San Francisco Yacht Club Receives St. Petersburg YC Trophy
The San Francisco Yacht Club (SFYC) has been awarded the 2024 St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy for outstanding race management at the 2024 Diversified Melges 24 World Championships. The award was given last Thursday, Feb. 6, during the annual US Sailing Awards banquet in San Diego. This is the first time SFYC has won this prestigious award since its inception in 1967. The SFYC joins Richmond Yacht Club (2001 — Byte Class North Americans) as the only Northern California yacht clubs to win the trophy. Representing the club to receive the trophy were Matthew Sessions (regatta chair), Jr. S/C Jenni Dailey (2024 commodore), Forrest Gay (director of sailing) and Mark Foster (regatta PRO).
The 2024 Worlds ran 12 fair races over five days, which came down to the final race to determine the winner. Shoreside hospitality included daily awards presented by local sailing heroes, the “Beer Boat” hydration station for the afternoon return sail, live music, tons of sponsor swag and prizes, morning weather briefings, excellent branding, delicious catering and the SFYC membership, which enthusiastically welcomed 150+ competitors. Nearly 100% of the 31 teams completed the post-regatta competitor survey, offering glowing feedback on the event.
“To say I’m thrilled would be a dramatic understatement,” Regatta Chair Matthew Sessions said of the award. He commented that 1,000+ hours of pre-regatta planning and onsite execution by dozens of volunteers were the reasons for the regatta’s success. The Melges Worlds occupied the SFYC campus for 17 days, choreographed down to the minute to minimize impacts on club operations while maximizing the experience for the competitors.
Chelsea Simms, owner of the Melges 24 Straightarrow, vice chair of Americas (International Melges 24 Class Association) and vice president (US Melges 24 Class Association) added, “On behalf of the Melges 24 Class, we congratulate the San Francisco Yacht Club on receiving the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy — an honor that is very well deserved. The 2024 Melges 24 World Championship was an exceptional regatta in every way, from race management to shoreside hospitality. The SFYC set a new standard, delivering an experience that exceeded Class expectations for sailors and spectators alike.
“As both a competitor and a Class representative, I can confidently say this was the best World Championship I have ever attended. The seamless execution, outstanding facilities and commitment to excellence at every level make it a model event for future Worlds.”
According to US Sailing, “The St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy is awarded to a local sailing organization for exceptional race management at a specific event. Among other factors, the comments of participating sailors weigh heavily in the selection of a winner.
“Emblematic of excellence in race management, the St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy was originally awarded by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in the late 1960s to recognize the club that ran the best regatta. The trophy was retired for a number of years, then was donated to US Sailing in 1977. The winner is selected on the basis of race management excellence, including evaluation by participating skippers.”
You can learn more about the award at US Sailing, and about the event at 2024 Melges Worlds.
Good Jibes #178: 30th Annual Baja Ha-Ha: LIVE Aboard ‘Profligate’ in Cabo San Lucas
This week we bring you Chuck Skewes of Ullman Sails and the crew of Profligate LIVE from the last leg of the 30th Annual Baja Ha-Ha cruisers’ rally. This third and final episode in our Baja Ha-Ha series includes livestreams from November 13 and14, 2024.
Tune in as Chuck tells Good Jibes host Nicki Bennett about the immigration snafu, the epic rockin’ beach party in Bahia Santa Maria, the once-in-a-lifetime experiences during the Baja Ha-Ha, what happened with the last three events in Cabo San Lucas, and a grand finale — complete with an engine dying.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- How do children still get schooling during the Baja Ha-Ha?
- What happens after Cabo?
- When immigration gets complicated
- How the crew deals with culture shock
- How sailing changes as you age
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast spots — follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes!
Repower Made Easy with Beta Marine West
Treasure Island Marina Moves Forward With Approval From the BCDC
At last Thursday’s BCDC meeting, the Treasure Island Marina finally received its long-awaited approval for redevelopment. Along with the landside redevelopment currently underway, a new 168-slip marina will replace the aging 108-slip marina, which was badly damaged in the January 2023 “bomb cyclone.” Westpoint Harbor is the only completely new marina to have been built in the Bay Area in the last 30 or 40 years, and Treasure Island Marina will be one of the more significant marina replacements to hit the waterfront in decades.
Treasure Island itself was a redevelopment project. It was created on a shallow reef to the north of Yerba Buena Island in the late ’30s to host the Golden Gate International Exposition, celebrating the completion of both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was turned into a military base from 1941 until 1997, when it was purchased by the City of San Francisco under then-mayor Gavin Newsom. Since then it’s been under the direction of the Treasure Island Development Authority for environmental remediation and redevelopment.
Way back in 1999, Treasure Island Enterprises, LLC won the bid to redevelop the marina. They have been going through the public review, political and agency process ever since. After years of negotiation, the original proposed 400-slip marina was reduced to 168 slips ranging in size from 45 to 80 feet, preserving more space in the cove for recreational boating.
Treasure Island Yacht Club Staff Commodore Russ Breed attended the hearing and shared some of his observations. Russ noted that 10% of the slips will be designated as liveaboards, and current tenants with smaller boats will be permitted to stay, paying the market rate for a slip appropriate for their size vessel. A new channel will be dredged along the southern edge of Clipper Cove (labeled “Port of Trade Winds Harbor” on the drawings).
Anchoring will continue to be permitted in the cove* and a transient guest dock available for stays up to two days. Kayak launching will be available from the beach, and Treasure Island Sailing Center, when its shoreside facilities can be reopened in a couple of years.
So, after 20 years of planning and negotiations, it looks as if a new marina will finally be built on San Francisco Bay. Naturally it’s a compromise among the many stakeholders who have spoken up over the decades.
With a 66-year lease and approvals in place, Treasure Island Marina intends to start construction as soon as possible. Seasonal environmental requirements mean the construction has to happen between June 1 and November 30. With additional planning and required dredging permits, this means the marina supplier, Bellingham Marine, will likely not be starting until June 1, 2026.
Darius Anderson, CEO of Kenwood Investments and a partner in Treasure Island Enterprises, remarked, “We are looking forward to working with all the folks on the island to move forward with a new world-class marina in San Francisco Bay for area residents on and off the island.”
The Treasure Island Marina will be adjacent to all the new shoreside development with about 8,000 new housing units for thousands of new residents on the island. Though redevelopment is dramatically changing the neighborhood, Clipper Cove will finally have an updated marina available to Bay Area boaters. Additionally, when Treasure Island Sailing Center reopens in a couple of years, small-boat access and sailing will return to the cove.
*[This is a correction: our original understanding was that anchoring would no longer be permitted but, at present, that was incorrect. We have amended the story to reflect that anchoring is allowed. More information here.]
Where Are This Mystery Bridge and Bay Located?
Latitude reader and Club Nautique sailing instructor Dan Marshall was traveling overseas, and captured the photo below from aboard a ferry crossing a bay. He said, “I looked up and saw what looked like the Golden Gate as seen from the Bay, with San Francisco’s hills on the left and a good replica of the Marin Headlands on the right. It looked as if I’d time-traveled back to 1775, when Ayala [Spanish naval officer Lt. Juan Manuel de Ayala] was the first European to enter the Bay by boat, except, what was the bridge doing there?”
Does anyone have a good guess on the location of this bridge in Dan’s photo?
Upgrading Solar Panels in a Remote Location Aboard SV ‘Outrun’
Last time we wrote in to Latitude 38, Karina and I were in glorious, sunny Fakarava aboard our Ericson 36C Outrun. We’ve since made it to Tahiti. On this last trip, we had a series of significant steering failures, resulting in two days of hand-steering. We’ve secured a slip for cyclone season to make some necessary repairs while getting some rest in some land-based lodging.
The volatility of the South Pacific’s precipitation became clear way back in May, when we arrived in the southern Marquesas. Enduring daily rain and clouds threatened our electrical bottom line, since we depend on solar for much of our charging needs. Tahiti has a good deal of weather, too, and the production from our panels here is less than it was back in Mexico. Did I say “repairs” earlier? Let’s do some upgrades, too.
The only problem with doing a major solar upgrade is that I’m on a rock in the middle of the ocean. There are solar suppliers here on the island, but they are all for homes — enormous, rigid pieces of glass that are not quite what you’d want on a smallish monohull.
The arch on the boat originally had four 100-watt panels. I swapped them out in San Diego in 2022 with two large 400-watt Maxeon panels that have been producing more than their rated output. No complaints there. I also had some free real estate on my Sunbrella bimini, just accumulating UV damage, when it could also be converting that radiation to sweet, sweet DC wattage. So, also in San Diego, I installed four 110-watt semi-flexible Lensun panels with SunPower cells. If you believe the advertising, as I did, these things are built to last. Little did I know at the time, monocrystalline semi-flex panels are doomed after their first year. So here I was, getting 60 watts out of an advertised 440 watts. Those would be getting replaced.
By that time in the planning, I’d run out of sun-facing real estate, so started looking for something light and thin that could be mounted on the beam. Some research brought LightLeaf brand panels to my attention. Their SeaLeaf products are 110-watt panels that are mounted to stainless steel tubing on the beam, allowing you to fold them either up or down. At only five pounds each, these panels seemed perfect. I planned on getting four. But how would I get them from their Canadian supplier?
Discover the Magic of Owl Harbor
