Flashback to the Last Century of Sailing the Bay

We ended last Friday’s flashback of San Francisco Bay sailing history in 1897, but sailing did not end there. Including a lot of local flashbacks from the ’60s and ’70s, the history of sailing the Bay continues to be made every day. As in Friday’s story, we picked out a few photos, without captions, so historians can take a guess at the photos before finding the answers at the end of this story.

In the July 2015 issue, editor John Riise continued the ongoing history of the Bay: “We hope you enjoyed last month’s Part 1 of our Brief Sailing History of San Francisco Bay, which took us from Juan Cabrillo and Francis Drake sailing by (but not entering) the Bay in the 1500s, to the antics of Jack London and the launching of Alma at the end of the 19th century. This month, we board the Wayback Machine in 1900 and ride it back to the present.”

Sailing was incredibly popular in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, though the culture along San Francisco’s shoreline was very different. A far different cast of characters was walking and working along the waterfront and the transition from wood to fiberglass well underway. The people, the shoreline, and the Bay Area culture were changing rapidly.

Today people are pioneering carbon foils for surfing, kiteboarding, winging and all sorts of new, high-speed craft that are being added to the Bay Area sailing scene. Who knows what someone writing about the history of sailing the Bay 100 years from now will be saying about the era in which we sail?

From the early 1900s, sailing shifted from wood to fiberglass to carbon to foiling. It all continues to change and stay the same as people look to relax on the weekends on classic wooden boats, plastic classics or high-speed foiling boards and boats. You can read more about the era from 1901 to 2013 here.

Image 1: The 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition
Image 2: Myron Spaulding
Image 3: Sterling Hayden
Image 4: The 2013 America’s Cup — yes, a decade ago!

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