September 2010

Bruce Stone managed a victory in the first race and a fourth in the second race of this seven-race series, all the while hoping to not end up in a tacking duel because his rudder bearings on Arbitrage progressively froze as the day wore on and he could barely move the tiller in the afternoon, steering downwind pushing his hip against the tiller. He then faced the decision of pulling out, but had the inspiration to call Tom Coates, whose boat Masquerade was not racing. Bruce didn’t have to say anything – when Tom answered the phone and Bruce identified himself, Tom said “Don’t tell me – your boat blew up? You can have my boat!” On day two of the regatta, the team showed up quite early and stripped the sails and running rigging off of Masquerade, brought over the gear from Arbitrage, tuned the rig and went sailing, pulling off a 2nd and a 3rd on the borrowed boat. They then finished out the regatta with two 5’s and a 7, for 27 points, and was the only team with all single digit races. Second Place went to Scooter Simmons on Blackhawk, six points back with 33 points, and third went to Jeff Littfin on Mojo, 14 points back with 41 points.

This was Bruce’s first Big Boat Series win and his second Rolex, after having won the 2009 Rolex Block Island Race Week in another borrowed (blue) boat, Power Play. Stone also became the first J/105 owner to win two separate fleet series in the same year: Fleet 1 in San Francisco with Arbitrage and Fleet 14 in Newport, RI with Power Play.

Seventeen J/105s competed in the 2010 Sarcoma Cup on August 28th and 29, sponsored by the Berkeley Yacht Club. The fleet raced five races on a windward / leeward racecourse on Southampton Shoal. Saturday’s conditions were gusty and shifty with breeze for most of the day in the 12 to 22 knot range. An uncharacteristically windy Friday night left the Bay with a big chop despite a building flood throughout the race day. Sunday was a bit more settled with flatter water, smaller shifts and somewhat higher velocity. While the J/105 fleet doesn’t often participate in Berkeley Yacht Club events, the BYC race committee did an excellent job with somewhat difficult conditions, providing a relatively square line, even gates and well-laid course.

Adam Spiegel’s crew on Jam Session sailed the most consistent regatta, with all top-three finishes, including two bullets, for a total of 9 points. Bruce Stone’s gang on Arbitrage was close behind, scoring a total of 14 points. Rounding out the top five were Phil Laby and Rich Pipkin’s Racer X (19 points), Scooter Simmon’s Blackhawk (22 points) and John Horsch’s Business Time (30 points).