San Francisco 2009 IRC Championship Series dates

by US-IRC Media on 3 Dec 2008 The SF Bay IRC Owners Association has released its 2009 IRC Championship Series schedule which will begin in May and ends with the Rolex Big Boat Series in September. The series will consist of the following events:

* May 16-17 - St Francis YC - Stone Cup
* May 22 - San Francisco YC/Monterey Peninsula YC - Spinnaker Cup
* Jun 27-28 - Sausalito YC - IRC Regatta
* Jul 31 - Aug 2 - St Francis YC - Aldo Alessio Perpetual Trophy Regatta
* Aug 15-16 - San Francisco YC Summer - IRC Regatta
* Sep 10-13 - St Francis YC - Rolex Big Boat Series

The Stone Cup, Spinnaker Cup, Aldo Alessio and Rolex Big Boat Series were on the 2008 schedule. The Stone Cup consists of four buoy races and takes place the weekend before the Spinnaker Cup, a distance race from San Francisco to Monterey. The Aldo Alessio Perpetual Trophy Regatta, consisting of an ocean race and three buoy races, will once again serve as the IRC Pacific Coast Championship.

The Sausalito Yacht Club IRC Regatta is new to the Championship series and will provide two buoy races on Saturday and an ocean race on Sunday. Four races will comprise the August SFYC Summer Regatta, also new to the series, which will provide a tune-up for the final event of the year - the Rolex Big Boat Series.

The St. Francis Yacht Club's showcase event, the 2009 Rolex Big Boat Series, also has the distinction of hosting the US National IRC Championships in 2009. The Rolex Big Boat Series and National Championship promises to be one of the highlights of US-IRC sailing in 2009.

According to John Siegel, Director of the SF Bay IRC Owners Association, 'The 2009 series will consist of 23 races with four discards. The throwouts will allow Transpac boats to race to Hawaii, miss the Aldo, and still be competitive in the series. The 2009 series builds on what was a very successful 2008 inaugural year. Despite the great racing, the scheduling of three events on three successive weekends last year in May was tough on owners, boats, and crews. While this year's schedule consists of three additional races, they are spread more evenly across the season which should alleviate the hectic nature of the 2008 schedule.'

In 2008, 22 boats participated in the series, with seven boats making all the events. According to Siegel, 'although 2009 is a Transpac year, we expect even more participation than last year. In addition to last year's one, two, three finishers White Dove, TNT, and Scorpio, we expect to see many of the same boats in 2009. In addition, we'll see Dan Woolery's new King 40 and Steve Stroub's new SC37. With the continuing support of our existing sponsors, Storm Trysail, KKMI, UK Sails, and Draper & Esquin, we expect to have an exciting season of great racing and social get-togethers in 2009.'

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