R2R History

Out For A Winter Afternoon Sail Rail to Rail, affectionately known to its team as R2R, was born on December 5, 1990 when its hull was laid up in the mold at Tillotson-Pearson in Bristol, Rhode Island. The finish work was completed in early 1991 and the newly minted J24 was sold to a successful software developer in Belvedere, California later that year. According to the scuttlebutt, he sailed Rail to Rail once before his seasick family pulled the plug on further San Francisco Bay adventures. In late 1992, the racing bug bit Thom Henneberger, a performance sailing student at OCSC of San Francisco Bay. Over the next few months, he searched for a high quality J24 to take racing. He purchased the virtually new J24 in March 1993 from Sail California and immediately placed Rail to Rail in the OCSC fleet, where it became one of the sailing school’s performance teaching platforms. The racing purists around the bay thought Thom was nuts to wet sail a boat that had only been in the water once before. Rich Jepsen, CEO of OCSC, returned in the spring of 1994 from a year’s sabbatical in the Ukraine and decided that he wanted to return to J24 racing. As he cast about for a boat, Rich asked Thom if he could charter Rail to Rail for a seasonal racing effort. Thom agreed enthusiastically with one big condition – Rich had to invite him on board as tactician. Surprisingly, Rich extended an invite to the rookie racer and the Rail to Rail racing program was launched. Lou Anna Koehler, another OCSC graduate with significant J24 foredeck experience, joined the newly formed team as well. Over the years, the R2R team did all the things necessary to make sure it was one of the fastest boats on San Francisco Bay. By late 1996, Rail to Rail was fully tweaked out. Glenn Eberhard, Rail to Rail’s first trimmer, and Thom had moved the keel forward to improve pointing. They cut the mast to minimum length -- 0 mm to spare -- and placed it at max J to solve the J24’s classic lee helm problem. The headstay was lengthened to ensure proper sag in light air and all of the sail controls were relocated for optimal crew performance. When the wet sailed Rail to Rail weighed in, it was only 1 kg over the J24’s all up racing weight. The team felt the boat was poised to win. Over the next several seasons, Rich, Thom and Lou Anna focused on improving their skill sets while looking for someone to replace Glenn, who had moved away, and for another person to add value at the mast position. By 2000 the R2R team finally gelled. Larry Ledgerwood, an OCSC instructor, became Rail to Rail’s new trimmer. Trena Depel, another OCSC graduate, signed on at mast. Larry brought many years of racing experience to the team and Trena was an enthusiastic “can do” competitor who quickly climbed up a steep learning curve. The last big, albeit unplanned, improvement to Rail to Rail took place in the winter of 2001 – 2002. Having sustained light damage at the first windward rounding of the 2001 U.S. Nationals when a Canadian boat bounced off its lifelines and dented the hull, Rail to Rail was lifted out of the water one Friday morning in November to begin the repairs. As it was being hauled, Thom was coincidentally on the phone with Rich talking about ordering sails for the upcoming season. Thom was placed on hold and when Rich came back on the line he asked Thom whether he was sitting down. R2R had be just been knocked off its jack stands in the boatyard. The mast and rudder were destroyed and the bottom 2 inches of the keel was crushed. Over the next three months, Thom, Rich and Simon Carey, who was OCSC’s fleet manager, rebuilt the keel’s bottom, extending it to maximum depth and fairing to shape using Computer Keels templates. A Karl’s Boat Shop tiller and rudder were hung off the back and the team installed a stiffer mast. After Wayne Clough re-measured the mast, and rudder, Rail to Rail was ready to go back racing. Today, Rail to Rail is one of the fastest J24s on San Francisco Bay, proving the purists wrong. In medium to high winds, it can keep up with even the best-prepared dry sailed boats. Almost 10 years of effort paid off handsomely for the team in 1993. They accomplished their team goal of high performance teaming and in the process won the Fleet 17 championship.