Good Times J/Fest San Francisco!

(San Francisco, CA)-  This year's J/Fest hosted by St Francis Yacht Club had another strong turnout of San Francisco Bay area J/Teams.  Leading the way with twenty boats was the J/105 class, with good sailing for the J/24, J/70 and J/120 teams as well.

The J/105 class on San Francisco Bay continues to remain a strong fleet and fresh blood is always popping up over the course of time to make life interesting.  Such was the case this past weekend.  Leading the way home was Steve Kleha sailing the renown DONKEY JACK to first place with a 3-5-10-4-1 record for 23 pts to just nip a group of four veteran boats hot on their tail.  Second was the team of Jason Woodley and Scott Whitney sailing RISK to a 4-2-5-5-9 tally for 25 pts, just two points back.  Third was Pat Benedict on ADVANTAGE 3 putting on a strong effort to finish in the money with a 5-7-6-6-3 scoreline for 27 pts.  Rounding out the top five based on a tie-breaker at 29 pts were Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK in 4th and Walter Sanford on ALCHEMY in fifth.

Similarly, the J/120s have such an evenly matched fleet it's often the case the top three are all just about tied on points after the smoke clears on the race course.  For this event, it was Dick Swanson's GRACE DANCES that started off strong with two bullets to finally win the regatta with just 11 pts.  Second was Barry Lewis's CHANCE with 13 pts, climbing up the score ladder quickly  in the last three races with a 1-2-2.  Third was Steve Madeira's MR MAGOO sailing a "barbell" series, weak start and finish scores bracketing a solid 2-3-3 to finished with 18 pts.  Incredibly, though not too surprisingly, for this fleet was that 4th was a tie-breaker with John Wimer's DESDEMONA taking it over Timo Bruck's TWIST.

Familiar faces did prevail amongst the leaders in the J/24s, with Darren Cumming's DOWNTOWN UPROAR taking first by only one point over his buddy Mike Whitfield's TMC RACING!  Third was Valentin Lulevich's brilliant, metaphorically named boat- SHUT & DRIVE! Smart guy, Valentin is-- drive that bus fast!  :)

As for the J/70s, Jim Cascino's EOS prevailed while Chris Andersen's OLD AND IN THE WAY stayed out of the way!  They apparently had some amazing rides blasting around San Francisco Bay at about 100 kts with afterburners and vapor-trails smoking behind them!  OK, well maybe 15-18 kts at GPS speeds. :0
 Sailing photo credits- Rolex/ Daniel Forster.   For more J/Fest San Francisco sailing information

J/Fest San Francisco Preview

(San Francisco, CA)- This year's J/Fest hosted by St Francis Yacht Club has another strong turnout of San Francisco Bay area J/Teams.  Leading the way is perhaps one of the strongest J/105 fleets in the country followed by the always competitive J/120 class on the Bay.  In addition, the J/70s are making their debut in this year's event and will be sailing alongside their stablemates, a fleet of a half-dozen J/24s.

For the J/105 teams, there's a likelihood that you may see past Rolex Big Boat Series Champions like Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK, Bruce Stone on ARBITRAGE and Adam Spiegle on JAM SESSION amongst the leaders.

The J/120s have such an evenly matched fleet it's well-nigh impossible to forecast a fleet leader as nearly all of the boats have won some regatta or another over the course of time.  In any event, you should see amongst the leaders Barry Lewis's CHANCE, John Wimer's DESDEMONA, Dick Swanson's GRACE DANCES and Steve Madeira's MR MAGOO.

Familiar faces should also be amongst the leaders in the J/24s, including Darren Cumming's DOWNTOWN UPROAR, Mike Whitfield's TMC RACING and  Rich Jepsen's RAIL TO RAIL.

As for the J/70s, it will be interesting to see how their first San Francisco Bay regatta ends up for the competitors.  Amongst them are Jim Cascino's EOS, Chris Andersen's OLD AND IN THE WAY and Mark Nelsen's SUGOI.  Sailing photo credits- Rolex/ Daniel Forster.   For more J/Fest San Francisco sailing information