Andy Newell Recaps the 2026 YRA Westpoint Race
The Westpoint Marina, the first new marina in the Bay for quite some time, opened in 2008. In 2009 Sequoia Yacht Club (SeqYC) and Westpoint Marina started the Westpoint Regatta. At some point one of my regulars got a ride on another boat for the race. The next time we saw each other he told me how much fun the race was and that he thought it would be a good fit as part of the YRA “Party Circuit.”
I can’t take credit for pulling it all together, but I mentioned this to the folks at YRA, and in 2014 the Westpoint Regatta was added to the YRA party circuit, now known as the YRA Destination Regattas.
The first several years the race was run by Sequoia Yacht Club in Redwood City and Treasure Island Yacht Club, with the post-race festivities taking place at Sequoia YC. Now the race is a joint effort of Sequoia YC, the Club at Westpoint, the Treasure Island YC and the YRA.
In 2023 the party was moved to Westpoint Harbor, with the party taking place at the harbormaster’s office as the clubhouse was still under construction. In 2024, with the Club at Westpoint complete, the post-race party moved there.
This year 29 boats made the trip from the start near Treasure Island, around Harding Rock and down to Westpoint. We had good wind north of the Bay Bridge, and the early flood was not too much of an issue. Once we were south of the bridge the current was adding a couple of knots to our progress. We were making a quick trip of it until there was a bit of a restart when the wind died near the airport. After a brief intermission the wind returned and the boats able to get to it first were rewarded. From there it was a very pleasant sail to the finish with winds in the mid-teens. The first boats finished just a bit before 1500 and the last were in a little after 1600.
Racers were greeted on the dock by Westpoint members making sure we all had a parking spot, and a bar and the party were down on the dock. By about 1730 the party moved to the clubhouse, where a band was playing and the libations were flowing. For those of us who stayed the night, coffee and bagels were available early in the morning so we could take advantage of the ebb for the ride home.
You can find the full scores here.