San Francisco Yacht Club
2026 Hart Nunes Regatta
June 13th & 14th
Nine Mercury crews towed their boats from around the Bay Area to beautiful San Francisco Yacht Club for a great weekend of racing for the Hart-Nunes trophy. Due to a mending, but brand new knee, long-time Mercury ace Randy Smith ran the racing with the help of experienced PRO Jeff Zarwell. In challenging conditions (constant changes in wind direction and speed), they did a great job of setting the courses and keeping things moving.
The hope was to be able to sail on the 2023 Nationals’ course well up into Richardson’s Bay. In the first race Dave West and crew Chris Krueger got off to a fast start, arriving first at the weather mark from the left side. Close on his heels were John and Mike Ravizza and Scott Easom and Haydon Stapleton, sailing in Scott’s newly and beautifully refurbished Nunes, 8-Ball. Scott managed to get through John, but West held on to his lead through the finish.
The second race was on those same waters as the wind was holding up pretty well - shifty and challenging but with only a few dead spots. Easom got out ahead and built a large lead with West in pursuit, comfortably ahead of the pack. Until the finish, that is, when the wind shut off at the finish line but not back up the course, allowing those that weren’t yet in the hole to sail around it. Shaum Sinawi and crew Christian Buestad (John Buestad’s son) broke through West that way for second, while Easom held on for first as the fleet bore down on him.
With the wind having died deep into the bay, the committee moved the third course out to the mouth of Richardson’s Bay. But the wind wouldn’t cooperate there either, puffing through, and sometimes with force, then dying out for a few minutes before starting the cycle over again. Proving his second and first place finishes in the first couple of races were no fluke, Scott sailed away from everyone for another bullet. Please note, though, there’s no truth to the rumor he’d already showered and shaved before the last of us made it back to the dock. Back on the dock, we were treated to abundant and hearty hors d’oeuvres and libations on a beautiful evening by the San Francisco Yacht Club.
Sunday’s racing was back at the top of Richardson’s Bay with the good conditions we’d enjoyed for nearly all of the first two races on Saturday. Shaum and Christian led for the first half of that race, but Scott and Haydon eventually broke through for the win. John & Mike Ravizza followed in third.
In the fifth and final race West/Krueger again got off to a good first leg, holding a healthy lead for the first half of the three-times-around course. But Easom chased them down too, overtaking them at the second leeward mark, and stretching out over the last two legs, to cap a remarkable 2-1-1-1-1 regatta! Not bad for his first time back in the boat in a decade or so!
Congratulations to Scott and Haydon and many thanks to SFYC and Randy Smith for organizing, overseeing and executing a great weekend of tight racing.
By David West
