THE RACING This year's Jazz Cup was 'comme il faut', but the SSS Half Moon Bay Race got off to an uncharacteristically rough start. Plus reports on Laser regattas away from San Francisco Bay, a quick look at the ASMBYC Champion of Champions, Beer Can Box Scores and a few Race Notes.
BOTH PHOTOS LATITUDE / CHRIS
A Jazz Cup Like It's Meant to Be One of the reasons we like to race in Labor Day Weekend's Jazz Cup is that it's the last long-distance, downwind, inland race of the season. Peeling off the foul weather gear, stripping layers en route, and arriving at a warm, friendly party destination is rewarding. Last year's race was an exception, as record-breaking triple-digit temperatures in San Francisco had racers jumping into the normally chilly waters to cool
Greg Nelsen and Dan Alvarez doublehanded 'JetStream' to an overall monohull Jazz Cup win.
off — not at Benicia, but in the Central San Francisco Bay! Alas, the breeze never did fill in and no one finished the 24-mile race within the time limit. Fast-forward one year and we find plenty of breeze at the start in the Slot, a brisk, short upwind leg to the R2 buoy, the promised fast, long downwind leg to a drop mark just shy of the Benicia Bridge, and favorable flood current. Along the way was intense competition in the 95boat fleet. Lori Tewksbury sailed with an allfemale crew on the Express 27 Hang 20. "Jenna, Jennifer, Angie, Anna, Lori. We got second." Other Express 27s were Shenanigans and Yeti. "I did the Drake's Bay Race with Adam from Yeti," said Lori. "I said, 'I'm racing against you.' Shenanigans had a good start and they were in front, but we passed them." Greg Arkus, skipper of the Tartan Ten Abba Zabba, fell overboard near Vallejo, but hung onto the guy. "We had the kite Page 102 •
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up, we crashed, we picked him up, we got him on the boat, then set the kite again and off we went," said crew Pete Belghaus. "I think we did all right considering our slight waterskiing expedition." Jay Hickman on Bob Har ford's Express 37 Stewball said he took the longest time to take off his foul weather gear because he was too busy trimming the jib and the guy. They were sailing in a division with five J/105s. "At some point we decided to just race the other Express 37, Eclipse. They had made up a lot of ground by the time we got into Carquinez Strait. At one point we were overlapped on the same board and they could have taken us up, but there was a boat in between and we got separated. At the end, on the weather leg, we were able to re-distance ourselves. We were just happy we didn't explode another kite because there was a lot of tight reaching all day. Bob's nervous about blowing up kites because we have a pretty bad track record lately." Mark Thomas, skipper of the Santa Cruz 37 WildCard, said that the wind prediction he read was 100% wrong. "It was supposed to be light and build at the end. It did the opposite. We put up the runner and we immediately headed to-
ward Berkeley because we couldn't go up. We had to reach up and drop the chute. Then we put the runner up again and it blows 20 knots at Point Pinole and we're heading toward the ship channel. We had to douse again. We put up a Code Zero. It wasn't fast. We had all the wrong sails up at the right time. We had taken the A7 off. If we'd had that — oh man! We had a day of the wrong kite up, and we learned a lesson. Our boat is so light we can't reach at all with a big kite." Bob Walden's Cal 39 Sea Star pulled off a division win by two seconds over Joan Byrne on the Beneteau 38 Mist. "It was a beautiful day; it was a lot of fun; I want to thank Jesus and my parents; and I owe it all to drinking a little rum every morning because that keeps me on edge," quipped Bob. Peter Baldwin on the J/105 Big Buoys called the conditions perfect, "the Jazz Cup as we remember it. This was less than 20 knots. It paid off to go high very early on the downwind leg and then bear away. We caught up to loads of the other boats. It got fluky at Carquinez, which always takes us by surprise, and I pick my brain: Where's the best place to be in the water? "This was what Jazz Cup should be about. And look," he added, pointing out the crowd in the raft-up, "it's very social."
Mark Kennedy's Flying Tiger 10 'CentoMiglia' performed a repeat win of the Jazz Cup Trophy, a challenge between the hosting clubs, South Beach and Benicia YC. The crew — Vladimir, Victoria, Ross, Mark, Ben and Pearl — are pictured below with the coveted horn.
