Three Cheers St. Francis Yacht Club for hosting and organizing this spectacular invitational regatta along one of the great waterfronts of the world…..Eight sixes on the Bay!
A special thank you to Matt Brooks, from the many classic yacht owners and readers that have followed the progress of DORADE and LUCIE on our web pages, for his exemplary stewardship of these legends of yachting. And for bringing LUCIE home to the St. Francis Yacht Club to race for the first time ever her older sister SPRIG. An epic battle that will be reviewed for many decades to come as the Great Race of 2015, where after 8 races, in a virtual tie score SPRIG takes home the silver by placing first in the final race.
To the incredible photography by Chris Ray, where words do not adequately tell the complete story
View additional pictures here
The Teams consisting of local boats as well as some that had traveled from Newport RI, Seattle, Vancouver, and San Diego. It was a very competitive fleet with classes split between Rule 2, Rule 3 and Modern Boat Divisions.
Jens Lange – Recap
Courses were set between the St. Francis Yacht Club and the Golden Gate Bridge, with Alcatraz and San Francisco’s city front providing the backdrop! What seemed to be fairly calm waters from ashore proved to be a lot rougher once out, and the fleet saw everything from 5 knots to gusts above 20 knots, which provided challenging conditions for all competitors.
Tuesday saw three races, all at a very high and competitive level.
All eight boats started at the same time, and as could be expected the moderns pulled away from the field. It was a nice showing of hull development over 60+ years, but the classics still held their own and showed mixed results between the Rule 2 and Rule 3 Classes, which were all very close with results with one boat standing out: the famous GOOSE, which not only was sailed flawless by 6 Meter World Champions Peter Hofman and Eric Jespersen, but also confirmed its reputation of possibly being the fastest Rule 3 6 Meter ever launched.
On Wednesday we were greeted with even more wind. After two races — with the second race seeing gusts of just over 20 knots and a few round-ups — the race committee called it for the day.
Thursday was scheduled to start racing late, with the first warning was planned for 1600, as the previously used race course was partially closed off for the training of the US NAVY Blue Angels. They were still showing some of their stunts by the time the fleet went out. The conditions lightened up as the late afternoon was progressing, and just with sunset the fleet finished the third race. Altogether, eight races were accomplished, finishing up a great event! From there, everybody headed straight for the bar and lots of discussions and maneuver reviews were held over proper drinks! The whole fleet is looking forward to the awards dinner on Friday night. By that time the first boats will be hauled out already.