Four days of racing on San Francisco Bay has crowned a fresh crop of ORC North American Champions, with the St Francis Yacht Club's Rolex Big Boat Series doubling as the championship decider across four classes.
Thirty teams tackled everything the Bay and the Pacific outside the Golden Gate could throw at them. Wind ranged from a modest 6 knots through to 20, and the courses mixed windward-leeward work with reaching legs out in the ocean on Thursday's distance race. The regatta tested boat speed and sail handling as much as navigation and tactical nous.
ORC Deputy Chairman Matt Gallagher was impressed with how it all came together. "This year's Big Boat Series was the perfect test for our ORC North American Championship," he said. "The cooperation with St Francis YC was superb, the organisation of the event was outstanding, and there was a wide range of wind conditions to test the fleet. The teams on the podium had to work hard for their positions, and we congratulate them on this achievement."
The ratings levelled out very different boats within each class, and racing further down the fleet stayed tight. In Thursday's distance race, Class C saw just 43 seconds separate second from fifth after three and a half hours on the water.
Victor Wild's TP52 FOX 2.0 took out Class A. The crew already holds the 2024 ORC Worlds Class 0 title from Newport, Rhode Island, so this group has now won major ORC honours on both coasts of the United States. Michael Firmin's Infinity 52 ZEUS took silver, with Patrick Nichols' Rogers 46 NATURAL NINE taking bronze.
James Nichols' J/125 VELVET HAMMER was dominant in Class B, winning every race but one. Shepard Kett's Santa Cruz 50 OCTAVIA was silver, Blaine Pedlow's Santa Cruz 52 ROSEBUD bronze.
Peter Wagner's J/111 SKELETON KEY swept Class C with wins in all but the final race, enough to earn the team a Rolex timepiece. David Halliwell's J/120 PEREGRINE and John Arens' J/111 REVERIE rounded out that podium.
Class D belonged to last year's champions all over again. Zach and Ethan Berkowitz, sailing with Chris Steinfield, Hoel Manard, Matt Skafel and Trevor Foss aboard the J/100 FEATHER, won every one of their six races, the only crew in the regatta to manage a clean sweep. Daniel Brousseau's J/109 TANGAROA was runner-up, finishing second in every race, with Gregory Winters' J/35 JARLEN taking bronze.
Next year's championship heads to Florida, with the SORC and Storm Trysail Club hosting in Fort Lauderdale from 14-20 November 2027.
