eye on the bay

TITLE HERE EYE ON THE BAY

OTHER TITLE HERE — MERRY MERRY MONTH OF MAY

Great days on the Bay (clockwise from below) — Some people fly spinnakers, others fly kids: the hot weekend in mid-May had everyone in shorts and shirtsleeves; Knaarly action at the Elite Keel Regatta; the best way to spectate sailboat races — is from a sailboat!; 'Wind Chaser' sails with jumping dolphins all the time; best seat in the house; a warm day, a cold beverage and a sailboat — does it get any better?

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

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 web- Fogel — a member of Berkeley YC site read, "Need E27 this — plans to sail the boat in next year's month!" We wondered, Pacific Cup doublehanded with friend why would one possibly and sailing colleague Lori Tewksbury. need a boat right away, The two hatched the idea while helping assuming he or she Singlehanded TransPac sailor Jim Fair wasn't trying to escape deliver his Outbound 46 Chesapeake from the law? For Rachel home from Hanalei Bay last year. Fogel, the newest member "During the trip we started to feel of the Express 27 fleet, like it was something we really wanted the phrasing was simply to do," she said. a ploy to find a good boat, The two have already started racing quickly. And find one she just about everything with a doubledid in the ready-to-roll handed division, along with the fullyGreat White. crewed Spring Keel Regatta in March, "I'd been looking for when class members rounded up a rock four months," she said. "I star crew to get her going. Unfortunately just wasn't finding what Great White was T-boned at a weather I was looking for, which 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. was the find." best boat I could "He felt shellshocked," terrible, she said. and I Through was that With the help of fleet mishap though, she ended up getting was time to try something different. members like Jason Crowson, Fogel in touch with rigger Gilles Combrisson, "I'd been wanting to go offshore for — a doctor specializing in geriatrics who had the boat repaired and ready awhile," he said. But to do it, he wanted — bought the boat in early January, a to go in two weeks and has been helpsomething a little faster. J/125s have couple years after a seven-year hiatus ing her ever since. Since then she and won just about every offshore race on from sailing for med school and a resi- Tewksbury have been out almost nonthe West Coast, so that seemed like a dency. stop as part of their Pac Cup prepanatural call. The only problem was that "The Express 27 fleet has been awe- rations. The T-boning did mean they with only 16 built over their short-lived some in every way," she said. "It's a missed the Island YC's Doublehanded production run, there just aren't many wonderful fleet to join. I learned so Lightship race, however. around. much about the boat just from looking "We offered to return her entry fee," "I'd been looking for awhile and not at boats with them." 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