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A Full Weekend of Sailing

This past weekend saw full-on sailing with plenty of options for everyone. Despite the Bay Area’s notorious reputation for heavy summer winds and fog, last weekend presented a full spectrum of conditions. The Friday night beer can races had sunshine and nice breezes, the Saturday start for the OYRA race to Half Moon Bay and the Singlehanded TransPac started in gentle, sunny southwesterlies, while the Encinal Yacht Club Summer Sailstice small-boat regatta had warm, 6- to 8-knot winds on the Estuary. Sunday was a different story: sunny, cooler and breezier, with the central Bay whipped up in whitecaps. It was a good day for the Master Mariners Wooden Boat Show.  

The Wylie 70 Rage, in town for the Pacific Cup, made a cameo appearance Corinthian Friday night race. 

© 2018 Hannah Arndt
Local Laser sailors rallied a 19-boat fleet for the Encinal Yacht Club Summer Sailstice small-boat regatta.  

latitude/John
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Yes, this is summer sailing on San Francisco Bay — sunny, calm and warm. EYC juniors and seniors took over 100 people out for their first sailboat ride.

latitude/John
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Another successful EYC cardboard boatbuilding contest ended in a fierce paddling competition with all boats making it around the course. (The name of the vessel in the foreground is the Duct Pearl).

latitude/John
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Time warp. The view of the CYC harbor for the Master Mariners Wooden Boat Show almost looked like a scene from the 1940s. 

latitude/John
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
With a quick glance, you might think this is the bow of a boat. In fact, it’s the stern of the beautiful 8 Meter Yucca at the Wooden Boat Show. Paul Kaplan of KKMI informed us that Yucca was designed by Nicholas Potter, the same architect behind Monday’s ‘LL mystery boat, the Cal 32 Amorita. 

latitude/John
©2018 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Water Witch owners John and Gena Egelston were double winners, taking home both the Corinthian trophy and the People’s Choice trophy for what is clearly a labor of love.

© 2018 Angie Lackey

There was an amazing collection of some of the Bay Area’s most beautiful classics gathered for the wooden boat show. If you’ve never experienced the rich, old-school soul of sailing, this was the place to do it. While there’s been loads of progress in yacht design and construction, when you step aboard a wooden classic, you’re reminded that it’s impossible to reproduce the heart of a wooden sailboat in fiberglass, metal or carbon. 

The annual gathering of wooden boats also produces a raft of winners for the upkeep of these stunners. This year, the awards went to:

— Peter Haywood and Ivan Poutiatine, Elizabeth Muir, Best in Show.  

— John and Gena Egelston, Water Witch; Corinthian Trophy (sweat equity).

— Jennifer Hinkel, Quessant; Al Lutz Trophy (most improved in the last year).

Water Witch; People’s Choice.

It was an award-winning weekend for sailing and, happily, there’s another ahead.

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In recent weeks, roughly 200 Pacific Puddle Jumpers made landfall in the archipelagos of French Polynesia, having completed nonstop passages of 3,000 to 4,000 miles from jumping-off points in Mexico, Panama, and elsewhere along the West Coast of the Americas.
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