18ft Skiff International Regatta - All fired up in San Francisco

by Rich Roberts on 22 Aug 2010 Australia was their birthplace but San Francisco is a pilgrimage for the 18-foot skiffs that test some of the world's most talented and bravest sailors. They'll be competing in the ninth annual 18ft Skiff International Regatta starting Sunday, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club.

'I always wanted to do this event,' said Michael Coxon, who has never sailed here but placed second this year in the JJ Giltinan Trophy regatta at Sydney that crowns the class's world championship. 'Everybody says how good it is.'

John Winning Sr., a longtime winner on the world circuit, has been spreading the word for years. This year New Zealand will be represented for the first time by three boats.

Another new feature: the first all-woman crew (details farther down).

'To the sort of people that sail skiffs, it's the perfect place,' Winning said, while also giving his home waters their due that 'this place is like Sydney when a nor'easter's blowing.'

That's a westerly wind up to 25 knots funneling into the bay through the Golden Gate Bridge that sets the three-person crews on the edge of a wipeout at any moment. They'll hang it all out through 10 races over the next five days.

Racing for 13 or 14 boats, give or take, will start at 1 p.m. daily, except Wednesday when the 18s will start at 5 to precede the Bridge to Bridge race past the city on a hill for anything that floats or, occasionally, flies. Air temperatures are forecast to be in the low 60s to low 70s in what locals are calling the coolest San Francisco summer in years.

Howie Hamlin of Long Beach, Calif. is the defending champion. He came from behind to beat Winning by one point last year.

Hamlin led the organization of the regatta in 2002, but the 18s first sailed three events here in the early 80s with about a dozen of the original versions powered by unlimited sail area. Iain Murray, an iconic developer of the class, participated.

'We were here in '82,' Winning said. 'I remember because that was my honeymoon.'

Mike Turner was a local organizer who also helped to stage an event on Lake Tahoe. A few others such as soon-to-be-famous Jeff Madrigali and Paul Cayard jumped at the chance to try sailing the 18s. Turner and friends Vito Bialla and Trevor Baylis jumped at the chance and along the way encountered a Coast Guard patrol boat near Alcatraz.

'They started to follow us, checking us out,' Turner said. 'They said they couldn't see any CF numbers. But they couldn't keep up.'

The 18s can reach 30 knots in ideal conditions, but the test includes playing the rivers of current and wind that vary across the 1 1/2-mile-long course and this year offers an especially ugly factor: an afternoon ebb tide of 2.2 to 3.5 knots building through the week.

'More than you want,' Winning said. 'If you're going downwind and bury your [spinnaker] pole in a wave it stops you dead.'

That's not what some of the teams wanted to hear. One is the event's first all-woman crew of daring California girls Mallory McCollum, Katie Love and Yvonne Galvez, among a few local entries organized by Chad Freitas, leader of the bay's Skiff Sailing Foundation (skiffsailing.org).

Another woman, Jodi McCormack of San Francisco, will sail with her husband Skip as skipper and the talented Paul Allen in the middle.

McCollum, 24, said, 'I've sailed 29ers with Chad, and they had the boat here, so why not? We've been practicing over the last few months. We even did a practice flip.'

Good idea. Hamlin was the only one who didn't flip last year.

But most of the women's practice has been on the more protected waters near Richmond on the upper east bay. The bay water runs around 50 to 55 degrees, and all of the competitors wear wetsuits.

'Last week I spent a lot of time in the water and I wasn't ever cold,' McCollum said.

Nevertheless, Freitas said, 'I took out life insurance and boat insurance on the girls.'

He said he wasn't kidding, but he also said, 'Mallory is a very good driver. All of the girls are very sound.'

[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]Entry list
(Subject to late changes)

Australia

Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, Michael Coxon/Aaron Links/Trevor Barnabas

Appliances Online, Herman Winning/Peter Harris/Euan McNicol

Yandoo, John Winning Sr./David Gibson/Andrew Hay

Panasonic, Jonathan Whitty/James Hozack/Tom Anderson

New Zealand

CT Sailbattens, Alex Vallings/Chris Kitchen/Josh McCormack

Maersk Line, Graham Catley/Chris Burgess/Riley Dean

JF Hellebrand, Phil Airey/Murray England/Sam Trethaway

USA

CST Composites, Howard Hamlin/Matt Noble/Fritz Lanzinger

Blue, David Rasmussen/John Gray/Dan Morris

West Marine, Patrick Whitmarsh/Trevor Bozina/Joe Penrod

Silver Bullet/Paul Galvez-K. Richards/Matt McKinley/Chad Freitas

Chad's Angels, Mallory McCollum/Katie Love/Yvonne Galvez

Trunk Monkey, Skip McCormack/Jodi McCormack/Paul Allen

St Francis Yacht Club click here