A Showcase of Sailing Excellence at Day 2 of the 59th Rolex Big Boat Series

September 15, 2023 - San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. -  Skippers kept their feet on the accelerator during Day 2 of the Rolex Big Boat Series, driving another intense day of great racing on San Francisco Bay. The morning dawned light, grey and foggy, but that didn’t stop Race Committee from on-time starts for two courses of seven classes, and one course for the Classics, all of whom finished in front of a lively crowd cheering on the Race Deck of St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, CA.

In the four ORC classes racing today on the North Course area, the moderate conditions prompted use of the medium wind band ratings for scoring. This may have helped bring some new teams to the winner’s circles in three of these classes.

In ORC C, for example, there were some exceptionally close race results in corrected time in both races: Tom & Cam Hutton’s J/100 H-Pod won by a mere seven seconds over PeterWagner’s J/111 Skeleton Key after an hour and a half of racing. As if to prove this is no fluke, the Huttons did the same in the second race by a mere two seconds!

This was all the more remarkable since Race 4 for all ORC classes was a much longer 14.4 mile course that took the fleet west past the Golden Gate Bridge to a mark near Pt. Diablo. Using ORC medium scoring, the Class C results were incredibly close: the top five out of six boats in this class were within only one minute and ten seconds, in corrected time after two and a half hours of racing.

Meanwhile, in ORC A Shepard Kett’s Santa Cruz 50 Octavia continued her dominance with straight bullets, and Marc Morris’s Cape 31 M2 in ORC B has done nearly the same with all firsts except a 2nd in Race 1 yesterday.

In ORC D Elliot James’s Mancebo 31 Bloom County deprived John Arens’ J/109 Reverie of her similar dominance in this class by winning Race 4 by about two minutes in corrected time over Don Jesberg’s Cal 40 Viva.

Among the three one design classes, the J/105s continue to mix it up, and results from Races #3 and #4 launched Arbitrage higher on the podium, but all bets are off in this intensely competitive class where Ryan Simmons’ Blackhawk is hanging onto 1st, just ahead of Jeff Littfin’s Mojo.

Brice Dunwoodie’s J/88 Ravenette scored two bullets today, rocketing them to 2nd place in spite of yesterday’s unfortunate early retirement in the second race of the day. They’re just two points behind leader Pelagia.

Shawn Ivie’s Limitless crew had another commanding day on the water with a 1-1-1-1 scoreline. Spindrift V and Loca Motion are in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

In the Classics, Gesture (with a 2-1) outpaced Day 1’s leader, Mayan (with a 1-3) to take the lead in this class.

After Friday's racing, crews relaxed and enjoyed themselves during the Mount Gay Rum party. Excitement was in the air as we approach the weekend’s Grand Finale at the most prestigious regatta on the West Coast.

Racing continues on Saturday at 1100 hours. On Sunday competitors will race on a single long-course Bay Tour which will determine the winning crews for this year’s edition, followed by the Trophy Ceremony.

Standings of the ORC classes after Day 2

ORC A (7 entrants):

1. Octavia, Santa Cruz 50 53, Shepard Kett , Santa Cruz, CA, USA 
2. Bacchanal, J/133 43, Ron Epstein , Tiburon, ca, USA
3. City Lights, Santa Cruz 52, Aaron Wangenheim , Tiburon, CA, USA

ORC B (7 entrants):

1. M2, Cape 31 31, Marc McMorris , San Rafael, CA, USA
2. Full Send, Cape 31 31, Dirk Freeland , Santa Barbara, CA, USA
3. Kuai, Melges 32 32, Daniel Thielman , Tiburon, CA, USA

ORC C (6 entrants):

1. Skeleton Key, J/111 36.5, Peter Wagner , Portola Valley, CA, USA
2. H-Pod, J/100 33, Tom/Cam Hutton , Atherton, CA, USA
3. Chance, J/120 40, Barry Lewis , Atherton, CA, USA

ORC D (6 entrants):

1. Reverie, J/109 35.25, John Arens , San Rafael, CA, USA
2. Bloom County, Mancebo 31 31, Elliott James , Tiburon, CA, USA
3. Viva, Cal 40 39, Donald Jesberg , Belvedere, CA, USA