Happy Birthday, Commodore

Warwick ‘Commodore’ Tompkins of Mill Valley celebrated his 80th at the Presidio YC last weekend, attracting well-known sailors from near and far. Among those coming the farthest were Ron Holland of Vancouver and Cork, Ireland, best known for most recently designing megayachts, including the 247-ft Mirabella, which has the tallest mast in the world; and Eric Goetz, the Rhode Island builder of countless famous carbon yachts, including the 80-ft Puma. Also present were Tom Wylie, designer of many local boats, Skip Allan, noted singlehanded racer and cruiser, Bay Area sailing legend Hank Easom, circumnavigator Jim Jessie of Alameda, delivery skipper Robert Flowerman, former head of the Alameda North loft Steve Taft, and many others.

Normally we don’t note birthdays, but Tompkins, who is still cruising the South Pacific aboard his Wylie 38+ Flashgirl with his wife Nancy, was born aboard the 1896 Elbe River pilot schooner Wander Bird, crossed the Atlantic six times in his first five years, and rounded the Horn as a youth. Commodore has spent his whole life at sea or getting ready for sea. He was not only a mentor to a whole generation of then-young Baby Boomer sailors who came to the fore in the ’70s, but he’s always been a larger than life figure in sailing.

And as Dick Enersen points out, Commodore seems to be aging well — even better than his 80th birthday shirt, which photographic evidence shows he also wore for his 75th birthday bash! Happy B-Day Commodore, we wish we could have been there.