East Bay El Toro Recollections From the 1950s
Bay Area sailor Mike Kelly recently came across the picture below of two young sailors racing El Toros in the East Bay. He sent it in to Latitude 38 with his recollections of the two sailors. We felt inclined to share the story, and hope that, whenever our readership comes across similar images or boats that bring up memories for them, they share them with us so that we can share them with the broader West Coast sailing community.
The two sailors are pictured sailing early El Toros, probably in the late 1950s. One is Jim Warfield, in boat 180, and the other is Brian McCarthy in boat 13. The picture may have been taken off the south shore of Alameda, as that is where Encinal Yacht Club (EYC) was located, at the foot of Grand Street.
Jim lived just a few blocks from EYC. This picture was spotted in the front window of Interactive Resources Inc., an architecture firm in Point Richmond. In the same window there is an early, almost- complete El Toro.
Jim and Brian ruled the El Toro class in *SBRA during that time period. They constantly split the top two spots in races from Monterey (Harbor) to Clear Lake, Sacramento (Lake Washington), and all the clubs in the Bay Area other than StFYC.
The fleet was very active and founded the Bullship Race during that time. Jim went on to sail Snipes and competed against Don Trask Jr. and all the other hot racers at the time. After graduation from Alameda High, Jim entered the US Navy. After that I lost track of him. Brian McCarthy was a Richmond Yacht Club member. After El Toros, I lost all track of him.
*The era of the now-defunct SBRA (Small Boat Racing Association) was when small boats had an active and competitive Northern California circuit. There is still lots of great youth sailing and adult small-boat sailing, and traditions such as the El Toro Bullship Race across the Bay continue. Our story on the closure of the Lake Merritt Sailing Club highlights some of that era when sailors like Jim Warfield were burning up the SBRA circuit. Jim’s name just popped up on John Sweeney’s FB page since he first raced a Moore 24 in the 1984 Nationals as bowman for Jim Warfield. The Moore 24s now have 71 boats registered for this year’s Nationals for the 50th anniversary, coming in Santa Cruz in September!
I remember meeting Jim Warfield at Lake Merritt when my parents and I were launching our newly completed Snipe for the first time. He was very complementary of the build, but told my dad, “take a good look at it now because it will never be that perfect again.” It was true what they say, A boat starts sinking the day that you launch it, the harder you work, the longer it takes.
Great picture! I knew Jimmy when he was sailing out of Stockton Sailing Club in the 1980s. He owned not only his El Toro but also the Columbia 5.5 Chaos. His was the only El Toro I ever saw with a storm sail he built in his loft at Bruno’s Island where he lived aboard his houseboat a few slips down from us. He also built a set of sails for our Columbia 5.5, hull #4. My late husband & I raced against Jimmy in the 5.5 fleet & he was still a charming but ferocious competitor. I learned a lot from him.
I had #1013, raced all over the Bay in SBRA until I got my Coast 13. Ended up working for Hank Jotz and made hundreds of El Toro sails, while he taught me everything I would need to become a good sailmaker in the future. El Toro was the beginning. Lake Merced Sailing Club was my home.
Jimmy Warfield was my boss at Dewitt Sails- His boss was Jocelyn Nash. Brian McCarthy went on to sail a Triton and bought property in West Marin. He sold me my property here.
Viki Gilmour would often regale me with stories about Mr. Warfield when I stayed with her during Covid. As I recall he crewed with Viki and her late husband John on their Etchells as far away as Austrailia and most places up and down the Coast of California. Viki is usually at Richmond YC Sunday nights at 5 if you want to catch up.