Who Was Jessica? Why do we race for her Cup?
The Answer: For over thirty years the classic yacht sailors of San Francisco Bay have gathered together at the St. Francis Yacht Club to contend for the Jessica Cup and a host of other awards. For the last decade many have pondered the question: “Who Was Jessica?” We’ve finally learned a little more and it’s fascinating.
Once again in the fall of 2023 the fleet gathered at the St. Francis Yacht Club to contest the Jessica Cup and one of the most senior members of our fleet, StFYC Staff Commodore Terry Klaus, provided the background story. We’ve no idea if all of it is true, but what story from 80 years ago is ever unmodified by time?
It seems that a very prestigious yacht club on the east coast had a member with a daughter named Jessica. As daughters often do, she entranced her father with her wit and beauty. This left him proud, willing, and able to endow a sailing cup in her honor and donate it to his club. The Jessica Cup was born.
But, as daughters often do, she grew up and along the way struck up a relationship with a boy of the type that all fathers disapprove of. Enraged, the father banished poor Jessica from the family estates, packed up the silver trophy, and shipped it west to the St. Francis Yacht Club. It has resided there ever since. A few years later, an enterprising sailor discovered it in a storage room, and dedicated it to the revitalized classic yacht racing scene on San Francisco Bay. It has been raced for ever since.
A few weeks ago, the MAYAN crew gathered for the 43rd sailing of the Jessica Cup. Listed on the expanded trophy base are legendary names in San Francisco classic yacht sailing: DORADE, SANTANA, ODESSY, and others. MAYAN has managed three victories in this great event, chasing hard after Hank’s seven wins. The format is two races between the fastest of the fleets, the Marconi One Class.
The 2023 Jessica Cup Aboard MAYAN
Race-1: The Principal Race Officer selected a triangle course as MAYAN and her competitors struggled to find a way to stem a fading flood tide in light 6 to 8 knot winds. From the start it was clearly going to be a struggle for our heavy schooner to outsail the S&S designed 54' ketch KAY of GÖTEBORG , S&S designed 48' yawl FAIRWIN, and the Lester Stone designed 62' sloop WATER WITCH. Light wind is not MAYAN’s strong suit, but the crew worked hard to win the start and round the Blackaller mark to start the broad reach to Harding Rock buoy second to KAY.
While rounding Harding Rock, we managed to gybe inside of KAY and head off for the Fort Mason buoy with a small but building lead. Sadly, a container ship was on a colision course with us, and despite MAYAN being a sailboat they have the right-of-way at all times within the narrow confines of the San Francisco Bay. We hardened up to pass astern of the ship and were foreced to carry on the wind for so long that we re-set our spinnaker for the last quarter of the leg. The crew did an extraordinary job of the manuvers in close quarters, and the sail handling was flawless.
Sadly, the boats behind us weren’t delayed by the ship, and KAY and the rest of the fleet gained a crucial 3 minutes on us. This was to put KAY first and push MAYAN back to 4th place.
Race-2: After a brief rest for sandwiches and water, the crew readied MAYAN for the start of the second race. Lines were checked, sails were trimmed and the crew did a fantasitc job of getting us in perfect position to win the start. By now, a strong ebb tide was running and the wind speed had increased to 8 to 12 knots.
WATER WITCH attempted to barge into the north end of the starting line, a quick luff up discouraged her and she spun away to tack and gybe back to avoid us. Unfortunately, your author lost sight of the red-rubber ball that marked the north end of the line, and ran over the thing. After getting clear of the line and the competitors, MAYAN did her penalty turn to clear the foul and took off in pursuit of KAY and FAIRWIN as all boats headed for Blackaller buoy once more.
During the beat, MAYAN managed to pass FARWIN and claw back to a few boat-lengths behind KAY. The crew aboard KAY did a great job of holding MAYAN back, despite our slighly faster speed. We tried every trick we knew to get by her on the run to Harding Rock, and the reach to Fort Mason, but she was always just one boat length ahead of us. We were not fast enough to break through to leeward and couldn’t risk a sharp luff if we tried to pass to windward of her.
Fortunately, we managed to round quickly at Fort Mason, tack, and head out into the building ebb tide while Kay sailed on in toward the Fort Mason piers. She found lighter wind there and we were by her! By now we were seeing occasional puffs of 12 knots of win, but while it helped it wasn’t enough to get MAYAN moving and save her time on KAY. She followed up around the course slowly losing ground but the collision with the starting mark, penalty turn, and the light winds that couldn’t let us get by her for the first three legs sealed our place in 2nd for the race on handicap.
The Result: While MAYAN was the first boat across the finish line in both races, she couldn’t save her time on KAY who finished with two handicap 1st places, while MAYAN had a 4th and a 2nd finish for 2nd place in the regatta. We were all a bit disappointed, but it was generally not our conditions — the wind was too light. But, it’s hard to win against a good fleet if you run over the starting mark!
The weather was beautiful, it’s always wonderful to sail MAYAN, and the crew did a good job of winning the Party! There’s always next year.
