Mike Donohue

The Sausalito One-Design Invitational, held on July 13-14, showcased a thrilling competition among J/105 boats. Niuhi, helmed by Randy Hecht, dominated the regatta, securing first place overall with an impressive performance of 4 bullets across six races.

In the first race, Niuhi took the lead, followed by Alchemy in second, and Godot 2.0 in third. The second race saw Ne*Ne taking first place, with Niuhi and Jabberwocky close behind. Niuhi continued to excel, winning races three and four, while Blackhawk took first in race five. Niuhi capped off its performance with another victory in race six, securing its position at the top.

Blackhawk and Jabberwocky also delivered strong performances, finishing second and third overall, respectively. Boats such as Arbitrage and Box of Rain showed remarkable improvements, with Box of Rain finishing eighth overall, a significant climb from their previous standings.

For detailed race results and further standings, visit the results page.

The Sausalito Yacht Club’s excellent race management ensured a smooth and memorable event, highlighting the competitive spirit and skill of the J/105 fleet.

Top Performers

Several boats distinguished themselves with exceptional performances:

• Niuhi, Randy Hecht – With a total of 13 points, Niuhi claimed the top spot, demonstrating consistent performance across the races.
• Blackhawk, Ryan Simmons – Blackhawk secured second place with 23 points, showcasing some solid racing.
• Jabberwocky, Brent Vaughan – Jabberwocky finished third with 27 points, maintaining strong performance throughout the regatta.

Updated Season Standings

Following the Sausalito One-Design Invitational, the updated season standings are:

1. NeNe, Tim Russell – 53 points
2. Blackhawk, Ryan Simmons – 77 points
3. Jabberwocky – 143 points
4. Arbitrage – 144 points
5. Akula – 155 points

For detailed race results and further standings, please visit the results page​.

Host Club’s Remarkable Effort

The Sausalito Yacht Club and PRO Jeff Zarwell hosted a great regatta, ensuring smooth operations despite the challenging wind and tide conditions. Their race management efforts contributed significantly to the event’s success, making it a memorable experience for all participants.

The J/Stop Regatta, held on June 22nd and 23rd, brought together 21 entries in the J/105 class for a challenging weekend of racing hosted by the South Beach Yacht Club. Despite the light wind conditions, the competitors showcased remarkable skill and perseverance, making for a compelling event.

Day 1: Light Winds and Strategic Sailing

The first day of the regatta presented sailors with extremely light wind conditions, which significantly impacted the race outcomes. Only six boats managed to finish the first race, while nine completed the second race of the day. The light winds forced crews to rely heavily on their strategic acumen and precise boat handling to navigate the course effectively. This day was a true test of patience and skill, as the sailors had to extract every bit of performance from their boats.

Day 2: Slight Improvement but Still Light

The second day offered a slight improvement in wind conditions, though the breeze remained light. This allowed for more consistent racing, but the competitors still had to work hard to make the most of the available wind. The improved, albeit still light, breeze provided an opportunity for some boats to climb up the leaderboard with strategic racing and efficient maneuvers.

Top Performers

Despite the challenging conditions, several boats stood out with their performances over the two days of racing.

1. NeNe, Tim Russell – With a total of 24 points, NeNe demonstrated consistent performance across the races, securing the top spot. NeNe has won the last three season regattas!
2. Mojo, Jeff Littfin – Mojo managed to accumulate 33 points, earning them the second place.
3. Peaches, John and Michael Rivlin – With 38 points, Peaches rounded out the top three, showcasing strong racing throughout the regatta.

Updated Season Standings

Following the J/Stop Regatta, the season standings have been updated as follows:

1. NeNe, Tim Russell – 43 points
2. Blackhawk, Ryan Simmons – 72 points
3. Akula, Doug Bailey – 75 points
4. Mojo, Jeff Littfin – 133 points
5. Arbitrage, Bruce Stone – 141 points

For detailed race results and further standings, please visit the results page.

Host Club’s Remarkable Effort

The South Beach Yacht Club did an exemplary job hosting the J/Stop Regatta. Their Race efforts ensured that the regatta ran as smooth as possible, despite the challenging wind conditions.

A Weekend of Thrilling Racing in the San Francisco Bay

The Encinal Regatta, held on June 8th and 9th, delivered an exhilarating weekend of competitive sailing in the San Francisco Bay. With 17 boats competing across six races, the regatta was marked by dynamic conditions and intense rivalries, making for an unforgettable event.

Day 1: Challenging Start

The first day of racing began with an unusual challenge as a fishing boat positioned itself on the starting line, creating an unexpected obstacle for the racers. Despite the light winds, the fleet navigated through the tight canals, making their way towards the Encinal Yacht Club in Race 3. The light wind conditions allowed the sailors to focus on strategy and precision as they maneuvered their boats.

Day 2: Big Breeze, High Stakes

The second day brought a dramatic change in conditions with gusts reaching up to 24 knots. The high winds tested the skills and endurance of the sailors, leading to thrilling races filled with tactical battles and high-speed maneuvers. The competitive spirit was palpable as the boats raced neck and neck, each crew striving to outdo the others.

Tim Russel’s NeNe Dominates

Tim Russel’s NeNe emerged as the standout performer of the regatta, securing the overall victory with a total of 13 points. This triumph propelled NeNe to the top of the season standings, now leading with 29 points after throwouts. NeNe’s consistent performance across the races showcased the crew’s skill and determination.

Top Finishers

• NeNe: 13 points
• Blackhawk: 24 points
• Arbitrage: 31 points

Noteworthy Performance by Niuhi

Randy Hecht’s Niuhi, the previous year’s national champion, only participated on the second day but made a significant impact. Niuhi clinched two first-place finishes and a second place in Day 2, showcasing their prowess in the challenging conditions and winning the second day overall. Their impressive performance added an extra layer of excitement to the regatta.

Season Standings

Following the Encinal Regatta, NeNe leads the season standings with 29 points, followed by Blackhawk with 41 points and Akula with 50 points. The competition remains fierce as the season progresses, with each regatta playing a crucial role in determining the overall champion.

Looking Ahead

The next regatta in the series is the highly anticipated J-Stop Regatta, hosted by the South Beach Yacht Club. As the season moves forward, the competition is expected to intensify, with sailors vying for the top positions in the season standings and aiming to showcase their best performances.

The Encinal Regatta was a testament to the resilience and skill of the sailors, providing thrilling races and memorable moments in the San Francisco Bay. Stay tuned for more updates and highlights as the racing season continues.

The San Francisco Yacht Club hosted an exhilarating weekend of competitive sailing with the Elite Keel Regatta on May 18th and 19th. The event drew top sailors from the region, all eager to test their skills against the bay’s challenging conditions. PRO Forrest Gay and his Race Committee team organized a series of five exciting races that kept both competitors and spectators on the edge of their seats.

The regatta featured very windy conditions coupled with a strong ebb tide, creating a dynamic and thrilling racing environment. Amidst these conditions, Tim Russell and his team on Ne*Ne emerged as the regatta champions, securing the top spot with a score of 13. Their victory was hard-fought, with Russell and his crew’s adept handling, fast starts, and strategic tactics guided Ne*Ne through the challenging waters.

Shawn Bennet and his crew on Jose Cuervo delivered an impressive performance, finishing in second place with a score of 18. Doug Bailey’s Akula claimed third place with a score of 19, showcasing resilience and skill throughout the races.

The regatta not only highlighted the competitive spirit of the sailors but also the intense camaraderie and sportsmanship that define the J/105 sailing community. Each team faced the challenging conditions head-on, resulting in close races and multiple lead changes that kept everyone engaged.

In addition to the fierce competition, the regatta was a testament to the exceptional organization by the San Francisco Yacht Club. The club’s commitment to promoting sailing and providing a platform for top-tier competition was evident in every aspect of the event.

As the 2024 Elite Keel Regatta comes to a close, sailors and fans alike are already looking forward to next year’s event, anticipating another weekend of thrilling races and memorable moments on the San Francisco Bay.

On May 11, the St. Francis Yacht Club hosted nine teams for the 2024 SF Bay J/105 Women Skipper Invitational. PRO Gerard Sheridan and his RC team ran four action-packed races on the city-front course while Karl the Fog danced across the sky. Nicole Breault’s team on Arbitrage, which included some of her match racing friends from up and down the California coast, topped the field for the 3^rd time. 

In addition to playing the shoreline for relief from the flood tide on the beats, Breault credited the work of her team sailing the boat through challenging shifty and puffy phases at the top of the course under Fort Point. “Keeping the boat steady and moving through transitions was hard work, and this added to some tricky tactical decisions we faced as boats converged.” 

The reputation of Fleet 1 with its intense one-design culture was upheld well by all nine women drivers who led their teams in close racing with heavy-air maneuvers and multiple lead changes. Team Arbitrage had their hands full all day with fierce performances by Kristin Simmons’ Blackhawk (2^nd place), Samantha Gebb’s Peaches (3^rd place), and Maggie Bacon’s Niuhi (4^th place). Usually foredeck, Gebb, who had the father-son duo of John and Michael Rivlin on board as well as her dad, found taking the helm to be fun and rewarding. “I can now appreciate the level of drama in the back of the boat when short-tacking the city-front!” 

Breault, who served as regatta chair and who is the current J/105 Class President, expressed gratitude to the owners who made their boats available. “It is such a worthy endeavor to promote the women in our Fleet and in our sport, to give them a chance to lead and prove their mettle.” This regatta was created as part of a larger J/105 Class initiative to encourage local fleets to come up with solutions to persistent areas of gender disparity in sailing. Zeroing in on the lack of women owner-drivers in the Class, Fleet 1 adopted a woman-skipper with mixed crew format. As Breault explained, “having owners and regular crews lean-in to the event and participate makes it extra meaningful. It is an opportunity for women sailors, sure, but the racing community owns it together.”

As the trend may suggest, the SF Bay J/105 Women Skipper Invitational has found its home on the Saturday of Mothers’ Day at the St. Francis Yacht Club. Looking forward to next year’s fun already!

Full results: https://theclubspot.com/regatta/Xq68efp2kn/results?class_id=CeaG5JKCLX

Event photos: https://stfyc.pixieset.com/j105womenskipperinvitational/

Here are the dates for this Season’s A Regatta Schedule:

Saturday, March 9, 2024 – Sunday, March 10, 2024: SYC March Regatta

Saturday, April 6, 2024 – Sunday, April 7, 2024: Spring Fest

Saturday, May 18, 2024 – Sunday, May 19, 2024: SFYC J/105 Invitational

Saturday, June 8, 2024 – Sunday, June 9, 2024: Encinal J/105 Regatta

Saturday, June 22, 204 – Sunday, June 23, 2024: J/Stop Regatta

Saturday, July 13, 2024 – Sunday, July 14, 2024: Sausalito One-Design Regatta

Saturday, July 27, 2024 – Sunday, July 28, 2024: Summer Keelboat Regatta

Saturday, August 17, 2024 – Sunday, August 18, 2024: Phyllis Kleinmann Swiftsure Regatta

Thursday, September 12, 2024 – Sunday, September 15, 2024: Rolex Big Boat Series

See you on the water!

The 2023 annual Fleet #1 Awards Dinner will take place at the St. Francis Yacht Club on Sunday, November 19th at 5:00pm. Tickets are $30 per person.

This event always sells out, so order now to reserve your seat!

Thanks to the efforts of numerous individuals and organizations, everyone’s favorite nearly invisible mark is now much easier to locate.

For those who may be new to the bay, YRA 16, otherwise known as Blackaller Buoy, is located just off of Fort Point, and is named for famed Bay Area yachtsman Tom Blackaller, who tragically passed away in 1989 at the age of 49. Tom was a larger-than-life figure in the sailing community not just in the Bay Area but worldwide. 

Blackaller cut his teeth in the Star Class, and after experiencing success locally here on the Bay, he moved into the 6 meter class where he became world champion in 1973. He worked directly with Lowell North as a sailmaker, and parlayed this success up to the pinnacle of sailing, eventually becoming tactician for Russell Long’s upstart America’s Cup campaign Clipper which gave a good run to Dennis Conner’s Freedom.

In addition to a prolific sailing career, Blackaller was a motorsports enthusiast who accomplished a great deal as an amateur race car driver. Tragically, he suffered a heart attack during a race and died.

Blackaller was known not just as a successful sailor but as a colorful personality. Anyone who knew him had a Blackaller story, and after his death a tribute was held by his friends at St. Francis, and many of those tales made their way online.

After his death, St. Francis established the mark to honor his legacy. Since that time, anyone has raced on the bay has experienced the frustration of trying to find this tiny little mark. No longer! Thanks to the efforts of the Army Corp of Engineers, Scott Easom, the St. Francis Yacht Club including Bruce Stone and others, Blackaller Buoy is now cleaner, more secure & more visible, and will continue to confound racers for years to come.

The 2021 Season is in the books!

On November 20, the fleet gathered at St. Francis Yacht Club for an evening of merriment & a chance to congratulate all of the teams for what was truly an epic year of racing. Fleet Captain Ian Charles hosted the festivities in the Chart Room.

Special thanks to Justin Oberbauer for putting together a video year in review. Give it a watch here!

Congratulations to the season’s podium finishers and to all of the boats that sailed with the most competitive one-design fleet on the Bay!

1st Place: Tim Russell, NeNe
2nd Place: Ryan Simmons, Blackhawk
3rd Place: Ian Charles, MAVERICK
4th Place: Bruce Stone, Arbitrage
5th Place: Jeff Littfin, Mojo

Ryan Simmons shares Blackhawk’s secret to success.

2022 promises to be quite a year for Fleet 1 with the 2022 North American Championship being hosted by the San Francisco Yacht Club on the heels of Big Boat Series.

The J/105 Winter Doublehanded Sunday Series will be held off of the GGYC race deck by PRO Don Weineke.

Why not leave your boat rigged after Jeff Zarwell’s SYC Midwinter Series and sail with your best crew on Sundays? Way fewer sandwiches!

Dates: 11/14,12/12, 2021 & 1/9, 2/13, 2022 

Register at the link below. NOR, SI’s and the Official Notice Board can be found here also. No fee to register!

https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23459