Bay School Wins San Francisco High School Sailing Championship
On January 10, seven high school sailing teams from San Francisco descended upon the Marina waterfront to race for the title of City High School Champions. The event was run by the St. Francis Yacht Club, and ultimately won for a record eighth time by the Bay School of San Francisco Breakers.
Nine boats were on the line for the regatta, with two of the schools (Bay and Convent/Stuart Hall) fielding two boats. Each team had an A and B division entry, rotating sailors every two races. A cool 10-knot northerly was the breeze for the first gun, but the wind got lighter and lighter as the day progressed. The lighter breeze can be as much, if not more, of a challenge for the San Francisco Bay youngsters, many of whom are more comfortable sailing in the big breeze typical of most of the year, as opposed to the light winter wind.
When all was said and done, The Bay School’s top boat ran away with the city title, tallying just 16 points from 12 races between A and B divisions. Bay’s A division boat was a senior duo of skipper Caleb Everett and crew Anna Rauh. The B division boat was made up of senior skipper Nico Anders and junior crew Oscar Melet. The Breakers won the first three races of the regatta to take an early lead. In races four and five, they finished third and second respectively. From that point on, they won five of the final six races.
“It was a very fun event with absolutely beautiful conditions,” Everett, the 2025 C420 national champion, tells Latitude. “The day started with the wind a bit farther north with a touch more velocity, then it died halfway through the day, which allowed for some fun boat handling. The crazy crosscurrent made the lay lines super-fun and interesting. [We] had a great day, with nine ones, two twos, and one three. I want to give a big thank-you to our competitors, who were great sports out on the water and were great training partners throughout the year. Also big thanks to the StFYC for hosting the event. We are really happy with this result, and it’s a great boost of confidence as we move into the second half of our PCISA season.”
In second place with 33 points were the Convent/Stuart Hall Cubs. The Cubs finished second in six of the 12 races, and recorded bullets in races five and 12. They were the only non-Bay School boat to win a race. The second Bay school boat, which finished fifth overall, won one race as well.
The podium was rounded out by the Archbishop Riordan Crusaders, who finished with 48 points, good for third place. Also with 48 points were the University Red Devils, but the Crusaders took the tiebreaker by having two second-place finishes to the Red Devils’ one. The other schools competing were the Urban Blues, International Jaguars, and Saint Ignatius Wildcats.
This year marked the 13th edition of the regatta, which has been won by The Bay School eight times. This included three straight wins from 2017 through 2019. Urban has won it three times, in 2013, 2015, and 2022. Riordan won in 2021, and Lick Wilmerding — which no longer has a high school sailing team — won it in spring 2017 (a year in which the regatta was sailed twice, due to changes in StFYC’s high school sailing calendar).
Many of the San Francisco high school teams, the Bay team included, will continue to compete throughout the spring, with two more statewide PCISA regattas remaining.
You can find the full scores from the SF High School City Championships here.
Good Jibes #226: Chuck Skewes on the Baja Ha-Ha and Sailmaking, With Host John Arndt
This week we chat with professional sailor, sailmaker, and new Grand Poobah of the Baja Ha-Ha, Chuck Skewes, about the present and future of sailing, his plans for the Ha-Ha, and sailmaking.
Chuck has been sailmaking for over 40 years and has won pretty much any sailing race you can think of. Tune in as he shares with host John Arndt how he learned to sail and teach sailing at a young age, how to become a sailmaker, the reasons you’ll want to make the Baja Ha-Ha your annual tradition, how to pack and prep for the Baja Ha-Ha, and what Chuck has planned to modernize this annual cruising rally to Mexico.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- Shifting demographics: from “rum-drinking crazies” to fitness-oriented sailors
- Essential spares: alternators and good water systems
- Chuck’s role as Ha-Ha sail repair expert: 38 repairs in one year at Turtle Bay
- Transitioning to offshore keelboat racing after moving to San Diego in 2001
- Life aboard Profligate: the responsibility of organizing vs. participating
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!
Learn more about the Baja Ha-Ha and sign up for the next rally at Baja-HaHa.com.
By the way, if you enjoy Latitude 38 and Good Jibes, consider joining our team. We’re looking for a new sales manager; perhaps it’s you!
YRA Rolls Out “Intro to Racing” Series
One of the great things about sailing, compared to most other sports, is that it is a sport you can pick up at any point in your life and, with the right amount of work, be competitive. This isn’t the case with pretty much any team sport, beyond a recreational-league level. That doesn’t mean it isn’t daunting to go out there and start, however. With that in mind, the San Francisco Yacht Racing Association (YRA) has launched a new program for beginner racers.
As much fun as most sailors are, we can also be mean on the water. It can be daunting for any newer sailor who wants to race to get onto a start line with 10, 20, 30 or more boats when most of the skippers and crews are made up of seasoned veterans.
YRA Executive Director Laura Muñoz was a guest on the Good Jibes podcast recently, and one of the many topics covered was the YRA’s new Intro to Racing Series.
The series aims to initiate sailors who don’t have much of a background in racing but want to learn and start doing so on their boats. The series will take place in four parts, with the first three being purely educational in the classroom before getting out onto the water to ensure that everyone is comfortable with the basics conceptually.
Part one of the series will be on February 17, and will cover what you need to get started racing, such as how to get your PHRF certificate.
Part two will be on March 4, also online, and go over the basic rules of racing, what you need to know about them, and how to use them.
The final online portion of the series will be an open Q&A session online.
The payoff of the series will come on March 14, in a race with all participants!
You can find more information on the series at the YRA’s website, yra.org.
Dave Hodges’ ‘Timber Wolf’ Continues the Legacy
Researching our archives for a story, we came across a mention of Dave Hodges’ Farr 38 Timber Wolf in the August 1980 edition, when Timber Wolf was racing in the Transpac against the likes of Merlin. Then owned by Larry Harvey, Timber Wolf won Division 3. She was fast then, and in the hands of Dave Hodges, is fast now.
We sent the story link to Dave, who replied with the above photo by Erik Simonson from the 2022 Doublehanded Farallones (April 11 this year), adding, “John, thanks for the flashback. I was 19 and that was my first race to Hawaii that year. I went on the Wilderness 30 Foreplay with the late Roger Wales, Cliff Stagg and Stevie Baumhoff. I hung out with Richard for a couple of days. We went over to Hanalei Bay to spend time with the singlehanders. On the Fourth of July, I went out for a daysail with Amy Boyer on her Wilderness 21. She is a very cool person. Good times! When Timber Wolf came up for sale 28 years ago, I jumped on it. She is an amazing boat.”
Dave followed up with the shot above of Timber Wolf sailing later that summer in the 1980 Pan Am Clipper Cup in Hawaii. That’s when boats sailed dead downwind with the colorful, almost-forgotten bloopers that were the counterpart of today’s asymmetrical kites on a sprit. This was one of the millions of shots taken by photographer Phil Uhl and now available in his yacht racing galleries. His work also appears in the stunning recent book Windward Passage.
There are a lot of new boats racing since Timber Wolf was new in 1980, but she’s still racing, looking good, and often leading the pack when out on the course.
City Honors Sailors With Panel-Cut Sail on the Road
Sometimes you just can’t get sailing off your mind. While walking across the street the other day, we noticed the town had used the design for a cross-cut sail to help direct traffic patterns.
Though it would be illegal, racers driving to the Corinthian Yacht Club for this coming weekend’s midwinters might drive right over this cross-cut sail design as they drop crew and look for parking. The weekend forecast is sunny, making it a perfect weekend for racing.
We’ve been posting stories about public art that supports sailing, such as the DeWitt mural in Richmond and the sculpture at Emery Cove Yacht Harbor. Sailing happens too far away from those stranded on land for them to appreciate the magic of what happens on the Bay or ocean. If you know of some sailing public art, send a photo and description to [email protected]. We have a story coming up on the mural recently done on the wall of the offices of Farallon Electronics in San Rafael.
This photo reminds us of the Beatles’ Abbey Road photo. We just need a few sailors on deck. Anyone …? – Ed.
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