Bay Area ILCA Masters Raced the Worlds in Adelaide, Australia
The 2024 ILCA Masters World Championships were held from February 2-10 in Adelaide, Australia. It was a rip-roaring good time with a big fleet, big breeze, big waves and a strong contingent of San Francisco sailors making the trek from the West Coast of the USA to the South Coast of Australia.
2022 ILCA Masters champion Chris Boome reached out to some of the Bay Area competitors who made the trip. The Bay Area’s racers did a spectacular job while sharing the fun and camaraderie of the over 200 local and international competitors who attended the event.
Competitor Jon Andron wrote, “In my 50+ years of racing world-class events, this 10-day event was the most physically difficult I’ve ever completed. My mindset was simply to survive: Stay upright, avoid injury, and live to fight another day.” Andron finished fourth in the 19-member ILCA 6 Legends (75+ years young) fleet, which was won by the USA’s Bill Symes.
Top finisher among the San Francisco participants was Andrew Holdsworth, taking first by just two points in the 45-sailor-strong ILCA 6 Grand Masters (GM) group (55-64 years old). Andrew splits his training among San Francisco, Mexico, England, Turkey and Australia!
Andrew reported, “The regatta was a wild, windy week with premium on boat speed in wind/waves upwind and down, boat handling and avoiding silly mistakes and as much risk as possible. The first day was the only light medium day with some of the smaller sailors getting to the front. In the second race the wind dropped and went right causing me to drop from first to seventh, but more importantly my closest competition for the week, Mark Tonner-Joyce, scoring an 18th. This would come back to bite him later in the week.”
“The next day and for the rest of the week it was big breezes where the bigger sailors came to the front. Mark soon established himself as the fastest guy upwind and my job was then to fight for second place and keep the scores close all week and see what could happen at the end of the series. Unfortunately for Mark, he was judged with a Black Flag on race 11, which meant I went from 10 points in arrears to first place. After that it was a matter of staying out of trouble and finishing the series! The ILCA Masters Series is tough in that it allows only one drop in a 12-race series. In summary, there is very little margin for a bad score!”
Al Sargent: “All the leading boats were on top of their game, making very few mistakes. The fact that an Olympic medalist and America’s Cup winner finished eighth speaks to the depth of the fleet.”
Sargent added, “The conditions were very challenging — not just the wind strength, which we’re used to in San Francisco, but the massive waves and confused sea state. It was always a trade-off between pushing for speed and backing off so you didn’t capsize.”
Sargent, who trains out of the Alameda Community Sailing Center and the StFYC, finished fifth in the ILCA 6 GMs, earning his first coveted ILCA cube.
Chris Simenstad reported, “This was my first Worlds, but won’t be my last. The sea breeze built every day, so the second race for my start was always in 20+ knots. The waves were huge with irregular sets; once in a while a wave would roll through and catch me off guard.”
Chris survived the big conditions though breaking a tiller extension while recording a top finish of sixth in a fleet of 19 boats. He says he came home inspired with some training and fitness goals!
Other competitors from the Bay Area included Emilio Castelli, Walt Spevak, and Toshi Takayanagi.
Emilio commented, “It was fun; it was blowing but the water was warm and I didn’t die.”
The local fleet regularly races out of Alameda Community Sailing Center and other venues on the Bay. On occasion they take adventure sails like this one out to Point Bonita. If you’re looking for good competion in a fun fleet that has stuck together since the first ILCA (Laser) was launched in 1971, you should connect with the District 24 fleet here. From Alameda to Adelaide there’s some great racing and friendship to be had.
Pacific Cup Profiles: Andy Schwenk and the Crew of ‘Spindrift V’
We’ve been reaching out to sailors who are signed up for this year’s Pacific Cup, starting on July 15. To make it easier, we have a list of questions prepared, for example, “How many Pacific Cups have you competed in?” We also want to know about the boat, the crew, and of course, what’s for dinner.
Point Richmond sailor Andy Schwenk got back to us regarding his entry for this year’s race. Last year he crewed aboard the Santa Cruz 52 Westerly. He describes Westerly as highly modified and added that they won [the] Transpac [2023]. (Perhaps you caught our live chats with Andy and the crew during the race?)
“My goal is to take the lessons learned there and apply to my own program,” Andy says.
This year he’s entering the Pac Cup aboard his own boat, the Express 37 Spindrift V — despite the Pac Cup race in 2022 almost being his last.
Andy tells us that included on a list of upgrades and repairs ahead of the race is “a bigger med kit than 2022.” The boat is also getting new countertops, and “a bunch of expensive engine repair[s].”
Collectively, Spindrift V‘s crew have about 20 Pacific Cup races under their keels. Here’s who’s aboard:
Ward Naviaux: Medical officer/watch partner. Ward and Andy doublehanded the 2014 Pac Cup aboard Ward’s SC 27. “[We] launched off some tasty waves; GPS claimed we exceeded 22 knots!!!”
Conrad Holbrook: Ship’s engineer/watch captain. Andy describes Conrad as a “rock-steady Cal Marine guy,” who is doing his third sail across the Pacific aboard Spindrift V.
Eric Ochs: Foredeck/Conrad’s watch partner. He’s a “talented Moore 24 guy, fearless foredeck, strong, and smart.”
Lisa Wilson: Heartbeat/pit/galley/organizer, on her fourth trip across. “Every yacht needs a Lisa or they are less for not having this role. Fresh sourdough each day, BBQ ribs, espresso at midnight, you name it; she she keeps us a happy ship.”
Andy says the general plan for the race is “to avoid whales, maybe catch a fish and keep it dirty-side down.
“The Pac Cup is simply the funnest race on the West Coast. The legendary Hawaiian hospitality in Kaneohe may be the most memorable part, but the efforts of the volunteer Pac Cup commitee to put on a first-class affair, and all the support from the pre-race academies and get-togethers, are the backbone of the program.
“It certainly is the trickiest race for the navigator: the challenge to sail a direct route but also keeping it speedy by skirting the Pacific High pressure system, an area of calm winds typically parked between your departure and destination.
“Generally speaking there are fewer gold-plated, paid-pro, full-on assaults in the Pac Cup so the mom-and-pop operations still have a shot at a pickle dish. Beyond that it’s actually scheduled for the most moonlight, starry nights at sea; that’s what it’s about.”
Andy has owned Spindrift V since September 2019, and has been racing her on the Bay and offshore ever since. “We usually get second place but sometimes we do a little better.”
Now that you know Andy, if you see him out on the Bay, or sailing the Pacific, give him a wave.
Other 2024 Pacific Cup Profiles: Heather Richard, Elliott James, Matt Arno
KKMI is Hiring!
With Expansion of San Francisco Marina Now Scrapped, the Financial Futures of East and West Harbor Are Uncertain
When a proposal for an expansion of San Francisco Marina’s West Harbor came to light last summer, there was a public outcry. “Diminishment of an iconic view” was the main talking point against the project, but problems with the proposal — which could have extended the current West Harbor breakwater the entire length of Marina Green — seemed numerous.
Last week, the S.F. Board of Supervisors voted to effectively prohibit any enlargement of West Harbor, but the challenging economics, demographics and bureaucracy surrounding San Francisco Marina remain.
Officially, the supervisors blocked San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department, which runs the marina, from using city funds for any project that would extend the eastern boundary of West Harbor Marina by more than approximately 150 feet from its current location. Rec and Park had proposed moving boats from East Harbor to an expanded West Harbor so that the former could be cleaned of toxic soil remaining from an old Pacific Gas & Electric plant. The expansion idea seemed to appeal to no one, including boaters.
It’s not clear what’s next for the two-harbor, more than 700-slip San Francisco Marina, which is full of contradictions. The Marina currently operates at a “loss,” but has the most expensive slips in the Bay Area; the city is currently considering raising rates by as much as 30%. (The city has also discussed charging for parking at the Marina’s lots.) At present, S.F. Marina is only about 87% occupied, but there’s a long waiting list for slips. West Harbor is a magnet for silting — the city spends half a million dollars each year dredging the entrance, but many individual slips have become too shallow for deep-draft vessels.
The numerous conundrums raise larger questions about how the city runs the marina and plans for/finances necessary improvements. “I’m going to apologize for [the] City of San Francisco for not listening to all of you,” supervisor Aaron Peskin reportedly said when addressing residents in a recent public meeting about the Marina.
After a two-decade legal battle, the City of San Francisco reached an agreement with PG&E whereby the public utility would pay up to $190 million to fund the cleanup and reconstruction of the Marina Small Craft Harbor, also known as East Harbor, and also known as Gashouse Cove. Though it seemed like a victory a long time in the making — the harbor was terribly polluted during the 1906 earthquake — some people feel that sum is “woefully inadequate.”
“Rec and Park and the city attorney need to reopen the negotiations with PG&E,” said Bruce Stone, the president of the S.F. Harbor Marina Association, a nonprofit that represents berth holders and users of San Francisco Marina. Part of the $190 million settlement included a $60 million no-interest loan. “The settlement should be revised to replace the loan with a further grant from PG&E, and the construction budget must be inflation-adjusted,” Stone said in a letter to the Board of Supervisors.
“With the new ordinance prohibiting expansion of Outer West [referring to the proposed extension] the existing agreement with PG&E should be viewed as null and void, given it depended on that premise,” Stone told Latitude. “The city now needs to install more berths in East Harbor, including the shallower half, to accommodate smaller boats that do not have deep draft. Also, as Supervisor Peskin suggested, the money saved by not building slips in Outer West might best be spent paying down the existing [Division of Boating and Waterways] loan that supported the West Harbor renovation, thereby easing pressure on the overall harbor budget.”
Stone has also called for a 100- to 200-foot extension and redesign of the breakwater, which he believes might help with silting.
A January report by the city said that S.F. Marina’s operating costs totaled $4.86 million last year and are supplemented by a nearly $600,000 subsidy from the city’s general fund. But Stone told Latitude that the city isn’t factoring in boatowners’ property taxes or possessory user fees, or the interest tax on the slips themselves, which he believes add “well over $500,000 each year” to the general fund, “and will be nearly $1 million per year when the renovations are complete, and slips are rented to boaters,” Stone said.
No one seems to disagree that S.F. Marina has very high slip fees. There was a 20% increase in fees in 2021/22 to cover dredging costs, and a 2023 survey conducted among the 36 yacht harbors in the Bay Area “revealed that the Marina charged the highest fees to lease their berths to boat owners; rates per foot are several dollars higher than the median regional rate,” the January report said, admitting that “there were no major differences in amenities between the Marina Harbor and regional harbors.”
Bruce Stone said that S.F. Marina’s amenities are actually much worse than the mean. “We don’t get dock carts or private bathrooms, and there are a lot of break-ins as gates are easily bypassed. Boaters would like decent internet so they can install remote cameras with motion-detector alarms to identify intruders and deter break-ins.”
To cover what they perceive as a budget deficit, the city has proposed raising berthing fees in both East and West Harbors by 31.4%, plus inflationary increases, with “no improvements to the Marina’s harbors. [We] cannot gauge whether the Marina’s tenants are willing to absorb a rate increase of that magnitude,” the January city report said. “However, wait-list length and few tenant departures following the 2022 20% rate increase suggest there is room to increase rates and capture additional revenue.”
Stone told Latitude that the idea that people are waiting for slips is a myth.
“There is effectively no waiting list,” Stone said, explaining that people often don’t accept the shallow, narrow slips being offered, and choose to stay on the list. “Others do not actually own a boat — they are just considering the idea of a boat and want to have a chance to place a boat there at some undefined future date. These dead souls have inflated the wait-list statistics to a meaningless number. A survey of their intent would clarify this.”
“The only way that any common sense could prevail was to have the Board of Supervisors pass this ordinance that forbids any building within 150 feet of the West Harbor. It was a really big vote,” Chrissy Kaplan, the longtime owner of Gashouse Cove Marina Inc., which sits in East Harbor, told Latitude.
When we spoke with her last summer, Kapaln highlighted the fact that Gashouse Cove Marina is the only fuel dock on the Cityfront, which dozens of emergency agencies use. “If there was no fuel dock on the Cityfront, you’d have to go to Sausalito, or buy five-gallon jugs of diesel at the gas station on Lombard Street,” Bruce Stone said. “Refueling with five-gallon jugs is not allowed, as some fuel drips in the water, and is impracticable for motor boats needing more capacity. The police, fire and Coast Guard boats depend on this facility.”
Kaplan said that whatever the next step is for S.F. Marina, she hopes that Rec and Park will be receptive to listening to the stakeholders. “It’s a lot bigger than just me — it’s all of those agencies, too. I’m hopeful that when the conversation starts again, we’ll all be speaking. My responsibility will be to connect the dots, to get [the city] talking to the people of San Francisco so they hear what they need. I think I can help facilitate those questions.”
Kaplan said that Recreation and Park were using “scare tactics” when talking about moving forward without expanding West Harbor. In a statement, Rec and Park said, “We expect the effects of this ordinance to include: the elimination of the fuel dock and breakwater, reduction of approximately 200 slips, and a continued annual dredging obligation that costs between $600,000 and $1 million. As a result, slip holders can expect to see berthing fees increase by 20% to 30% in the near future.”
Kaplan said that it doesn’t have to happen that way. “It doesn’t have to be reinvented, we don’t need another park, but we can certainly improve upon the one that we have. There is so much to be done to have the community be more inclusive without eliminating what is already there.”
Stories by Bill Belmont:
Join PICYA’s Fourth Annual Treasure Island 360 Cruise
Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association (PICYA) is inviting skippers of the 105-member yacht club association to enjoy the Fourth Annual Treasure Island 360 Cruise on Sunday, February 18. The Treasure Island 360 Cruise was launched in 2021, and runs in collaboration with the Treasure Island Museum events commemorating the 1939 World’s Fair, and PICYA’s Hearst Regatta off Treasure Island (TI) in 1939 and general participation during the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.
The boat cruise will meet and start from west of the TI ferry terminal at 11 a.m, in coordination with an 11:30 a.m. flyover of vintage planes, comprising four to six volunteer pilots who have collected and maintained their crafts out of a passion for the thrill of flying and a deep respect for history. The pilots will circle and cross the island twice. Watch the flyover from the boats or from land, and wave like hell so they can feel your thrills.
If you have a boat, come join the parade at 11:00 a.m. If you are on land, observe the start of the cruise on the west side at the ferry terminal, or catch the boat parade at various viewpoints on the island during the one-hour slow cruise. Spot classic boats from the ’40s and ’50s. Power and sailboats join together to celebrate the freedom of boating and a true passion for being together on the water.
The parade will be led by PICYA Staff Commodore Patti Mangan of South Beach YC on Anabel (Chubb 34), followed by Treasure Island YC, Island YC, Classic Yacht Association, San Francisco YC, Encinal YC, Sequoia YC, Barbary Coast Boat Club, Single Sailors Association, Golden Gate YC, Oakland YC, Ballena Bay YC, BAADS, Blue Water Foundation and many more.
See more at www.picya.org.
Get Onboard With the ‘Latitude 38 BOGO Special’
