| Rolex Big Boat Series - Day 3 Report |
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 Despite a light-wind start to the third day of racing at Rolex Big Boat Series, the St. Francis Yacht Club's (StFYC) race committee managed to complete two challenging races for the 900-plus sailors competing here. The breeze built while racers waited on San Francisco Bay, finally materializing in the 12-15 knot range. The StFYC will award its six Perpetual Trophies after tomorrow's final Bay Tour Race, the traditional end for the seven-race, four-day regatta. Across the eight classes, there have been some standout performances this week. One is Gerard Sheridan's on Tupelo Honey, an Elan 40 sailing in IRC C. In six races Sheridan has won all but one, and in that race he came second. A total score of seven points, 15 points less than the second-place boat Acabar, owned by Jean-Yves Lenolormy (San Francisco), means that Sheridan has captured the title in his class overall, regardless of tomorrow's outcome. "I'm still in slight disbelief," said Sheridan. "The whole last 12 months have been toward winning this. It's been a major goal of ours. We have had a very solid crew for the last year and just basically put a lot of work and focus into it." Success in the tricky conditions of the Bay can be tough for most to achieve, and Sheridan's win is even more remarkable because he only began sailing in 1997. "Most of my racing sailing that I've done has been here," said Sheridan, who was born in Ireland, but now calls San Francisco home. "The big stuff I learned and developed as a sailor has been here. I didn't start as a four-year-old on dinghies. A program like this is about management, it's like running a small business. You make sure you have the right team and the right crew, you focus on results. All year we've focused on winning this." Even though Tupelo Honey does not have to sail tomorrow's final Bay Tour race, Sheridan is planning on making it count. "I don't like to go out on the water to cruise," he said. "Tonight we'll go to a crew dinner and party, and tomorrow, we'll go racing." Another standout performance is that of John Siegel (San Francisco) on Scorpio in the IRC B class. He has won all but two races to date and has essentially won his class. The only undefeated sailor is Andy Costello (Novato, Calif.) with his 1D35 Double Trouble. Costello and his team lead the eight-boat class with six points, over second-place Yeofy, owned by Eliel Redstone (Corte Madera, Calif.), with 14 points. Two classes saw shake-ups at the top of the fleet. The J/120 class is now led by Steven Madeira's (Menlo Park, Calif.) Mr. Magoo, while local sailor Chris Perkins on Good Timin' now tops the 36-boat J/105 class. In IRC A, a number of protests were filed so, at press time, the results were undetermined. Going into today, Jim Gregory's (Danville, Calif.) Morpheus had a 1-point lead on Robert Youngjohns's (Woodside, Calif.) Zephyra. Racing continues tomorrow at 11:00am on San Francisco Bay within viewing range of Pier 39 and the Marina District, between Treasure Island and the Golden Gate Bridge, with the finish line set off the St. Francis Yacht Club Race Deck. Coveted prizes for the fleet are six perpetual trophies - Richard Rheem, St. Francis, City of San Francisco, Atlantic, Keefe-Kilborn Memorial and the Commodore's Cup. Regarded by sailors as one of the world's premier sailboat racing events, the Rolex Big Boat Series joins the list of other prestigious Rolex-sponsored events in 2006: the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Related Items:
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