Huge J/Fleet Ready for ROLEX Big Boat Series on San Francisco Bay

ByStuart Johnstone

(San Francisco, CA)- The premier racing event on San Francisco Bay since 1964 is once again set to deliver a legendary experience for sailors: epic conditions over four days of racing, dynamic race courses managed by a world-class race committee, and memorable post-racing parties hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club.

Competitors and spectators converge on San Francisco Bay to enjoy this second-to-none racing destination. Featured again will be an enormous J/105 one-design class, a hot J/88 one-design class, and an ORC handicap racing fleet. Not surprisingly, with 46 J/Boats in a field of 74 offshore keelboats, J/Boats is the dominant brand with 62.0% of the fleet– a “de facto J/Fest” on San Francisco Bay!

J/105 Class
The J/105 class on the Bay continues to get stronger over time and has proven to be the most hotly contested J/105 fleet in the world. With thirty boats pointing their bows across the line, there will surely be a few battles around the race track over the four days of sailing. Most SF Bay J/105 veterans will be in attendance, hoping to win. Watch for these teams to be a factor on the leaderboard: Russ Silvestri’s NIUHI, the trio on BEAST OF BURDEN (Scott Sellers, Geoff McDonald, Harrison Turner), Ryan Simmons’s BLACKHAWK, Rolf Kaiser’s DONKEY JACK, Phil Laby’s GODOT 2.0, Jeff Litvin’s MOJO, Larry Swift’s MAVERICK, and Randy Hecht’s NIUHI.

J/88 Class
The seven-boat J/88 class promises exciting competition this year among the veteran teams. Leading teams include Brice Dunwoodie’s RAVENETTE, Steve Gordon’s INCONCEIVABLE, Tom Thayer’s SPEEDWELL, and Gary Panariello’s COURAGEOUS.

ORC Division
The thirty boats in the ORC Division will have to contend with nine J/Teams racing in the fleet. Having won class before, all eyes will be on the three J/111s- Peter Wagner’s SKELETON KEY, John Arens’s REVERIE, and Chase Van Derveer’s SWIFT NESS. Joining them are veteran offshore teams in the form of David Halliwill’s J/120 PEREGRINE, two J/100s (Zach Berkowitz’s FEATHER and Bob Walden’s WOWLA), Dave MacEwen’s J/90 LUCKY DUCK, Kevin Wilkinson’s J/112E JUBILANT, and Jeane Rodgers’s J/125 VELVET HAMMER,

For more Rolex Big Boat Series sailing information
http://www.rolexbigboatseries.com/