A Beer Can Series Origin Story
Richmond Yacht Club’s Beer Can Races started back in 1990. The progenitor was Harris Lavine. “The Sailing Advisory Committee had been discussing ways to have more activity and use of the club during the week,” explains Paula Lavine. “These races became popular enough that Rob Moore from Latitude 38 called to ask Harris if he would send him the race results so he could publish them with the other Beer Can races. Harris explained in great detail how the races were run and how the trophies were awarded. After that, Rob understood the reason results were not reported.”
This is the 32nd year of careening carousing crashing around the cans. One bit of calculated randomness has not changed: “Trophy recipients will be entirely at the discretion of the Race Committee.” The original sailing instructions also stated, “Trophies must be consumed on the premises and shared.”
“After a while, we got tired of trying to find a [race committee] boat,” continues Paula, “and so Harris came to a board meeting for a request to build a platform on the breakwater. He said if it doesn’t work out, just call it ‘Harris’ Folly’. The board voted to approve money for Dick Horn and his crew to build the platform as one of their summer maintenance projects.” The platform proved a success. RYC still uses it to run Beer Can races. The Yacht Racing Association and the Singlehanded Sailing Society also use it to finish some of their races.
“Harris Lavine asked me in 1998, I believe, to take over running the Beer Can races,” writes Eric Arens. “At the time, the Beer Cans were held on the first and third Wednesdays of a few months around June. Twelve bottles of wine were given out after each race. Harris had gotten someone to run each month, and I had done so one or two or a few times. He then asked me to run the whole thing the next year, which I think was 1999. I agreed to do so. A problem was finding someone to run it each month, so I just did it myself. I got a few flags on staffs, the wind-up clock and a shotgun, and carried them out to the platform. The club did not have a race committee room then, and equipment just lay around in the big room downstairs.
“I had seen that the big room had shotguns and shells lying around and kids running around in it. Though not normally one to impose constraints on activity, I had gone out and bought a gun cabinet and had locked the guns and ammo in it. This was before one had to get approval to do anything. I just did it and got repaid by the office manager. I had not bolted the gun cabinet to a wall, and when the clubhouse was broken into by thieves a few years later they took the whole cabinet with guns and ammo. One of the guns was a pump action shotgun that had the inscription ‘Fire the @#%*^& gun. — Eric Arens.’ This gun was a present from the International 14 fleet to RYC for running the International 14 World Championship in 1997. But that is another story.”
“A problem I had was how to score boats,” continues Eric. “There were four starts as there are now, with little and big boats with and without spinnakers. I did not have the boats’ PHRF ratings and did not have time to figure anything out anyway, so I guessed the results. The guesses seemed to be popular, except when I got booed. I then devised the Dynamic Handicap System, which is based on all the handicaps used since the British Parliament Act of 1694. The Seawanhaka Rule, the International Rule and the Cruising Club of America Rule are of particular importance.”
“The Beer Cans had races on the fourth Wednesdays for years before the BOD moved its meeting. Some of the board members would complain jokingly that they had trouble having a meeting with all the laughter coming down from upstairs. Sometimes they even recessed their meeting so they could come to the Beer Can dinner.
“More and more boats came to the races. To cut down on the number of boats each evening, races were held every Wednesday to spread the boats out. The plan did not work, and more boats came each evening. The beginning and end dates of the season have also been extended as far as into March and into October. But finishing boats in the dark when they cannot be seen brought back the old scoring problem.”
This particular Beer Can series has never had an entry fee. The next season begins this week, on April 6, and will continue every Wednesday through September 28. You’ll find Beer Can race series all over the state. Check out a whole bunch of them in Northern California on our April Calendar page.