welcome to the party

Lately it seems that we're bombarded with statistics purporting to show the decline of participation in sailing, that nobody is coming into the sport and no boats are being sold. But as we're out and about around the Bay, we keep finding — at least anecdotally — the opposite to be true. It seems every day we're meeting or hearing about someone who's just bought a boat. More impressive than the fact that these people are either trading up or jumping into the fray for the first time, is the fact that a lot of them have big plans for their new toys. For example, five of the new owners you're about to meet are planning on doing a Hawaii race in the not-too-distant future! And while we only had space to introduce you to five boats, we know of new owners of no less than a: Farr 40, Express 37, Beneteau 36.7, Moore 24, Catalina 22, Vanguard 15, Weta, and foiling Moth as well. We hope to introduce you to them in the not-too-distant future. But for now, here are some people going full-bore with new boats.

Double Trouble, J/125, Andy Costello — After a few years of cleaning up with his 1D35 Double Trouble on the Bay, Andy Costello decided last year it

was time to try something different. "I'd been wanting to go offshore for awhile," he said. But to do it, he wanted something a little faster. J/125s have won just about every offshore race on the West Coast, so that seemed like a natural call. The only problem was that with only 16 built over their short-lived production run, there just aren't many around. "I'd been looking for awhile and not having any luck," he said. So he enlisted the help of Sail California's Norman Davant, who tracked down Narrow Escape — soon to be re-dubbed Double Trouble — on the East Coast. The boat was originally owned, incidentally, by Pat Nolan and sailed on the Bay under the name Javelin; it still holds the monohull record for the Vallejo Race. Costello — the new car sales manager at BMW of San Francisco — hasn't wasted any time getting up to speed with the new boat. He's won both the Crewed Farallones and Lightship races since splashing her earlier this year. In between those trips outside the Gate and the Vallejo Race, his three boys, Andrew, 7, Nicholas, 5, and Sean, 2 keep him busy for Corinthian YC's Friday Night Series. "Nicholas gets mad if we don't sail on Fridays," Costello said, laughing. While Nicholas already has a Vallejo Race under his belt, his dad has plans for a race that might be a bit long for him just yet; don't be surprised to see Double Trouble in next year's Pac Cup.

Great White, Express 27, Rachel Fogel — Her want-ad on the class website read, "Need E27 this month!" We wondered, why would one possibly need a boat right away, assuming he or she wasn't trying to escape from the law? For Rachel Fogel, the newest member of the Express 27 fleet, the phrasing was simply a ploy to find a good boat, quickly. And find one she did in the ready-to-roll Great White. "I'd been looking for four months," she said. "I just wasn't finding what I was looking for, which was the best boat I could find." With the help of fleet members like Jason Crowson, Fogel — a doctor specializing in geriatrics — bought the boat in early January, a couple years after a seven-year hiatus from sailing for med school and a residency. "The Express 27 fleet has been awesome in every way," she said. "It's a wonderful fleet to join. I learned so much about the boat just from looking at boats with them."

Fogel — a member of Berkeley YC — plans to sail the boat in next year's Pacific Cup doublehanded with friend and sailing colleague Lori Tewksbury. The two hatched the idea while helping Singlehanded TransPac sailor Jim Fair deliver his Outbound 46 Chesapeake home from Hanalei Bay last year. "During the trip we started to feel like it was something we really wanted to do," she said. The two have already started racing just about everything with a doublehanded division, along with the fullycrewed Spring Keel Regatta in March, when class members rounded up a rock star crew to get her going. Unfortunately Great White was T-boned at a weather mark while sailing on starboard. Andy Costello already has sons (from left) Andrew, Nicholas and Sean trained in at least one fundamental sailing skill — hiking. "He felt shellshocked," terrible, she said. and I Through was that mishap though, she ended up getting in touch with rigger Gilles Combrisson, who had the boat repaired and ready to go in two weeks and has been helping her ever since. Since then she and Tewksbury have been out almost nonstop as part of their Pac Cup preparations. The T-boning did mean they missed the Island YC's Doublehanded Lightship race, however. "We offered to return her entry fee," said the IYC's Dawn Chesney. "But

PETER LYONS/ WWW.LYONSIMAGING.COM

Rachel Fogel, left, and Lori Tewksbury are going all-out to prepare for Pac Cup in 2010.

being that the race is a fundraiser for United Cerebral Palsy, she told us to keep her check and add it to the donation!"

Trunk Monkey, Mumm 30, Skip and Jody McCormack — In her first singlehanded effort, Jody McCormack pulled off a kite set, gybe, douse and a jib change, all without an autopilot — unless you consider a sail tie rigged between a lifeline and the tiller an autopilot. Although she was swept over the line early at the windless start of the Singlehanded Farallones Race and spent 40 minutes trying unsuccesfully to get back to restart, McCormack decided to go around the Rockpile anyway, and as it turned out would have corrected out to fourth in class and 18th overall. "What a rock star for her first singlehanded race!" said McCormack's husband, Skip. "As you can tell, I'm pretty stoked for her." Not only was it her first singlehanded race, but it was also the first race for the pair's Mumm 30 Trunk Monkey, which they bought in early April. The two are regulars on boats like Mark Jones' TP 52 Flash and Peter Stoneberg's Formula 40 Shadow, but this is their first keelboat, and as of now, they have one focus for Trunk Monkey — a doublehanded Pac Cup effort in 2010. Sailing has been a big part of their lives together even before the pair tied the knot on the Kaneohe Bay sand bar after sailing last year's Pac Cup on Flash, and while Skip — who works in the insurance industry — has been sailing pretty much his whole life, Jody — an attorney — has followed a more recent and rapid trajectory. She started on a 1D35, then went to a Farr 40 and TP 52. Her first dinghy experience was on Skip's 49er! "I guess she's actually regressing with the Mumm," Skip said, laughing. "She's really the one pushing it. It's wonderful, she's the one driving the effort, and I'm loving it."

TBD, Santana 22, James Dilworth — A trip to Gashouse Cove last year resulted in a tired Santana 22 for James Dilworth. "I made a huge mistake going down there that day," he said, jokingly. The San Francisco-based web developer originally planned on just getting the boat into good enough shape to go for casual day sails, so last year he painted and re-fit the boat's mast. But as the part-time racer with a few years of small boat sailing under his belt got more and more into sailing his new toy, the idea of racing her nagged him. That kind of effort would, of course, beget a little more preparation for the boat. And so in early April, he cleared his work schedule, hauled his Tuna at Berkeley Marine Center and got to work — replacing bulkheads and keelbolt nuts, sanding, fairing and painting. Three weeks later, it might as well have been a new boat. "I heartily recommend that everyone spend a month or two in the boatyard," he said. "It's been a very educational experience."

But that's not the only education he's undertaken since buying the boat.

James Dilworth has accrued some sanding hours since picking up his Tuna.

Jody and Skip McCormack are Kaneohe-bound. With the arrival of their Mumm 30 'Trunk Monkey', the days of boat borrowing — like at this year's Three Bridge Fiasco, below — are over for now.

DAVE KEANE

Dilworth also took classes at OCSC last summer to build his skills. Now carrying a confirmed case of the racing bug, he has his sights set on the Santana 22 Nationals, scheduled for late July at Corinthian YC. Although the boat doesn't yet have a name, when it shows up on the Bay, you won't miss it; he's enlisted the help of a graffiti artist from Sacramento to create a huge orange Octopus graphic on the topsides.

Deception, SC 50, Bill Helvestine— If any of you boat builders out there have doubts about the power of celebrity endorsements, maybe Bill Helvestine's reason for buying his SC 50 Deception will change your mind. "I chose the SC 50 largely because Paul Cayard made the decision for me," Helvestine said. "I figured if it was good enough for him and his family, it was good enough for me." Helvestine, who previously actively sailed aboard a friend's Olson 30 had been out of sailing for a "long time." But with all five of his kids now either in or graduated from college, the Larkspur attorney figured," If I'm going to get back into racing, I better do it now!"

He said some people questioned whether it was too much boat to basically get started in. "I'm finding the boat to be just right" he said. "It's a joy to sail. I didn't want a cruisy boat or a racer/cruiser; I wanted a racing boat and I didn't necessarily want the newest of the new."

Deception was the final SC 50 built, and the only one with a carbon fiber deck and a rig positioned farther forward than the originals. His 'Deception' is proving to be the perfect fit for first-time owner Bill Helvestine (in red jacket). A SC 50 isn't a bad starter boat . . . immediate plans include the OYRA schedule, where he hopes to develop the skills of the core group of crew that's been accreting for the boat, and learning how to sail it well. He's also got his eye on a future Hawaii race, with the 2010 Pacific Cup being the earliest possibility.

— latitude/rg

Schoonmaker Point marina

• in SauSaliTO • "Sausalito's Finest Marina"

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