J/Shorthanders collect silver in SSS Round the Rocks Race

Scott Easom's gorgeous J/100 Eight Ball - SSS Round the Rocks Race © Rolex / Daniel Forster

A large fleet of 118 boats full of shorthanded crews signed up for the Singlehanded Sailing Society's popular "Round The Rocks" Race this past Saturday.

A 19.3 nm jaunt from the Berkeley Circle, around "The Rock" of Alcatraz, up to Harding Rock, and then north to "the Brothers rocks," leaving all to starboard, then back south leaving Red Rock to port, and finishing in the Potrero Reach at the Richmond Yacht Club Race Platform.

Conditions were as expected, light to medium at start with winds in the 8-10 knot range with slack water changing towards an ebb made for a fast ride to the west from the flats towards the gate, and just enough south in breeze for boats carrying kites to set them after rounding Harding.

J/Teams did quite well in their respective divisions. Here's how it all went down for these intrepid adventurers.

PHRF 5 Doublehanded

In this thirteen-boat fleet, it was Dan Brousseau and Mark Smedley's J/109 TANGAROA that took the silver, while Sergey Lubarsky and Sergey Morozov's J/88 PELAGIA took home the bronze medal. Then, Tom Thayer and Bob Milligan's J/88 SPEEDWELL took fifth, while Rick Leute and Ken Grayson's J/44 ACEY DEUCY took 7th.

PHRF 10 Singlehanded

In this eleven-boat class, it was Scott Easom's gorgeous J/100 EIGHT BALL that won by over 10 minutes corrected handicap time! Not far off the pace in fourth was Tim Roche's J/92 ZAFF, followed by Jim Isbester's J/105 ENERGY in seventh place.

PHRF 11 Singlehanded

A dozen boats sailed in the "big boat" singlehanded division. Taking home the silver medal was John Kalucki's J/109 LINDO.

For more SSS Round the Rocks Race sailing information: www.sfbaysss.org