From Los Gatos to the Voiles de Saint Tropez in France

We recently ran a couple of stories about Bay Area classics that have found a new home in Europe. This inspired former Los Gatos resident Eduardo Nivey, who used to sail the Bay and also in Santa Cruz before moving to Europe. Eduardo still keeps an eye on California sailing through Latitude 38 and was prompted to send a short note and some pictures from the September Voiles de St. Tropez. It’s a reminder of how many West Coast sailors “go where the wind blows,” taking them to all corners of the planet to sail. Eduardo Nivey was sailing aboard the classic boat Sonny and managed to snap some shots of passing boats.

While Eduardo was shooting photos from Sonny, he was also racing at the Voiles de St. Tropez in France, where they took first in class. He also snapped a photo of St. Francis YC member Jim Schwarz’s Maxi 72 Vesper, which took second in class in the Voiles. Howard Clayman also sent us a couple of shots of former Bay Area classic Santana, still owned by Wendy Schmidt, who took fifth in her 18-boat Voiles de St. Tropez division.

The Vesper crew brought a little California with them, as the crew gear looked as if they were going to be setting sail in the Transpac rather than the Voiles de St. Tropez. Also racing in the Voiles was Dan Gribble of Boatswain’s Locker in Costa Mesa aboard his Tripp 65 Prevail.

One of the great reasons to have readers stay in touch is the opportunity to connect with other California sailors and sailboats sailing around the world. The video above shows why sailors travel all the way from California to be part of the Voiles de St. Tropez. This also connected us with some video of Schwartz’s Vesper sailing in the Voiles de St. Barth.

Thanks to Randall von Wedel’s stories on Grisette and Pursuit, which then inspired Howard Clayman to send us pics of Santana in Antibes, we’ve now heard from Eduardo Nivey with an update on his sailing life in Europe: the story that keeps on giving!