5-2-4-2-1-4, 21

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