Samba takes Big Boat Series in IRC 1
Final Day On San Francisco Bay
Sunday’s conditions were great, 8-10 knots in the morning, building to 15+ knots by early afternoon for the regatta’s final race – known as the Bay Tour. The St. Francis Yacht Club Race Committee sent the 10 competing classes on courses ranging from 15.44 to 21.01 nautical miles. When it was all over, six of the 10 class winners were awarded one of the StFYC’s Perpetual Trophies as well as a Steel Submariner Rolex timepiece in recognition of their accomplishments.
Earlier this morning, as a tribute to the late Olin J. Stephens, each boat motored past the yacht club, through the ‘A’ and ‘B’ marks which would later serve as the finish line, and tossed one single white rose into the Bay before heading out to the race course.
In IRC A class, Bill Turpin’s (Santa Cruz, CA) Reichel/Pugh 78 Akela took line honors in the final race; however it was John Kilroy Jr’s (Los Angeles, CA) TP52 Samba Pa Ti that won the race on corrected time and with it the St. Francis Perpetual Trophy.
Other TP52’s competing were Mayhem and Flash. It is great to see in the results Pendragon IV, the Davidson 52 that was one of the boats that inspired the forming of the TP52 Rule and Class. Still with its first owner, still racing.
1 Samba Pa Ti John, Jr. Kilroy Transpac 52 4 1 3 1 4 1 1 15.00
2 Vincitore Jim Mitchell R/P IRC 52 3 4 1 2 2 2 2 16.00
3 Akela Bill Turpin R/P 78 2 3 4 4 1 5 4 23.00
4 Criminal Mischief Chip Megeath R/P 45 1 2 2 3 8 3 8 27.00
5 Mayhem Ashley Wolfe Transpac 52 8 5 5 5 3 7 5 38.00
6 Flash Peter Stoneberg Transpac 52 5 8 6 8 5 4 7 43.00
7 Kokopelli2 Lani Spund Santa Cruz 52 6 7 8 6 6 8 3 44.00
8 Pendragon IV John MacLaurin Davidson 52 7 6 7 7 7 6 6 46.00
9 Cal Maritime Cal Maritime One Design 48 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 63.00
Photos by Eric Simonson, www.h2oshots.com