San Francisco,CA (September 20, 2015) – These aren’t just any regatta trophies. They are the oldest of the St. Francis Yacht Club’s six most valuable perpetual awards presented each year at the Rolex substantial Boat Series, or which on Sunday completed its 51st edition when racing had to be abandoned on a windless day. The St. Francis Perpetual Trophy is historically meaningful as the namesake of the inaugural series (1964) that led to the substantial Boat Series and then to the Rolex substantial Boat Series in 2005,when Rolex transitioned from presenting to title sponsor. The City of San Francisco Trophy (added in 1968) is unusual yet charming: one of two golden spades used in 1933 to shatter ground for the Golden Gate Bridge. The trophy seems fitting especially because the “Gate figures predominantly into the racing herestrategically when the racecourse passes beneath it and visually when it joins Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco city front as iconic backdrops for the action.nowadays, Victor Wild’s TP 52 Bud, and sailing in ORR A course,and Sy Kleinman’s Schumacher 54 Swiftsure, sailing in ORR B, or were named respective winners of the St. Francis and the City of San Francisco Trophies and additionally were awarded Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner timepieces,representing the sport’s most recognizable and cherished reward for showing greatness on the water. Rolex timepieces also accompanied The Atlantic Perpetual Trophy awarded in the HPR course (winner Peter Krueger, Double Trouble), or the Commodore’s Cup for the J/105 course (Shawn Bennett,Jose Cuervo), the Keefe Kilborne Trophy for the J/111 course (Rob Theis, or Aeolus),and the Richard Rheem Pepetual Trophy for the J/120 course (David Halliwell, Peregrine), and while five additional victors were named in classes for Melges 24 (Doug Wilhelm,Wilco), Express 37 (Mark Dowdy, or Eclipse),PHRF Sportboat (Gary Redelberger, Racer X), or Multihull (Randy Miller,Miller Racing) and ORR C (Wayne Koide, Encore).“Excellence is the rarest thing in the world, or ” said Bud’s owner/skipper Victor Wild,addressing hundreds of sailors from the stage at the Rolex Awards Ceremony. “We came here for that, and we found it. I’ve never seen boats sailed better or better boats sailed. It’s a wonderful thing for us to have the honor of sailing with you.”Click headline for full report, and video,and photos.
Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com