Thursday, April 3, 2014

J/Fest San Francisco Preview

J/70s sailing on San Francisco Bay (San Francisco, CA)- The latest edition of the J/Fest San Francisco is taking place from April 5th to 6th on San Francisco Bay.  The teams are looking forward to excellent sailing conditions with sunny skies, 15-25 kts winds and an amazing party hosted Saturday night by St. Francis Yacht Club.  Perhaps the best part about this regatta is that all the racing takes place right along the StFYC city-front, should be fun and games for all!

J/Fest has expanded the one-design program this year, welcoming in two new fleets that have grown significantly on the Bay- the J/70s and J/111s.  They’re joining long-time supporters of the regatta, the J/24s, J/105s and J/120s.  A good turn-out of thirty-plus boats are expected to participate in the weekend-long event.

The J/70s have a very nice fleet for their inaugural participation in J/Fest, they have at least eight boats on the line with many new faces meeting for the first time.  The veterans include DFZ (Eric Kownacki & Tom Jenkins) from San Diego, COOL STORY BRO (John Brigden), JENNIFER (Chris Kostanecki), PERFECT WIFE (Chris Anderson) and SUGOI (Mark Nelson).  Joining them for the first time are 1FA (Scott Sellers & Geoff McDonald), BANDIT (Scott Mack) from Nevada City, and LOOSE LUCY (Justin Kromelow).  No question this fun-loving crowd are expecting “planing mode” conditions all weekend!  And, will Chris Kostanecki’s JENNIFER crew continue their winning ways after their first weekend of one-design racing at the Big Daddy Regatta in Richmond?

The weekend forecast looks like it could shape up to be “classic” San Francisco Bay weather. According to Bruce Stone, “it looks like we’ll have some nice weather this weekend, and initially a counterclockwise course (of course wind dependent), heading out for the late ebb and down the city front on the early flood – sure beats short tacking the city front!  That will probably switch for the third race on Saturday and we’ll go up the shore once the full flood is established and we want to head upwind in lessening flood inside.  The fleet will likely split on this routing during the second race as the heavy rains we’re experiencing might create an earlier than normal ebb.”  For more J/Fest San Francisco sailing information