THE RACING
The 45th Serving of Seaweed Soup For the seventh time, Hank Easom and his classic 8-Meter Yucca have captured the Manuel Fagundes Seaweed Soup Perpetual Trophy. Easom, who still operates a boatyard in Sausalito, isn't sure, but he thinks he started racing in the midwinter series at Golden Gate Yacht Club in 1960, the year he built the 32-ft Lapworth-designed Dasher Serenade. He won his first GGYC trophy with Serenade in 1963. He's had Yucca for 52 of her 78 years. "Yucca is a pleasure to own," he said. Easom doesn't see any difference between the series now and in the 1960s. "I've always enjoyed it. You get the south wind, the north wind; it's fluky, fun, different — and very well run all this time." He believes that the series has held steady in terms of numbers for all these decades — GGYC got 85 entries this year. "It's always had a good turnout." Easom thinks that the misfortune
years; Peter Shoen, 12 years; Robin and Vicki Sodaro, 15 years; Emmet Yeazell, 12 years; Hans List, 3 years; Brian Moore, 3 years; Leslie Richter, 15 years; Bill Barton, 10 years; Laurence Pulgram, 15 years; Kevin Burrell, 20 years; Ed Lynch, 3 years; and Jerry Rumsey, 52 years — same as Easom himself. "We mostly sail with eight. This is a very loyal bunch of great sailors." Easom is one of the few folks still racing who remembers the fellow for whom the series is named. "I have a lot of fond memories of Manny. It was an all-volunteer club in those days, and Manny cooked, bartended, took care of a Farallon Clipper, and sailed that. It's always been a working man's club." — latitude/chris
LATITUDE / CHRIS
GGYC MANUEL FAGUNDES SEAWEED SOUP REGATTA (5r, 1t) PHRF 1 — 1) Zamazaan, Farr 52, Greg Mullins, 5 points; 2) Twisted, Farr 40, Tony Pohl, 6; 3) California Condor, Antrim Class 40, Buzz Blackett, 14. (8 boats) PHRF 2 — 1) Outsider, Azzura 310, Greg Nelsen, 7 points; 2) Gentoo, Soto 30, Paul Dorsey, 11; 3) CentoMiglia, Flying Tiger 10, Mark Kennedy, 12. (11 boats) PHRF 3 — 1) Yucca, 8-Meter, Hank Easom, 4 points; 2) Hawkeye, IMX38, Frank Morrow, 12; 3) Uno, Wyliecat 30, Bren Meyer, 13; 4) Snowy Owl, Express 37, Jens Jensen, 17. (16 boats) PHRF 4 — 1) Arcadia, Mod. Santana 27, No stranger to these pages, Hank Easom of 'Yucca' accepts the Seaweed Soup perpetual and take-home trophies from Golden Gate YC's rear com- Gordie Nash, 5 points; 2) Shenanigans, Express modore Leslie Iacopi (left) and sailing director Chris Childers. 27, Bill Moore, 9; 3) El Raton, Express 27, Ray Lotto, 11. (10 boats) of the IMX-38 Hawkeye contributed to J/88 — 1) Courageous, Gary Panariello, Yucca's success this year. "Hawkeye got 4 points; 2) Split Water, David Britt, 10; 3) M thrown out of one race for barging or they Squared, Marc McMorris, 11. (5 boats) could have won it. We had a good bunch CATALINA 34 — 1) Queimada, David Sanner, of boats in our class. We did the best we 5 points; 2) All Hail, Page Van Loben Sels, 11; 3) could. We always try to win the trophy." Mottley, Chris Owen, 12. (8 boats) Aboard Yucca this winter were Chuck KNARR — 1) Fifty/Fifty, Brent Crawford, Mohn, who's been on the crew for 50 Page 94 •
Latitude 38
• April, 2016
BOTH PHOTOS LATITUDE / CHRIS
This month we examine the enduring popularity of Golden Gate Yacht Club's favorite regatta. The stormy Big Daddy Regatta gave intrepid racers something to talk about, as did SoCal's Islands Race. A Midwinter Notebook follows, with a collection of reports from a handful of Bay Area clubs. Find results for more Midwinters in Box Scores this month and next. We finish up with an AC call-out for all the young dudes.
Spread: Closing in on the finish line of March's GGYC midwinter race, the graceful 8-Meter 'Yucca' sails past StFYC's Spring One Design Regatta. Inset: After the race, with her crew stacked on the leeward rail giving her a bit of heel, the Farr 52 'Zamazaan' squeezed into the San Francisco Marina between the breakwater and the ever-expanding, dock-busting beach.
7 points; 2) Kraken, Risley Sams, 11; 3) Flyer, Chris Kelly, 13. (9 boats) FOLKBOAT — 1) Nordic Star, Richard Keldsen, 5 points; 2) Circlesea, Tom Haverstock, 8; 3) Thea, Chris Herrmann, 10. (6 boats) Full results at www.ggyc.com
Big Air Big Daddy Like many regattas in the first half of March, Richmond YC's Big Daddy had to deal with the return of El Niñodriven storm systems, with wind ranging from 20 to 30 knots and gusts as high as the mid-30s. Several skippers chose to protect their gear, boats and crews by staying in. The Wylie Wabbit fleet canceled their appearance in Saturday's buoy races (though Sunday's pursuit race would see their propitious return). Casualties in the fleets that did race included multiple travelers, a vang, a boom and, among Santana 22s, a whisker pole and a rudder. That fleet was further decimated by a damaging collision on Saturday. Torn sails and lines were common on both days. The most dramatic mishap came during Sunday's pursuit race, in which competitors round Alcatraz and Angel Island in the direction of their choosing. Mark and Anne Thomas's WildCard had seven crew lined up, but crews consolidated due to the attrition of available boats, and the Santa Cruz 37 ended up with 11. They were glad they did when their biggest crewmember fell overboard.
