Roepers had a hot hand on the tiller and got nearly flawless crew work in posting a wire-to-wire victory at the St. Francis Yacht Club's prestigious Rolex Big Boat Series, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.
America's Cup veteran Terry Hutchinson called tactics for Roepers, who won five of eight races and finished no lower than third in the four-day regatta. In a fiercely competitive class that is famous for having its regattas come down to the last leg of the last race, Plenty pulled off a rare and remarkable feat. With an amazingly low score of 13 points, the New York entry finished 24 points ahead of runner-up Enfant Terrible, skippered by Alberto Rossi of Ancona, Italy.
"It was a very touching ceremony, tremendously respectful and just beautiful to watch," said Geoff Stagg, manager of the Farr 40 class. "Flojito stopped in the middle of the start line and all the boats lined up to leeward then sailed past with the entire crew on the rail with their heads bowed or their hands over their hearts."
Co-owner Julian Fernandez chose not to race on Friday out of respect for his close friend and partner. However, the entire Flojito y Cooperando crew felt the boat should race on Saturday to honor the memory of Bernardo. The Mexican entry put forth a strong performance, posting results of seventh and eighth in strong winds on Saturday.
After abandoning the first start due to light, shifty winds, the St. Francis Yacht Club race committee completed two exciting races in 20-25 knot southwesterly winds.
"It was a difficult day. The PRO rightfully blew off the first race. It took a while for the wind to fill in, but once it did it was typical San Francisco Bay," said Geoff Staff, manager of the Farr 40 class.
Skippers and tacticians had to be on their toes in Race 1 on the Berkeley Circle as it lasted just three legs, each of which was 1.3 nautical miles in length. Chicago owner Helmut Jahn and his crew aboard Flash Gordon 6 passed Groovederci on the downwind leg then maintained their lead on the second beat to secure the victory.
Santa Barbara skipper John Demourkas and his crew aboard Groovederci jumped from fourth to second in the overall standings with a pair of runner-up finishes on Friday. Meanwhile, German owner Wolfgang Schaefer rebounded from a tough opening day to win Race 3 and place third in Race 4 and make a dramatic move into fifth overall.
New York skipper Alex Roepers and his team on Plenty continued to set the pace - taking third in the first race and winning the second on Friday to extend their lead to six points. Plenty has displayed superb boat speed in post a strong score line of 2-1-3-1 for a low score of seven points, six better than Groovederci.
"We are very happy with our performance today. We seem to constantly have a slight edge in speed on the upwind legs. We have made gains every time on the beats," Roepers said.
The Farr 40 International Circuit will be decided during the Rolex Big Boat Series, being held this Thursday through Sunday out of St. Francis Yacht Club. And what better locale to culminate an intense season of sailing than San Francisco Bay - one of the greatest sailboat racing venues in the world.
Factoring in one drop regatta, New York skipper Alex Roepers and the Plenty team lead the International Circuit standings with a low score of 103. Lurking not too far behind are Flash Gordon 6 (Helmut Jahn, Chicago) and Enfant Terrible (Alberto Rossi, Ancona, Italy) with 123 and 124 points, respectively. Things could change dramatically during the final regatta of the season as the Rolex Big Boat Series is a mandatory event and thus must be counted toward the final point total.