Gorgeous sunny Spring Fest on San Francisco Bay
by J/Boats 21 Apr 12:31 UTC
April 5-6, 2025
Spring Fest at St. Francis Yacht Club © jboats.com
The battle-hardened, hard-core sailors of San Francisco Bay, accustomed to the worst their Bay can dish out, were pleasantly surprised to contend with a very sybaritic weekend of sunny weather and light to moderate wind conditions!
Hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club, their Spring Fest regatta had one-design fleets of J/24s, J/88s, and J/105s.
J/105 Class
With twenty-four boats, the J/105s were again the largest class by far participating in the event. After five races, there were many familiar teams at the top of the leaderboard. Winning was Tim Russell's NE*NE with a 6-7-2-1-1 tally for 17 pts. Ten points behind to take the silver medal was Ryan Simmons's BLACKHAWK with a 4-14-1-5-3 record for 27 pts. Then, rounding out the podium garnering the bronze medal was Ian Charles's MAVERICK with a 2-3-3-6-16 scoreline for 30 pts.
J/88 Class
The winner of this tightly-fought class was determined on a tie-breaker at 8 pts net each. Winning the regatta on the tie-breaker countback was Dave Corbin's BUTCHER with a 4-4-1-2-1 tally. Losing that battle to earn the silver medal was Tom Thayer's SPEEDWELL with a 2-3-2-1-4. Rounding out the podium on the bronze medal step was Christos Karamanolis's PELAGIA with a 1-2-3-3-3 record for 9 pts--- close racing!!
J/24 Class
The half-dozen J/24s had fun, close racing amongst the top of the leaderboard. Winning was Brandon Mercer's TENACIOUS CUTTLEFISH with a 2-2-4-1-1-1 record for 7 pts net. Taking the silver medal four points back was Jasper Van Vliet's EVIL OCTOPUS with a 1-3-14-3-3 scoreline for 11 pts net. The final bronze medal step on the podium was determined by a tiebreaker at 13 pts each. Winning that battle on the countback was Darren Cumming's veteran crew aboard DOWNTOWN UPROAR with a 6-1-2-2-4-4 scoreline for 13 pts net. Losing that countback to take fourth place was Robin Van Vliet's LITTLE WING.
For more St. Francis Yacht Club's Spring Fest sailing information: www.stfyc.com/racing