San Francisco J/105 Fleet #1
| Season Championship Perpetual Trophy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Fleet Captains Plaque | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sportsman Award | |||||||||||||||||
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| Extraordinary Contribution Award | |||||||||||||||||
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| Fleet 1 Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||
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| Seasons Recaps | |||||||||||||
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| The Early Years of Fleet 1 – by Jim Cascino |
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I believe the first boat on the bay was owned by Alan Bray. He lived in Reno and drove a Harley down for racing! Winemaker Tony Soter bought boat #2, while #3 was purchased by SFYC member Chuck Winton (who has since passed away). Art Ball bought #4 and I bought #5, which was hull #44. I may be mistaken, but I think Sam Hock bought #6…the hull number would tell the story of whether he was before or immediately following me. The fleet was founded in late 1992. I was the originating fleet captain, and remained captain for the first two to three terms (until the 1995-9 season). I believe the first season champion (1993) was Chuck Winton. That was also the first year the boats were entered in the St. Francis Yacht Club’s Big Boat Series, with 5-6 boats. The J/105 was the smallest boat in the series and there was some view among StFYC Executive Race Committee members that the minimum size requirement should be greater than the J/105’s 34.5 feet. Don Trask was very instrumental in breaking that log jam. Art Ball took the second season championship on Blackhawk. That year we had 7-9 boats on the starting line. Sales of the boats was starting to really get going, and Latitude 38 started to give us some press. In the first few years of J/105 racing, there was a general sense among SF sailing elite, that the boat was more of a novelty and not a truly competitive yacht. Even Latitude 38 saw us that way. Looking back now, it appears many saw the complexity of flying a symmetrical spinnaker as being a better test of sailing acumen. The J/105, with it’s limited crew requirement was just too big a paradigm change for most. In year three (1995), Thomas Sponholtz on Aquavit, won both the season championship and the first National Championship, also held on SF Bay. We had boats compete from 4-5 different cities across the country. Following the National Championship, I gave up the helm of the fleet duties. I believe Sam Hock took my place. He went on to do some great things for the fleet and took a season championship or two himself over the years. Through the early years, enormous credit is due to Don Trask. He was (and continues to be) promotionally brilliant. Bringing the Brut Cup to the Bay area was a stroke of genius. It was enormous fun for the owners and the StFYC and provided the boats extraordinarily positive press. That was when Latitude 38 and others started to really take the boat and fleet seriously. And the rest … is history. Hope this fun trip down memory lane is helpful for you. |
| 2002 Season – by Eden Kim |
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Bandwidth wins Spring One Design Bella Rosa wins Vallejo 1
Bullets and Top 10 Finshes for the year: Good Timin’ – 9 bullets, 33 top 10’s
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Well, Good Timin’ wrapped up another successful season and won her third consecutive fleet championship by nosing out the late charging Zuni Bear to retire the SFJ105 Fleet 1 perpetual trophy. The year saw 45 different boats make it out to the line with an average of 30 boats at the starts, slightly down from 2001’s average of 34 boats. Bandwidth won the first regatta, Bella Rosa lead the season for the first half, and Zuni Bear ran a great campaign to get within a single point of Good Timin’ just before the final BBS regatta. Blackhawk also had an excellent year grabbing third, followed by the ever steady Nantucket Sleighride in fourth and Tiburon, who nosed out Wind Dance in a tie breaker, for fifth. The 2002 season was an ebb and flow of different winners, leaders and jockeying for top ten spots, middle third and bullets. Four different boats lead the season standings, six different boats won regattas, 12 different boats got a bullet in a race, and a lot of boats had their day in the sun with a good finish, top ten or top five for a regatta. Racing was a lot cleaner with the mandatory race and rules clinics and the modified 360 rule for non mark rounding fouls. The 2002 season also saw a turnover of several boats as 2001 season runner up Sails Call , 2001 5th place Jitterbug, 2001 8th place boat Juxtapose, Konza and Veloce either retired or were sold for the 2002 season. Newcomers for the 2002 season included Streaker 469, Olympic star sailor Ron Anderson, Alchemy 275 purchased from San Diego by Tom Struttmann and Walter Sanford, Juxtapose 268 purchased by Ariel Poler, PrimeTime 495 purchased by Brian Madden, Liberty 410 Bill Sweeney, and Split Second 443 purchased by Ladd Christianson. Also turning our for the year were bi coasties Charade 111, Tom Coates, and Energy 46060 out of Berkeley by Jamie Isbester. Practicing, but not racing were Frisky JT Hanson, 20/20 Phil Gardner, and J Tripper. The season started out with the Spring One Design and the surprising winner, second year boat Bandwidth, who scored a steady 2,5,2,4. Roland van der Meer was as surprised as anyone and attributed his fast start to a steady diet of Stanford collegiate sailors on board. Nantucket Sleighride was 2d, Irrational Again in 3d followed by Bella Rosa, Good Timin’ and Wind Dance who scored a bullet in the second race. In the second sesaon counter, a 25 mile ocean race, Blackhawk grabbed a bullet followed by Bella Rosa, Good Timin’, Zuni Bear and Tiburon. Wianno and Larrikin had top tens grabbing a 6th and 8th respectively. 2001 Season runner up Sails Call, made a cameo and grabbed a 7th. Moving on to J Fest, a 4 race counter, Bella Rosa began establishing herself by wining the regatta with a 4,3,3,1 to best the return of Bandwidth at 8,8,2,2, Good Timin’, Zuni Bear, Wind Dance, Nantucket Sleighride and Tiburon. Advantage 3 grabbed a bullet in the first race and a 9th, First year boat Streaker, grabbed a 8th and Jose Cuervo 10th.. Going into Vallejo, Bella Rosa led Good Timin in the season standings and maintained that lead by going 1,5 to Good Timin’s 3,4. The event was scored as 2 individual events with Arbitrage winning the return trip. Good Timin and Blackhawk were 2,3 on the first day with Walloping Swede and Energy 2,3 on the return. Good individual finishers were Energy with a 3d, Pippin with an 11th, Ultimatum with a 9th, Hazardous Waste with an 11th, Tiburon with a 4th and Bald Eagles with a 6th. The Hospice Cup saw the defense by Jitterbug net her a 5th place overall. Good Timin got back in the winner’s circle by winning the event followed by Charade, Blackhawk and Nantucket Sleighride. Tiburon was 6th follwed by Bella Rosa, Whisper in 7th, Zuni Bear and Jose Cuervo rounding out the top 10. Charade grabbed a bullet in the 3d race. At this point, Bella Rosa’s season championship lead over Good Timin was narrowed followed by Blackhawk, Zuni Bear and Nantucket Sleighride. The final regatta of the 1st half was the PCCs hosted by the SFYC. Zuni Bear began turning on her late season rally by winning the PCCs followed by Blackhawk, Charade, Whisper and Nantucket Sleighride. Good Timin, Arbitrage, Advantage 3, Irrational Again and Tiburon rounded out the top ten. Good individual races were turned in by Whiser 7,8,4, Streaker 5, Jose Cuervo 8, Natural Blonde 6, Capricorn 5, Kookaburra 7, and Arbitrage 6,7. 2002 saw the Silver Eagle long distance (80 nm) become a J105 counter for the first time. Tiburon broke through for a bullet followed by Out of Options, Blackhawk, Zuni Bear and Irrational Again. Kookaburra, Advantage 3, Whisper, Aquavit and Alchemy rounded out the top ten. Good individual finishers were Lightwave 11, Larrikin 12, Orion 13, Horse Play 14, Just Foolin Around 17, Pippin 18, Jupiter 19 and Anna Laura 21. In the first regatta of the second half, Tiburon scored another bullet in the first race to go back to back bullets. The Aldo Alessio was won by Blackhawk followed by Good Timin, Nantucket Sleighride, Tiburon and Wind Dance. Rounding out the top 10 were Bella Rosa, Orion, Zuni Bear, Jose Cuervo and Advantage 3. Good performances were logged by Jose Cuervo 8,8,8, Advantage 3 9,6,9, Alchemy 9 and Larrikin 13. Whisper began her run at broken boat award by blowing two halyards and a jib sheet, followed by a broken boom in the summer keel and a broken forestay in the BBS. In the Summer Keel, Zuni Bear was outstanding posting a win with a 4,1,1,1. In second was Wind Dance followed by Nantucket Sleighride. 2002 Most Improved Boat, Jabberwocky, grabbed a 4th with a steady 5,7,5,7 followed by Blackhawk, Good Timin, Tiburon, Natural Blonde, Orion and Advantage 3. Good individual results were by Arbitrage 2,8, Wianno 3, Bella Rosa 2, Bald Eagles 9, Irrational Again 6, and Pippin with an 8th. The NOOD and BBS saw a definite uptick in talent on the boats as these major regattas drew 38 and 36 boats respectively. Zuni Bear made it 4 bullets in a row and 5 out of 7 by winning the first and last race and the event with a 1,4,3,1 to clearly beat Nantucket Sleighride and Good Timin. Blackhawk got her steady 4th followed by Wind Dance, Charde, Tiburon, Jose Cuervo, Irrational Again and Advantage 3. Showing good races were Streaker 2, Advantage 3 6, Jose Cuervo 4, Tiburon 5,6, Charade 2, Walloping Swede 5, Bella Rosa 3, Larrikin 7, Just foolin Around 13, and Capricorn 14. Going into the final regatta, the 7 race BBS, Good Timin now lead Zuni Bear by a single point followed by Blackhawk and Nantucket Sleighride. Wind Dance, Tiburon and Bella Rosa were dualing it out for 5th followed by Arbitrage, Walloping Swede, Jose Cuervo, Whisper, Irrational Again, Advantage 3 and Jabberwocky fighting it out for the final 3 top ten spots. Good Timin put on a clinic to wrap up the season championship being the only boat to not have a deep score going 1,3,1,4,7,1,2 to win the regatta. Blackhawk grabbed second followed by Nantucket Sleighride, Zuni Bear, Irrational Again, Arbitrage, Walloping Swede, Charde, Wind Dance and Tiburon in the top 10. Other fine finishes included Arbitrage, Irrational Again and Walloping Swede locking up 8th, 9th and 10th for the season, Arbitrage with a 1,3,2,7, Irrational Again with a 1,4,5,7,7,8, Charade with a 2,3,4,4, Nantucket with a 2,4,4,5,5, Blackhawk with a 1,1,2,2,6, Tiburon with a 5,5,8,9, Jabberwocky with 8,8, Bandwidth 8,6, Orion 6, Bella Rosa 7,7,9, Natural Blonde 6, Jose Cuervo 8,9, Horse Play 9, Hazardous Waste 6, Kookaburra 14, Wainno 12, Just Foolin Around 15, Alchemy 17, Lightwave 19, and Juxtapose with a 21. All in all it was a season to remember. The fleet skills have improved and the competition has narrowed the fleet. Look for a return of the usual suspects next year to be chased closely by the up and comers in the fleet.
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