2018 pac 52 cup

[Photoboy]

RIO and BadPak Take Opening Day At 2018 PAC 52 CUP

An early season low pressure system moved in to Northern California on Friday, and with it brought unusually cool over cast skies for San Francisco in late September, which is normally the Bay Area belated hot spell. The southwestern flow bringing with it, a nice sea breeze which would build throughout the course of the day.











2017’s PAC52 Champions, Tom Holthus’s BadPak had returned, determined too change their luck earlier in the season where promising leads had evaporated, denying them bullets to put in their holster. Season points leader, local boat, Frank Slootman’s Invisible Hand, entered the weekend with 70 points for the season, and having a dominating performance at the STFYC’s Rolex Big Boat Series just 2 weeks earlier. Manouch Moshayedi’s RIO had shown moments of brilliance throughout the season, arrived more determined than ever to erase some of the bad luck which eliminated promising races and Austin And Gwen Fragomen’s Interlodge proudly came in holding a second-place overall season points position, not bad for an East Coast team learning the West Coast race courses and their intrinsic nuances.











Race One, course 4, a 10.4 nm race would start in flat water just west of Alcatraz, in 10-12 knots of wind and a healthy 3.5 knot flood. RIO would win the start and lead the pack up to the weather mark with BadPak, Interlodge and Invisible Hand in close pursuit. RIO would stretch their lead downhill as the fleet would stretch out across the billiard flat, near empty bay, boats attempting to locate the favored lanes. RIO would arrive at the leeward gate below Alcatraz with an impressive lead with the 3 others closely pack behind them. The following leg would witness the fleet spreading out, with The Hand choosing the city front would reap benefits, arriving just behind RIO with BadPak and Interlodge, several boat lengths aft. The status would remain the same in the next two legs with RIO claiming their 1st bullet of the regatta.



Race two, on course 17 a slightly shorter version of course 4 with a Hollywood downhill finish began in slightly increased wind and slightly less flood. RIO would win the start with all boats arriving at weather mark in very tight formation, RIO sliding around in 1st with an overlap on BP and The Hand and Interlodge closely behind. The Hand would show their downhill speed and manage to arrive at the lower mark just ahead of BadPak then Interlodge and RIO. BadPak would find a second gear by the 2nd weather mark, leading Interlodge the RIO and The Hand before setting their kite and taking their 1st bullet of the series, with Interlodge, the Hand and RIO very close behind.











Fridays Finale, course 6 a 12.8 nm in breeze now in the high teens and low 20’s would follow a similar route with a slightly more distant leeward mark and a building ebb would witness BadPak jumping to an early lead in a very tight formation that yielded little on the march to the weather mark. In the tightest rounding of the day, BadPak would arrive just a hair in front of The Hand, RIO and Interlodge before the fleet would spread slightly before arriving at Alcatraz in commute bus proximity. During the process The Hand and Badpak would mix things up with BadPak’s kite brushing the Hand’s forcing them into a quick 360 to clear themselves. RIO would arrive at the leeward mark in 1st with Interlodge, The Hand and BadPak in close pursuit. The order would remain the through the next windward leg but change once again on a very fast finale downhill run for the day, with The Hand squeezing in ahead of BadPak at the mark. The finale push back to the finish off the St Francis Race Deck would witness RIO maintaining their lead to take their 2nd bullet of the day with The Hand in 2nd, BadPak in 3rd and Interlodge close behind in 4th.



The Racing ends with RIO taking a 1-4-1 for 6 points, The Hand going 2-3-2 for 7 points tying BadPak with a 3-1-3 and Interlodge taking a 5-3-5 for 13 points ( 1 point per race penalty for none owner driver class rule)

Racing continues with 3 additional races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.


http://pac52class.com/

[Photoboy]

Spellbinding video bay Eddie Frank and Guinevere King above and mesmerizing images from
Mark Albertazzi below...

[Photoboy]

The RIO Continues To Roll




Saturday’s dawn broke over the San Francisco Bay Area with a tropical flare if you will, very reminiscent of the warmth and humidity one might experience in Rio, the iconic beach city of Brazil, from which Manouch Moshayedi’s Ferrari Orange 52’ has inherited her name. It is a tad bit complicated, but the chain of grand prix boats the Moshayedi has owned has born the name.
With the same early season disturbance currently parked off the north Pacific, and now Hurricane Rosa spinning off the Baja coast, the weather in the Bay Area took a dramatic bounce in humidity and temperature overnight, and with it, a more southerly flow, complicating matters on the race course. While beautiful, dramatic skies enveloped the race track for Saturdays scheduled 3 races, the winds were a bit on the “less than compliant or agreeing with forecast” side.












After a bit of a delay, the RC finally was able to get things rolling when the westerly flow replaced the early easterly, sending the fleet off on a 10nm course 17 in 10-12 knots. The fleet would all take the central bay up to the weather mark just inside the Golden Gate before bearing off on the 1st downhill sleigh ride to the #1 Green Buoy east of Alcatraz. All boats NOT named RIO would take the northerly route over the former penitentiary, or “Little Australia” as the Kiwi’s like to refer to it. For the boat named RIO, the southerly route paid off in spades, arriving at the leeward mark with room to spare with BadPak, Invisible Hand and Interlodge rounding closely to each other.







The next windward leg would have the fleet parading past the Alcatraz cone to the south, RIO retaining her lead but Interlodge shifting into high gear and advancing up to second by the 3rd mark, and holding on to retain that position on the short downhill run for another Hollywood finish. The results for race 4 would show RIO with yet another bullet, Interlodge taking a deuce plus one to share a 3 with Invisible Hand and BadPak whiskers behind with a 4th.









Race 5 started after another delay, as the aforementioned weather system continued to vacillate before settling down long enough to set a windward mark of 220 degrees, kinda-sorta real close to the edge of the StFYC clubhouse and in near proximity it an on going Woodies Regatta in progress along the City Front. The same course would be called for, although somewhat skewed and a tad shorter. Yet the results would be similar. RIO would jump out to an early lead and defend it to the weather mark, with Invisible Hand this time edging out Interlodge at the mark, and BadPak being able to slide through to round in 3rd before another fast run in flood to the #1 Green mark.







The wind would lighten and the fleet compressed yet again with RIO, The Hand, Interlodge and BadPak rounding in tight formation, with no change in order for the next two legs, now being sailed in flat sea and 5-7 knots of wind. RIO would hold on to secure her 4th bullet of the regatta, The Hand in 2nd, Interlodge in 3rg and BadPak in 4th.
The scheduled race 6 finally got started after another delay while a frustrated RC tried to be reasonable with the unreasonable wind, with yet another minute OCS infraction by the impeccable Invisible Hand , which had returned back to starting area when the abandon race hail was transmitted after yet another wild swing in wind direction forced the call. Attempts to reset proved unsuccessful and racing ended with 5 heats complete for the day.


Racing continues on Sunday, with 2, maybe3 races yet to be sailed:
Results: https://www.regattatoolbox.com/resul...tID=VJsgGsjw9b

http://pac52class.com/

[Photoboy]

More Tasty Video and Stills

[Buzz Light Beer]

Cool stuff mon, cool stuff!

[Photoboy]

RIO Wins PAC52 Cup, The Hand Takes Series Championship




A warm fall morning greeted the San Francisco Bay on Sunday, with light easterlies, balmy temps and glorious sunshine. The easterly provided crews a lengthy siesta for the final day of the 2018 PAC52 Cup, and the last race of the year for the 2018 PAC52 5 stop series. Entering in to the day RIO had claimed 4 bullets in the previous 5 races, with a total of 8 points, The Hand lay in 2nd with 12, BadPak had the only other bullet and a total of 15 with Interlodge holding 20 points, 5 of them SCP baggage due to owner driver rule and the one-point penalty assessed per race. (Brad Rodi stepped in for series for owners Gwen and Austin Fragomen)









In the big picture, with the season championships on the line, Invisible Hand had won 2 of the prior events and tying a 3rd, for a total of 78 points. In 2nd, with an even 100 points, despite a bundle of SCP’s, Interlodge, had one regatta victory and a tie. RIO entered the day with 110 points total and last year’s season champions, BadPak with 120.



All numbers crunched and just two races to go, Invisible Hand had to just finish the final two races to win the overall championship, and had little to lose if they decided to get a little sporty on the course. When the boats finally pushed off the dock just after noon, a cool westerly had filled in across the race track, 12-13 knots and flat seas.
When the boats entered the box for the start of race 6, a 7.0 nm course 23, The Hand was ready to play spoiler and wanted to make regatta leader RIO earn their 1st regatta victory of the year. “We had wiggle room and figured we would have some fun with it” commented Invisible Hand’s Frank Slootman “We took RIO into the point at the start and forced them into a 360 straight off”.











The effort worked for a short while, and the unfettered Interlodge and BadPak benefitted greatly, rounding the weather mark in clean fashion with The Hand and RIO trailing.
The pressure had increased by 5-7 knots on the 1st leg and the boat blasted downhill in a flourish. RIO would break from the fleet and take a southerly route to the mark 1 mile east of Alcatraz, and the other 3 would take the north side. When the leeward merge occurred, The Hand had outpaced the fleet arriving 1st, Interlodge in 2nd, BadPak in 3rd and RIO 4th, but with a much smaller gap. During the next upwind beat, Invisible Hand would continue it match race covering of RIO and arriving 1st at the weather mark, would luff RIO up in an attempt to allow the other boats inside.












“We thought we had them right where we wanted” Frank would later say “ But Manouch is a slippery sailor, ad the whole thing backfired” RIO would escape and lead the charge downhill for another Hollywood finish and their 5th Bullet of the regatta, with Interlodge and The Hand, in a photo finish with The Hand claiming 2nd by inches!

For the Finale, Race 7, a repeat course 23, the boats started clean in 20 plus knots, and Interlodge would find another gear and assume the lead from the 1st beat onward. With plenty of space, Interlodge would continue to build on their lead past the 1st weather mark, accelerating ahead of The Hand, RIO and BadPak in a route, taking their 1st bullet of the regatta, yet score a deuce with the SCP as per class rules.



Back at the dock, the skippers and crews of boats would exchange pleasantries and congratulate one another on the season well done, carry the sails one final time back to the trailers and exchange plans for the near future. The big winners for the day, Frank Slootman and tactician Gavin Brady would have a laugh filled discussion with Manouch Moshayedi and tactician Mike Menninger on the day’s shenanigans, the regatta and the season. “It’s just been fantastic sailing here this year regardless of the results” Manouch would comment” San Francisco Bay is the ultimate place to race these boats, we can’t wait to come back again!”


With the 2018 season a wrap, most boats will pack up and ship to SoCal for a well-deserved rest before reconvening at the San Diego Yacht Club for the Midwinters.


http://www.pac52class.com/
https://www.regattatoolbox.com/resul...tID=VJsgGsjw9b

[Charlie Tuna]

Had the fleet cross our paths Saturday, it's a good thing they groan like they do because they sure do sneak up fast!

[Panama Red]

They just need 3 or four more boats to make it a real grand prix event. Wish I had a few
$ million to waste on one!

[Big Brass Balls]

Great video work!

[IOR Geezer]

Great video work!

Agreed!

Top notch production.

Just need a few more boats and a few more events.

Why don't they come do the Offshore Race Week?

[Alan H]

I'll never play on board one of those but they sure are sexy.