At the 75th birthday party of his long-adored 8-meter Yucca Saturday, Sausalito’s Hank Easom explained that he really wasn’t in the market for such a boat when she was offered to him by SoCal broker Chuck Ullman back in the ’60s. But apparently it was love at first sight.

She’s been his mistress ever since, and has been a familiar contestant in a wide variety of Bay races for decades — often taking home a pickle dish or two.

At the grand soiree, several generations of past and present race crews were in attendance, in addition to shoreside admirers, and a who’s-who of waterfront characters.

Look for more on Yucca‘s long stint as a NorCal racing icon in the upcoming edition of Latitude 38.

For most people, the idea of attempting a circumnavigation aboard a Moore 24 — a 2,000-lb, flush deck, ultralight surfing machine designed by George Olson and built in Santa Cruz — would be preposterous. But then Webb Chiles isn’t most people, and for him the idea doesn’t even seem unusual. After all, in his 71 years Chiles has sailed boats as small as his 18-ft Chidiock Tichborne around the world five times. Plus, there might be a certain symmetry, for if he completes a sixth circumnavigation, he will have gone around as many times as he’s been married — although one short of the number of books he has published.

What do we think of his chances? We think they’re excellent. After all, if planned properly, almost all of the circumnavigation can be off the wind, conditions in which the Moores excel, as proven by the many times they’ve been raced to Hawaii. And for short periods of time, they can be effectively sailed upwind in rough conditions, as proven by the many times they’ve done — and won — shorthanded races around the Farallones. We’d just hate to be Webb’s butt, as the Moores are a little short of not just creature comforts, but places to comfortably rest one’s ass.

"Live passionately, even if it kills you, because something is going to kill you anyway," advises Webb. We think there’s a hole in the logic there big enough to sail an AC72 through — just because you’re going to die of something sometime doesn’t mean the sooner you die the better. But hey, it’s a philosophy that has worked for Webb. Besides, by his account, he’s an artist — "a sailor is an artist whose medium is the wind" — and we’re willing to cut true artists a lot of slack.

Chiles will be available to answer questions about his upcoming trip at a yacht club presentation this coming Friday night at 7 p.m. Unfortunately, the presentation is going to be at the Columbia YC, and that’s in Chicago.

Film and television actor Billy Campbell, perhaps best known for playing the title role in the ’91 film The Rocketeer, is officially a hero for helping to save the lives of three sailors earlier this month. On September 10, Campbell and his crew were on the maiden voyage of his new 50-ft David Westergard-designed wooden schooner Martha Seabury, which had been launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in August. They were bound for the Newport Boat Show and were about four miles off Cuttyhunk Island in Massachusetts when, around 7:30 p.m., a crewmember spotted three men clinging to an overturned 15-ft sailing dinghy. Skipper Michael Moreland doused sail, started the engine and went to their aid. 

"The three victims were in their 20s," he said in a report. "Two were in PFDs but one was not. It was quickly apparent that all three were hypothermic and low on strength and energy." After the crew pulled the three men, who were apparently out for a daysail, from the water, they wrapped them in wool and sleeping bags. They were later transferred to a Coast Guard cutter and are reportedly no worse for wear.

As for the schooner, she was conceived as a collaboration between Lunenburg master shipwrights. According to their site, the New Lunenburg Schooners — Martha and her ‘twin sister’ — were "built in the tried and true, time-tested way with stout wooden planks on heavy double-sawn frames, the same techniques that created the famous ‘Fast and Able’ North Atlantic fishing schooners Bluenose and Bluenose II of Lunenburg and the great schooners of Gloucester, but using only the very best materials and finest durable timbers sourced from around the world." 

For his part, Campbell says he’s thrilled with Martha‘s performance. "She’s a dream . . . better than I ever imagined or hoped for."