High Risk’s Win Earns Trophy for St. Francis YC

The St. Francis Yacht Club regained the 92-year-old San Francisco Challenge Trophy Saturday in a match race against the Balboa Yacht Club, which had held it for two years.

Skipper Paul Cayard and his St. Francis crew aboard the Smith-43, High Risk, sailed away from Alan Andrews and his BYC crew aboard the Andrews-42, Roller. The only time the two boats were close was at the start, which High Risk won by about 10 seconds. The St. Francis boat was leading by 1:15 at the first weather mark and widened the gap on every leg of the 16.24-mile course off the Santa Ana River jetty at Huntington Beach.

At the finish, the elapsed time lead was 4:10, corrected to 3:15 on handicap.

St. Francis and Balboa have been battling for the trophy for the past five years, with BYC holding a 3-2 advantage.