Epic DoubleHanded Farallones Race

J/105s & J/120s Clean House!
(San Francisco, CA)- According to a number of people who sailed this year’s BAMA Doublehanded Farallones Race, “we believe this one now falls into the "nuking" category.  1982 was nuking.  2012 was heavy.  2016 was extra fresh, sunny out the Golden Gate Bridge, then foggy/cloudy offshore blowing 20-30 kts plus!!  So, for sure nuking!”  Another sailor observed, “that was one sporty day on the Gulf of the Farallones, wasn't it?  Certainly one of the breezier roundings of Bird Turd Rock that I've done.  The fleet had to handle 10-12 foot seas, 22-28 knots of wind steady and gusting higher. What was real trippy was how much windier it got after we got around the rock.  Shook out the reef, unfurled the headsail to the maximum, 95 degree AWA, and rarely saw less that 9.5 knots of boat speed.  Then, the wind really came up- averaged 27-28 TWS all the way in- had to roll the jib back up to smallest size, and we still experienced something like a dozen round-ups as 30-32 knot gusts hit us.  Wow!  We hit speeds of 15 knots+ dozens of times, top boat speed was 17.7 knots.”

As usual, this West Coast double-handed offshore classic, hosted by the Bay Area Multihull Association, can serve up some memorable sailing experiences.  It is a race that has challenged some of the best offshore sailors in California and is legendary for producing outrageous sailing conditions offshore.  Loving the rough conditions were the fleet of doublehanded J’s making the mad dash to the rock and back.

In the PHRF 10 “big boat” division, the J/120 crews simply swept the podium, with Mike O’Callaghan & John Verdoia on PEREGRINE taking the class honors 7 min 30 sec on corrected time, taking 8:18:27 to finish the 58nm race.  Taking the silver was Ludovic & Delphine Millin (one of the few “Jack & Jill” teams in the race) sailing their J/120 SAETTA super fast to go around the track in just 8:27:51.  The bronze medal went to the duo of Sean & Jeff Mulvihill on JAMANI, rounding the course in 8:50:21.

Not surprisingly, the J/105s nearly swept their class, too.  It was the duet of John Robison & Simon James on LIGHTWAVE that won their PHRF 9 division with an elapsed time of 9:41:22 and corrected time of 10:01:44.  Taking third place was another “Jack & Jill” team, Richard Pipkin & Mary McGrath on the J/105 RACER X, finishing 9:58:30 on elapsed and 10:19:28 on corrected.  A fantastic performance for both the J/105 and J/120 teams! Sailing photo credits- Pressure-drop.us.  For more BAMA Doublehanded Farallones sailing information


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