(San Francisco, CA)- Last weekend, the St Francis Yacht Club hosted their annual summer classic- the Aldo Alessio & Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta for a combination of one-design and offshore classes. Sailing the three-day event were one-design fleets of J/88s and J/105s and an ORC and PHRF handicap offshore fleet. As usual, the fleet experienced foggy mornings and sunny “blowing dogs off chains” afternoons on their various tours of the famous San Francisco Bay.
J/105 Class
Not surprisingly, the largest and most competitive fleet was the twenty-five-boat J/105 fleet. It turned into a seesaw battle for the top of the leaderboard between two of the top teams on the Bay. In the end, it was George Heath’s NIUHI that took the class honors with an impressive three bullets, two deuces performance for just 7 pts! Second was their arch nemesis, Tim Russell’s NE*NE with a 1-1-2-2-3 tally for 9 pts. Rounding out the podium was Ryan Simmons’s BLACKHAWK with a good 4-3-8-3-2 record for 20 pts. The balance of the top five was John Rivlin’s PEACHES and Bruce Stone/ Nicole Breault’s ARBITRAGE in 4th and 5th place, respectively.
J/88 Class
The half-dozen-boat J/88 fleet enjoyed spirited racing for the top five. However, the fleet was treated to a “schooling” in how to get around the race track fast and furious with few mistakes. Winning with four bullets and a deuce was Brice Dunwoodie’s RAVENETTE with 4 pts net. The balance of the podium was determined by a tiebreaker at 11 pts net each. Winning that countback was Tom Thayer & Robert Milligan’s SPEEDWELL with a 2-4-3-2-4 over Christos Karamanolis’s PELAGIA with a 3-2-4-3-3! Close racing! Just one point back was Mark Howe’s SPLIT WATER with a 5-5-1-4-2 for 12 pts net!
PHRF Division
The nine-boat fleet saw a clean sweep of the top four places on the leaderboard by J/Teams. Winning was Barry Lewis’s J/120 CHANCE, followed by David Halliwell’s J/120 PEREGRINE in second, and John Arens’s J/109 REVERIE in third place. Fourth was taken by Nesrin Bass’s J/111 SWIFT NESS.
ORC Division
The top five of this ten-boat division saw four J/crew occupy the top spots separated by mere points. Second was Barry Lewis’s J/120 CHANCE with 11 pts net. Third was John Arens’s J/109 REVERIE with 12 pts. Fourth was David Halliwell’s J/120 PEREGRINE with 13 pts net!! Rounding out the top five was Nesrin Bass’s J/111 SWIFT NESS with 23 pts net. For more St Francis YC regattas sailing information
