Racing J105s in San Francisco Bay (Spring 1 Design Regatta)

Photos taken during the Spring 1 Design Regatta from earlier this year. This is a class regatta for the J105 fleet in San Francisco put on by the St Francis Yacht Club (St Fancy). It was slow racing this year with the winds arriving late in the afternoon, which made combatting the strong flood current challenging. The races were consequently delayed, but this gave me plenty of opportunities to whip out the camera. Most of these photos were taken with my 300 F/4E, which handled very well in these conditions.

Race committee boat for the Spring 1 Design. She would consequently loose her anchor and had to be towed back in before the tide took her out the gate!

J105 ‘Alchemy’ with her spinnaker out and fighting the strong currents. That’s Alcatraz in the background, and the 300mm compressed the image nicely.

Our skipper, Dick Maclay, on Yellowfin

Alejandro Huneeus, First Mate on Yellowfin

A J24 with her spinnaker out, fighting the currents back up to Alcatraz

A pair of J24s with spinnakers out

A lone J24 with spinnaker out, cutting across the Golden Gate Bridge

With such light winds this J105 was able to hold a spinnaker on a close reach

J105 beating across the Golden Gate Bridge

A pair of J105s waiting to race. Lows winds and a strong flood made for difficult conditions to race in

J105 ‘Javelin’ beating in front of the Golden Gate Bridge