On a Mission to Make Racers Out of Cruisers Aboard Express 37s
New sailors sometimes take to the water with the idea of cruising around the Bay and its handful of small islands. And while there are a number of accessible locations, ideally the sailors will have a little experience under their keel. The Bay Area is not widely known for its “perfect” cruising grounds, but more so for its exciting racing conditions. The crew at Spinnaker Sailing in San Francisco recognized the new sailors’ dilemma and decided to do something about it. Spinnaker Sailing’s Cole and Miles Harper, and Gavin Corn from the Express 37 fleet, got together and formulated a plan to introduce sailing school graduates with bareboat-chartering experience to the fun sailboat-racing community on S.F. Bay and the exciting world of one-design racing.
Spinnaker Sailing’s president Drew Harper says the Bay’s brisk winds and volume of commercial traffic affect the quality of the available anchorages. And, “Our most popular cruise-to locations are shoaling up a bit, Angel Island particularly.” Conversely, San Francisco Bay is “a racing mecca!”
Few spots in the US provide the winds and currents to make sailing as fulfilling as you find it here. The local YRA schedule has hundreds of regattas in dozens of one-design and handicapped classes, Drew says.
“The Express 37 is a solid one-design class survivor with an active fleet and a well-planned racing schedule. They are also the largest-sized one-design fleet on the Bay AND one of the few symmetrical spinnaker fleets,” Harper said. “Typically sailing with 9-10 crew, they are fast, durable, well built and tons of fun for all aboard.”
Spinnaker Sailing San Francisco graduates dozens of highly qualified sailors annually, many of whom would venture forth to cruising in the Bay. Giving these sailors a basic knowledge and a little experience of racing expands their ability to get out on the water and make the most of their new sailing skills.
“Everyone who races knows that sailing skills are rapidly improved through the crucible of racing,” Drew adds. “S.F. Bay cruising sailors who don’t own a boat are on the Bay typically fewer than 10 times a year. Racing sailors are out generally more than 20 times a year … some more than 30+ times.”
Spinnaker Sailing San Francisco’s racing clinic aboard the Express 37 fleet was held late last month, under clear skies and light winds, with 24 students joining in the fun. Throughout the day the winds built to 20+ knots and the crews were all flying the spinnakers under the watchful eye of each boat’s regular crew.
“Everyone had a ball and the takeaway was huge. Every participant said they were stoked to go racing, and all four host boats walked away with many potential crew contacts.”
It’s great to see Spinnaker Sailing partnering with the Express 37 fleet to encourage a new pool of racing sailors. If your sailboat class needs more crew, or if you want to crew on a boat, you can also check out the Latitude 38 Crew List pages, where there’s someone for everyone!
