Please select your home edition
Edition
Selden 2020 - LEADERBOARD

2022 Rolex Big Boat Series at St. Francis Yacht Club - Day 3

by St. Francis Yacht Club 17 Sep 2022 21:29 PDT September 14-18, 2022
2022 Rolex Big Boat Series © Daniel Forster / Rolex

San Francisco Bay presented a morning ebb tide that ran smack-dab into an escalating westerly breeze, stirring up square-faced chop for the first race of Day 3 at Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco, California. Breeze continued to build as the afternoon progressed, but a flooding tide dulled the whitecaps during the day's second race, with all 76 competing boats finishing within cheering distance of the Race Deck of St. Francis Yacht Club.

Racing has been competitive across all eight classes, especially as today's wind freshened, but with only one race to go the results are revealing consolidation at the top.

In ORC B, Scott Easom's J/100, Eight Ball, is sitting on a scorecard of 1-2-1-1-1-3, putting them seven points ahead of David Halliwill's J/120, Peregrine, and 10 up on Barry Lewis' J/120, Chance.

"We're the smallest boat in ORC B, so finding clear air is hard to do," says Easom, who won his class at the 2021 Rolex Big Boat Series. "We get run down immediately, and we don't get to go precisely where we want to go, but we've got good speed and we find lanes."

Easom, who is a professional sailor by trade, is well-versed at finding clear lanes. He says that the change from the ORR rating rule to the ORC rating rule, which StFYC adopted ahead of the 2022 Rolex Big Boat Series was "a complete wildcard."

"I've talked to people I know who travel the world for sailing and they think highly of ORC. I've been studying the results from ORC racing in Europe and I like the results and the boats that are winning. A lot of production boats seem to be doing well, which is good for the sport."

Ahead of the regatta, Easom had his boat, rig and new sails properly measured to comply with ORCi certificate standards. Additionally, Easom invested in a new bottom job and put in a lot of time. "I think these are the things you need to do at a very competitive event," he says. "I'd like to thank my crew for their hard work, the StFYC for running another fantastic Rolex Big Boat Series, and Rolex for sponsoring it."

Another class that's looking tough at the top is the J/88s. After six races, Mark Howe's Split Water is sitting on a report card that reads 1-1-1-3-1-1. "It's all about great crew," says Howe. "I've done this regatta a bunch. My previous efforts were friends and family programs. But I decided to spend some time and money and establish a meritocracy. Software runs the boat and people are the software."

Howe acquired his J/88 just two months before this year's Rolex Big Boat Series, but he says a rough-and-tumble 2022 Aldo Alessio Race & Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta, also hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club, showed Howe what he didn't know.

"We didn't do well, and it exposed some weaknesses," explains Howe. "So, we got a new bowman and we practiced—we did four hellish practice days over the last two weekends. It was brutal. We kept saying that there's no way that Rolex Big Boat Series will be as hard as our practice days. This really paid off for us. If you don't put in the practice time, Rolex Big Boat Series becomes the practice," which, he adds, "you don't want."

The stately Classics may only run a single race per day, but this hasn't stopped StFYC's Vice Commodore Beau Vrolyk, owner and skipper of Mayan, the 1947 John Alden-designed schooner, from running a picket fence.

Mayan is well-known on the Bay, both for her venerable lines and for her former owner (David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young fame), and Vrolyk has been pouring time and resources into the wooden yacht to return her to her original splendor.

"We changed the entire rigging and brought her back to her 1928 design, by John Alden," says Vrolyk. "In the early 1960s, it was fashionable to change schooners into staysail schooners, and we put it back into its former transitional schooner rig."

The inspiration for this change, he explains, came courtesy of famed yacht designer Bill Lee, who has sailed on Mayan since Vrolyk acquired the boat in 2014.

"It was common knowledge that staysail schooners are faster, but it's not the case for all schooners," he said. "Lee noticed troubles with our balance and weather helm, and that we were suffering in some conditions."

Vrolyk commissioned all new rigging and a new gaff foresail, which, he says, is making an enormous difference.

While Mayan is sitting on great results, Vrolyk is quick to point to his crew as Mayan's secret sauce. "I'm just the guy who wiggles the rudder," he says, adding that while his whole crew is incredible, special credit goes to Matthew Coale, who built the boat's new rig. "Our program wouldn't happen without Matthew."

In the rest of the fleet, Scott Sellers, Geoff McDonald, and Harrison Turner's J/70 1FA is doing a stomp job in its class: 1-1-1-1-1-1. Impressively, Andy Schwenk's Express 37 Spindrift V guest skippered by Bart Hackworth, is sitting on a 1-1-1-1-2-1 dance card, Don Jesberg has been showing the Cal 40s how to sail by posting 1-1-1-1-1-1 results, and Paul Dorsey and his Adjudicator crew have been throwing around quiet authority in ORC A with a score of 1-1-2-1-4-1.

"We couldn't ask for better conditions for our first three days of racing," says Susan Ruhne, Chair of the Rolex Big Boat Series. "People come here for the big breeze and seas, and the Bay has delivered."

Racing is scheduled to resume on Sunday, September 17, at 1100 hours local time.

Full results available here.

Related Articles

Women's World Match Racing Tour Normandy day 2
Megan Thomson brings the Kiwi magic Megan Thomson and her 2.0 Racing Team from New Zealand have qualified to the final at the Normandie Match Cup in Le Havre, Stage 3 of the 2023 Women's World Match Racing Tour, after a close semi-final match against Sweden's Anna Östling/ WINGS Sailing. Posted on 29 May
Women's World Match Racing Tour Normandy day 1
A fresh breeze in Le Havre tested the eleven teams A fresh breeze in Le Havre Normandy tested the eleven all-women international teams yesterday competing at the Normandie Match Cup, Stage 3 of the 2023 Women's World Match Racing Tour. Posted on 28 May
Love Moms at J/105 Women Skipper Invitational
The teams were led by women skippers who had been invited by boat owners to take the helm On "Mothers' Day Eve" on Saturday, May 13th, eight boats of J/105 Fleet 1 on San Francisco Bay rallied for the second running of the J/105 Women Skipper Invitational, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club. Posted on 20 May
Casa Vela Cup overall
Celia Willison and the Edge Women's Match Team take the win Celia Willison and the Edge Women's Match Team from New Zealand secured a hard-fought victory today at the inaugural all-women Casa Vela Cup hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. Posted on 29 Apr
Casa Vela Cup Day 3
Final four advance to semis Day 3 of the all-women Casa Vela Cup at the St Francis Yacht Club today finished the double round robin qualifiers and advanced the top four teams to the semi-finals Posted on 28 Apr
Casa Vela Cup Day 2
Local sailor Nicole Breault and her Vela Racing team remain undefeated Day 2 of the Casa Vela Cup at the St. Francis Yacht Club finished with the ten competing all-women's teams all vying for a valued spot in the semi-finals. Posted on 27 Apr
Casa Vela Cup Day 1
2023 Women's World Match Racing Tour underway in San Francisco Nicole Breault (USA) and her Vela Racing team of Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer, Dana Riley Hayes, and Maggie Bacon are undefeated on Day 1 of the 2023 Casa Vela Cup, the opening stage of the 2023 Women's World Match Racing Tour. Posted on 26 Apr
Spring Wingding & Pacific Coast Wingfoil
Johnny Heineken wins on San Francisco Bay St. Francis Yacht Club hosted the Spring Wingding & Pacific Coast Wingfoil Championships, the first-ever wingfoil regatta of its kind on San Francisco Bay. Posted on 20 Apr
Registration opens for 505 Worlds
Moved to San Francisco due to harbor access issues in Santa Cruz Registration is open for the 5O5 World Championship and North Americans, to be held September 21 to October 1 at St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, California. Posted on 13 Apr
St. Francis YC announces Offshore Mixed Doubles
A single distance race approx 24 hours stretching across San Francisco Bay The Notice of Race is posted and registration is open for St. Francis Yacht Club's inaugural Offshore Mixed Doubles Race, scheduled for July 29-30, 2023, and open to doublehanded crews of mixed gender. Posted on 11 Apr
Lloyd Stevenson - SYA3 728x90px BOTTOMVaikobi 2023 Gloves - FOOTERSailGP_Technologies_Metal_1456x180 BOTTOM