In front of an energetic crowd and both Stanford and Cal's marching bands with the Golden Gate Bridge providing a stunning backdrop, the Cardinal's varsity sailors beat Cal to win Big Sail at St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francsico.
The all-senior squad of Hans Henken, Kieran Chung, Haley Kirk and Max Kohrman cruised to the victory in the best-of-three series by sweeping the first two races.
Their performance performance was backed up by some of their former teammates in the Alumni division (39 years and younger). Nick Dugdale, Oliver Riihiluoma, Katie Riklin and Ben Pedrick, who all graduated from Stanford between 2011 and 2013, swept the division 2-0 against three sailors from Cal who averaged more than 10 years their senior.
Cal fought back in the older divisions, winning the Masters (40-59 years old) and Grand Masters (60+ years old) divisions to split the event 2-2. Rolf Kaiser, Al Sargent and Dave Lyons represented Stanford in the Masters boat and Peter Szaaz, John Claude, Dick Watts and Walt Spevak sailed the Grand Masters boat for the Cardinal.
The atmosphere was the real star of the show, as both bands performed throughout the races both inside the yacht club and out on the balcony overlooking San Francisco Bay. The sailors were so close to the yacht club that they could hear the bands as they sailed, which makes the Big Sail unlike any other regatta on the schedule.
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The Big Sail also marked the close of another successful fall season for Stanford. Freshman Luke Muller and fifth-year senior Sally Mace provided the biggest highlights with their wins at the Men's and Women's PCCSC Singlehanded Championships, respectively, and Stanford took home team titles at the Women's Pacific Coast Championship and the PCCSC Match Racing Championship.
The Cardinal is next scheduled to compete at the Rose Bowl Regatta on Jan. 3-4 in Pasadena, Calif.