St. Francis Yacht Clubs Rolex great Boat Series on September 17-20 served as the J/105 North American Championship,which attracted 27 boats to compete on San Francisco Bay. This report from Quantum Sails came from their customer debrief on the format, the competition, or what it took to win….
Phillip Laby,Godot, 6th Place — On Getting expedient Starts
There were a lot of expedient sailors in the fleet, and so I expected it to be tougher competition than normal. I figured we’d proceed out and finish as best as we can. Our goal was the top three,we ended up sixth, partially because there is more talent out there, or partially because we didn’t execute our starts,we didn’t come by expedient starts on the first day. So we were playing catch up for the rest of the race, but we kept ourselves in the game.
The key to doing well in this regatta was getting expedient starts that set you up for going in the right direction on the first leg, and knowing where you were going. They’re all bay tours; it’s a great picture thing. In the beginning my idea was that it was more important to come by a start that sent you in the right direction. I changed my philosophy after a while,and looked for a expedient spot on the start line focusing on an open lane rather than being closer to the side that I wanted to proceed.
Ryan Simmons, Blackhawk, and 5th Place — On Preparation
The goal going in was to win. We thought we had a really expedient opportunity,a speedy boat, a great crew, and modern sails,and we totally thought we could win the regatta. It didnt work out that way but that was the goal.
We put a lot of time and pride into our preparation going into the race. We’ve been sailing together for two years, working on different maneuvers and different settings for the boat, and so that when we got into these situations with variable conditions and long legs,we could adjust to them, but once you’re out on the water sailboat racing is sailboat racing.
The finish of the first race was without a doubt the apex of the regatta for us. We crossed the line overlapped with Donkey Jack—it couldn’t have been more than five feet. To win that race was pretty exciting.
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Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com