Northern California IRC Championship Series

by Storm Trysail Club on 23 May 2008 The Storm Trysail Club and the San Francisco Bay IRC Owners Association have agreed to partner and organize the Northern California IRC Championship Series, which will consist of one popular ocean race and four around-the-buoys weekend regattas.

The 2008 series started in mid-May with the two-day St. Francis Yacht Club Stone Cup Invitational and ends in mid-September with the St. Francis Yacht Club's Rolex Big Boat Series.

'The Storm Trysail Club was one of the early promoters of IRC in this country, and IRC racing actually kicked off in the U.S. right here at the St. Francis Yacht Club's Rolex Big Boat Series,' said local Storm Trysail Club member Jim Gregory. 'so all the pieces have fallen into place quite nicely. IRC has been growing in the region ever since, and a regional IRC series will provide a focus for IRC here.'

Gregory explained that the regattas in the new Northern California IRC Championship Series will consist of the following events:

St. Francis Yacht Club Stone Cup Invitational - 5/17 - 5/18
San Francisco Yacht Club/MPYC Spinnaker Cup (dual-scored IRC/PHRF event) - 5/23
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Big Boat Regatta - 5/31 - 6/1
St. Francis Yacht Club Aldo Alessio Perpetual Trophy Regatta (West Coast IRC Championship) - 8/1 - 8/3 4
St. Francis Yacht Club Rolex Big Boat Series Invitational - 9/11 - 9/14

'The Storm Trysail Club will lend all the support it can to this series,' said John Fisher, the commodore of that national organization, which is for sailors with extensive offshore experience. 'We will be able to offer help marketing the events and assistance recruiting sponsorship. We are pleased to be able to help while growing our involvement in West Coast Sailing.'

Currently there are over 40 boats with IRC certificates in the Northern California region. This past winter, a number of IRC boat owners gathered to form the San Francisco Bay IRC Owners Association and selected a number of existing regattas from San Francisco to Monterey Bay and in Santa Cruz to form the Northern California IRC Championship Series.

For more information, visit the San Francisco Bay IRC Owners Association website at www.sfbay-irc.org

About the Storm Trysail Club

The Storm Trysail Club, reflecting in its name the sail to which sailors must shorten when facing adverse conditions, is one of the world's most respected sailing clubs, with its membership comprised strictly of skilled blue water and ocean racing sailors. In addition to hosting Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex in odd-numbered years, the club holds various prestigious offshore racing events (among them the annual Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race and the Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race); annual junior safety-at-sea seminars; and a regatta for college sailors using big boats.

About the San Francisco Bay IRC Owners Association

The San Francisco Bay IRC Owners Association - www.sfbay-irc.org - was organized in 2007 to promote and support big boat buoy and ocean racing under the IRC measurement rule in Northern California and to encourage high-quality racing by supporting race organizers with a track record of providing excellent race management.

Interested in using IRC?

Owners and Organizing Authorities wishing to adopt IRC for their events should contact US-IRC Executive Director Luiz E. Kahl for help with the process luiz@us-irc.org.

The US SAILING Offshore office administers the IRC rule in the US. Yacht owners should contact Nathan Titcomb at irc(at)ussailing.org for help with certificate application or with rating questions.

For all US-IRC latest news, events and seminars check out the US-IRC web site at www.us-irc.org and go racing with us.