San Francisco delivers four new ORC North American Champions at Rolex Big Boat Series 2026
by Offshore Racing Congress 21 Sep 03:58 EST
16-20 September 2026
In four days of short and long races held in and out of San Francisco Bay, the St Francis YC’s Rolex Big Boat Series served as the perfect test to determine four podiums of new 2026 ORC North American Champions.
The series featured a wide variety of wind conditions and course geometries to test all 30 teams in their skill sets not just in boat speed and sail handling, but in navigation and tactical positioning in the tricky conditions within both the Bay and outside the Golden Gate in the Pacific Ocean. Races were scored using models designed for the Low-Medium range of 6-12 knots up through the Medium-High range of 12-20 knots, and courses were predominantly windward-leeward but on Thursday’s Distance Race included numerous reaching legs in the Pacific.
“This year’s Big Boat Series was the perfect test for our ORC North American Championship,” said ORC Deputy Chairman Matt Gallagher. “The cooperation with St Francis YC was superb, the organization of the event was outstanding, and there was a wide range of wind conditions to test the fleet. The teams on the podium had to work hard for their positions, and we congratulate them on this achievement.”
Using ORC ratings helped level the playing field among a wide range of boat types within each class. And while the class winners dominated their rivals throughout the 6-race series, the fights for the remaining podium positions was fierce, often with only seconds in corrected time separating those in the top ranks of each race. For example, in Thursday’s ORC Distance race the total corrected time gap between 2nd and 5th place in Class C was only 43 seconds after 3.5 hours of racing.
The 2026 Class A ORC North American Champion team is Victor Wild’s TP52 FOX 2.0, whose team included Andy Horton, Artie Means, Kelvin Harrap, Scott Nixon, Chris Hosking, Maciel Cicchetti, Orrin Starr, Jareese Finchm, Chris Brittle, Graham Post, Aidan Naughton, Harry West, Henry Lee, Nevin Snow, and Andrea Wild. This team has earned major ORC championship titles now on both coasts of the US, having won the 2024 ORC Worlds Class 0 title in Newport, RI in 2024. Winning Class A at this event earned the team a beautiful Rolex timepiece.
Winning Sliver medals in Class A was Michael Firmin’s team racing his Infinity 52 ZEUS, with Patrick Nichols’s Rogers 46 NATURAL NINE winning Bronze.
In Class B the team that dominated the week by winning all but one race and thus crowned the 2026 Class B ORC North American Champion is James Nichols’s J/125 VELVET HAMMER. Sailing with Nichols was Mike Blunt, Andy McCormick, Casey Gray, Hawkeye King, Dale Scoggin, Jeane Rodgers, James Clappier, Ben Mercer, and Will Paxton.
Silver medallists in Class B sailed Shepard Kett’s Santa Cruz 50 OCTAVIA and winning Bronze was Blaine Pedlow’s Santa Cruz 52 ROSEBUD.
The winner of Class C this week also dominated their class with decisive victories in all but the last race, an achievement that earned them a Rolex timepiece. Peter Wagner’s J/111 SKELETON KEY is the new 2026 ORC Class C North American champion, sailed by Wagner and his crew of Seadon Wijsen, Chris Williams, Cory Schillaci, John Hayes, Nick Gibbens, Keith Love, Ernesto Perez, and Dave Lyons.
The Silver medallists in this class sailed David Halliwell’s J/120 PEREGRINE, with Bronze earned by John Arens’s J/111 REVERIE.
The 2026 ORC Class D North American Champion was last year’s winner in this class and dominated once again this year. Zach and Ethan Berkowitz, Chris Steinfield, Hoel Manard, Matt Skafel and Trevor Foss sailed the J/100 FEATHER to perfection, the only team in the event to win all their six races.
Daniel Brousseau’s J/109 TANGAROA earned their Silver medal title getting second place finishes in all races, and Gregory Winters’s J/35 JARLEN won Bronze.
Final results, 2026 ORC North American Championship
ORC Class A (5 entries)
1. FOX 2.0, TP52, Victor Wild, USA 2-1-1-2-1-1, 8 points
2. ZEUS, Infinity 52, Michael Firmin, AUS 1-3-2-1-2-2, 11 points
3. NATURAL NINE, Roger 46, Patrick Nichols, USA 4-4-3-3-3-3, 20 points
ORC Class B (8 entries)
1. VELVET HAMMER, J/125, James Nichols, USA 1-1-1-1-1-2, 7 points
2. OCTAVIA, Santa Cruz 50, Shepard Kett, USA 2-3-2-2-2-4, 15 points
3. ROSEBUD, Santa Cruz 52, Blaine Pedlow, USA 3-4-4-3-3-1, 18 points
ORC Class C (10 entries)
1. SKELETON KEY, J/111, Peter Wagner, USA 1-1-1-1-1-2, 7 points
2. PEREGRINE, J/120, David Halliwill, USA 2-3-3-2-5-4, 19 points
3. REVERIE, J/111, John Arens, USA 6-2-4-5-3-10, 30 points
ORC Class D (7 entries)
1. FEATHER, J/111, Zach Berkowitz, USA 1-1-1-1-1-1, 6 points
2. TANGAROA, J/109, Daniel Brousseau, USA 22 2-2-2-2-2-2, 12 points
3. JARLEN, J/35, Gregory Winters, USA 3-5-3-4-3-3, 21 points
Next year’s 2027 ORC North American Championship will be hosted by the SORC and the Storm Trysail Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida over November 14-20, 2027.
