Nov. 15, 2005
San Francisco, CA - With Northeast winds and a strong outgoing tide, three generations of Stanford Sailors defeated two generations of Cal Sailors on San Francisco Bay. The Sailing "Axe" trophy will now reside at the Stanford Boathouse for one year, until the schools battle again.
The regatta was held match-race style, similar to the America's Cup. Teams sailed borrowed 35' keelboats called J105's. The 4-race regatta was hosted and sponsored by St. Francis Yacht Club.
After a short wind delay, the Cal and Stanford bands revved up the spectators and the sailors with a battle of the bands on the waterfront deck of St. Francis Yacht Club.
In the first race, the Stanford Young Alum team (under 40) left the start line even with the Cal team. To leeward of Stanford, the Cal team was able to get out of unfavorable current and developed a lead on the Stanford boat. After four legs, the Cardinal Young Alums were unable to grind back and fell to the Cal Young Alum team.
In the second race of the day, the Stanford undergrad team won the start which went on to become a one-minute lead. The Cardinal lead the Bears around the course through four legs of the race, winning handily. In the second of the best-of-three races, Stanford maintained control at the start, and went on to lead for the first three legs. A boathandling error on Stanford's boat spent their lead going into the last leg. The Cal team closed to within seconds of the Stanford team, but was unable to beat the Cardinal to the finish line. With two races won, the third race was unnecessary. Stanford undergrad skipper Brian Haines offered a "gentlemen's race" for a best-of-five to Cal's Captain, Logan Jager.
While the undergrads made arrangements for a best-of-five series, the Master's teams (over 40) were battling it out on the water. Although taking an early lead, the Cal Masters made a critical boathandling error at the second leeward mark. This lead Cal to a foul, and gave advantage to Stanford. Skipper Dick Enersen '64 and crew capitalized on the Cal error to secure victory for the Masters and for Stanford.
In the starting sequence of the last race of the day, Cal's undergrads made a critical error by sailing into unnavigable water to escape the relentless persuit of the Stanford team. The umpires disqualified Cal in the race, giving the point and victory to Stanford.
Stanford Undergrads: Brian Haines '07, Emery Wager '07, Anna Vu '06, Craig Page '08, Eddie Conrad '08, Evan Brown '08
Stanford Young Alums (<40): rolf="" kaiser="" '95,="" dave="" kenny="" '03,="">40):>Ted Conrads '03, Al Sargent '91, Allie Rowe '93
Stanford Masters (>40): Dick Enersen '64, Kim Desenberg '69, Keith Milne '76, John Claude '83, Skip Shapiro '76, Joe McCoy '78.
Photos for use courtesy Stanford Sailing. More Photos Available upon request; akehoe@stanford.edu