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“That went from Fresh to frightening” was the quote that was one; said at least three times a race and two; completely and accurately described this recent regatta held at St. Francis Yacht Club. Team Cricket Racing consisting of Skipper: Jeffrey Petersen, Age 16, Main Trimmer: Harrison Vandervort, Age 21, Jib Trimmer: Porter Killian, Age 18, and Bow: Britain Hammock, Age 21 took on the windy San Francisco Bay to compete in The United States Match Racing Championship Qualifier in hopes of earning a spot in this years Championship being held at Chicago Yacht Club. This event was my first chance to sail at this venue and, I am going to be completely honest, I had heard all the stories of big winds and was like “yeah ok, sure” not believing them being the typical Southern California sailor I am. But, let me tell you… the stories are are 110% true. The first day was our practice , it was blowing a very solid 25 kts and the current had made some fairly large chop for us to navigate. Before that day I had never seen a keel on a large boat come completely out of the water, but after a very well executed round down and death roll, we managed to get the keel a nice big breath of air before returning underwater. That would be the first of many round downs with the spinnaker that day. We finished sailing around 4:30 after getting some quality big wind sailing that we are not very accustomed too. We made our way over to The Beach Street Yacht Club where we were staying and immediately crashed. The next day was day one of the regatta… being slightly battle worn from the day prior, we were moving a bit slow in the morning. When we stepped out of the car at 9:30 a.m. it was already blowing steady a 20 knots and we knew it was going to be a very long day. We had our skippers meeting where we got to meet all the other skippers, 3 of which were youth which was great to see, but I was still the youngest by a couple years. Among the list of skippers was StFYC’s own Nicole Breault who is ranked 100 in the world, and San Diego’s Chris Nesbitt. We knew it was going to be a tough event but, we were ready for a great day of sailing. We rigged up and headed out for the first start. We turned the corner from the protected marina and was met by a nice wave to the face and an even fresher 25 knots of wind. We did a quick warm up and then took down our jib, to conserve energy feeling ready for the first race, but we were sent back in due to excessive winds. J-22s in 25 knots + is a very terrifying experience and I would NOT recommend it. Little did we know that would be the extent of our sailing for the day as the wind never came back down to a sailable level. We spent the day at the beautiful StFYC clubhouse talking with our competitors and making friends, which was one of my favorite parts about this event. Due to the lack of sailing on the first day we, were set to have our first start at 8:23 a.m. When we arrived at the ungodly hour of 7:30 a.m to the club to begin rigging we were not adequately dressed for the much lower temperatures in the morning. None the less I have never seen four guys jump into their foulies and thermal gear so fast in my entire life. We had a great day of racing and were able to complete one whole round robin and ended the regatta with a record of 5 wins and 2 losses. We were very content. We finished 2nd to Nicole Breault, who sailed a very impressive regatta with a record of 6-1. Overall this event was fantastic and I cant wait to sail up on the bay again.
I would like to thank the StFYC for hosting an amazing regatta even with the weather not cooperating. I would also like to thank The Commodore and Bridge of the Break Street Yacht Club for the housing. Finally, I would like to personally thank my crew for coming up with me and doing an amazing job in very challenging conditions even as an all youth team. In addition I would like to thank as The Newport Harbor Sailing foundation for their generous sailing grants to help keep me on the water. Thank you!