Last month we took a look at the little Lasers that recently competed on the Bay in the World Laser Fest. This month the big boats get the coverage – specifically, the Rolex Big Boat Series, which is hosted every September by the St. Francis Yacht Club. This year’s event featured 81 teams of world-caliber sailors, all of whom were eager to win one of the six specially engraved Rolex timepieces given to the winners.

Big Boat Series

The Bay provided the Rolex racers blazing fast fun this year, with winds in the 20 to 25 knot range and gusts upwards of 30 knots. The series also included the Farr 30 World Championship, along with some new regatta classes designed to encourage more teams from the East Coast to come out and compete with their West Coast rivals.

“It seems that with the America’s Cup now coming to San Francisco, there are a lot of people wanting to sail in the same venue as the Cup,” said Rolex Big Boat Series regatta chairman Norman Davant. If you’d like to see how these types of events showcase San Francisco to the rest of the world, visit the Rolex Big Boat Series website at www.rolexbigboatseries.com and click on the RBBS Montage for a great look at the thrills, spills, and beauty of sailing on the Bay. Even the sea lions had a great view – watch for the tight rounding at 4:02 minutes into the video and the sea lion on the buoy just a few feet away giving the team a shout out!

Cups and Chats

In America’s Cup news, the teams head to San Diego for the next World Series stop (Nov. 12–20). You can catch the wild rides and get a sense of what shoreline racing fans are able to view by watching any of the videos you’ll find at www.americascup.com. For a sense of the sheer insanity and athleticism required to drive these speedsters, check out the video titled “The Plymouth Capsize Club.”

It’s also time for another little chat at the Golden Gate Yacht Club this month as they host the next edition of Cup Chat on Thursday, Oct. 20 – go to www.ggyc.org for details.

The Big Guns Arrive

And last but not least, the biggest of the big boats will be on view this month as the U.S. Navy’s 3rd Fleet sails into the Bay on Thursday, Oct. 6 to kick off the annual Fleet Week festivities. The USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class aircraft supercarrier, will lead the parade of ships under the Golden Gate Bridge at 11 a.m.

To watch for upcoming regattas on the Bay, you can check the schedules from the Yacht Racing Association of San Francisco Bay at www.yra.org, and of course from our own neighborhood yacht clubs at www.stfyc.org or www.ggyc.org

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Jim Maxwell has been sailing for 20 years and thinks there is no finer place to be than on the Bay. E-mail: [email protected]