Skip to content

Schooner ‘Parade’ Graces the Bay

Who needs synchronized swimming when you can watch Santana and Elizabeth Muir do battle in the Central Bay.

latitude/Andy
©2008 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Anyone daysailing within the Central Bay Saturday couldn’t help but notice an inordinate number of spectacular schooners traveling in a counter-clockwise loop. Although the fleet was widely spaced apart, this was, in fact, the inaugural running of the Great San Francisco Schooner Race — a glorious day with the strong breeze that these vintage thoroughbreds require.

While we heard no complaints about the race administration, the handicapping system may need a bit of tweaking before next year’s contest, as few schooners finished close to each other despite this being a ‘pursuit’ race, where each competing boat has it’s own start time and, in theory, the fleet finishes en masse. But hey, when has there ever been a race between such a collection of disparate classics when handicapping hasn’t been an issue — or should we say nightmare?

Bob Vespa’s 53-ft beauty Scorpio works her way up Raccoon Strait.

latitude/Andy
©2008 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Collins & McNeill’s impeccable 59-footer Yankee works upwind, looking as though she’d been borrowed from a yachting museum.

latitude/Andy
©2008 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

We’ll have a more in-depth report in the October Latitude, but in brief John Collins and John McNeill’s Yankee took top honors among the gaffers, with Ed Witt’s Regulus taking second. And within the Marconi class Paul Kaplan’s Santana squeaked by Peter Heywood’s Elizabeth Muir — the closest finish of the race, as far as we know — with Bob Vespa’s Scorpio taking third. See the website of host San Francisco YC for full results.

Hayden Brown’s 70-ft Aldebaran rides a gust east of Tiburon.

latitude/Andy
©2008 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Thankfully the wind gods cooperated, as the fleet worked toward the finish near SFYC.

latitude/Andy
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Leave a Comment




Scott Sellers, Eric Ryan and Rolf Kaiser’s Donkey Jack provided plenty of scenes like these at the J/105 North Americans hosted by St.
Forecasters are predicting hotter than Hades temperatures for the Bay Area this week, and there are few better ways to stay cool than by wearing hot Latitude 38 gear.
This funky catamaran was spotted at South Beach Harbor on Saturday. © Timo Bruck "We saw this catamaran — made from 1-liter pop bottles, PVC tubing and a Hobie Cat trampoline with an oar as a rudder — at South Beach Harbor on Saturday morning," wrote Timo Bruck in an email.