Virtual Opening Day on the Bay
The pandemic continues to be an ongoing voyage of discovery. We’d rather be sailing, but we’ve appreciated the opportunity to tune in to a wide variety of virtual events hosted by inspired sailing organizations around the Bay. Last weekend, it was the Pacific Interclub Yachting Association’s Virtual Opening Day on the Bay. Organized by Vice Commodore Patti Mangan of South Beach Yacht Club in San Francisco and Staff Commodore Winston Bumpus of the Club at Westpoint in Redwood City, the event drew more than 150 people and dozens of model-boat entries from yacht clubs all over the Bay Area to a Zoom meeting.
On a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves sheltered in place and looking at computer screens, but  also looking forward to getting back on the water. Until that day, the virtual world is filling a bit of the sailing void in our lives.
Inspired, we pulled out an old model we’d put together — with the help of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center at a Master Mariners Wooden Boat Show — and turned it into an all-carbon, foiling, logo-plastered racing machine. We even took it sailing, and it worked! After our test sail, we put in a call to Jim Antrim to see if he can help adjust the foil design for improved performance. There’s hope.
Once we launched the boat, we continued our voyage by recording its short sail across the Corinthian Yacht Club harbor. Then, using an iMovie template, we rendered it into an amateur one-minute video trailer. The result is something only our always-supportive mother would love. The ‘movie’ could probably be improved by the YouTube office mascot, but we were happy just to have something to contribute.
Having a parade of boats on your computer replace the excitement of a parade of boats on the Bay is virtually impossible. Still, it’s amazing what a mix of new technology, creativity and hard work can do for the soul when the real Opening Day is not possible. Hats off to PICYA for producing the best-possible pandemic parade alternative, and their continued efforts in organizing and uniting clubs in Northern California. To see the full program, click here.
After 44 days of seeing the world through a computer screen, we can’t wait to see everyone out sailing the Bay.