Once again Encinal Yacht Club outdid themselves gathering sailors from across San Francisco Bay to cruise-in, race-in or to drive in. Veteran sailors reunited while new sailors tried their first time under sail. On the water a Vanguard 15 fleet battled it out in comfortable, warm breezs and flat water. Up in the air the Coast Guard arrived at noon to drop a rescue swimmer in the water showing everyone gathered how, if ever in need, they'd be rescued at sea. On the docks three brand new Hanse Yachts were put on display by JK3 Yachts and sailboat rides were being given by Club Nautique, Modern Sailing and the Encinal Junior Program. Turns out there are lots of people who'd like to try sailing.
On land the annual, wooden boat building contest, as always, started early with two teams competing for bottles of aged, 17 year old Goslings Rum. Their full-day effort resulted in two solid looking craft that actually floated with both able to compete in a very short course race with the gathered crowd cheering them on. One is never sure if the crowd is cheering for a winner or to see if the boats will flip, break up or somehow send their builders/crew swimming. Neither happened until the finish line when, in a generous gesture to the crowd, the lead dinghy team flipped to celebrate their success.
Shoreside there was music all day, exhibits from many Bay Area marine companies, activities for kids, a pool for swimming and, of course, great food and drink with the centerpiece of the drink offerings being the ever-popular 'Dark & Stormy' provided by event sponsor Gosling's Rum. It all made for a great combination - sailing, breeze, sunshine, sailors, music and Gosling's Rum. We don't know when the first sailor tasted their first sip of rum but ever since it seems sailing and rum have had great relations!
We'll let the pictures tell much of the rest of the story of another great celebration of sailing at the Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda, CA.
Goslings Rum, Summer Sailstice, Latitude 38 and lots of sailors - and non-sailors enjoyed the day at EYC.
Club Nautiuque's Colgate 26 were busy all day showing 'the ropes' to new sailors.
After clearing away near-by sailboats the Coast Guard rescue swimmer made the leap right off the end of the docks.
The Gosling's team of Tom Provost and Griff Brazil enjoyed the day and share the joy of the Gosling's 'Dark & Stormy'!
There were plenty of folks ashore to enjoy the weather, the exhibits and festivities.
Dave Varvell and Janice got interested in sailing again when they attended Summer Sailstice at EYC in 2012. He's now got his Basic Bareboat Certification from OCSC Sailing and is a member of both OCSC and EYC.
Boat builders did a great job assembling boats and keeping all their 'digits' out of the way of powertools.
Nobody suffered from thirst!
Bill Crowley singlehanded his Newport 23 down from Glen Cove Marina in Vallejo to meet his family at EYC.
The Gosling's bar seemed like a great place to talk about sailing and sailboats.
Built, launched and raced in one day - the boat building contest always gathers a crowd.
The sailing vessel, while a more complete yacht, was still outbound and fell behind the simplicity of the rowboat.
EYC Commodore Susan Jacquelin managed the start line for the boat building race.
You can see the suffering on their faces after a grueling day of boat building and a long, challenging race around the buoy 40 yeards off the dock.
For other celebrants, like Bruce Powell sailing over from Richmond YC, it was all a 'Joyride'.
Ariane Paul, boatbuilding contest organizer, awarded lots of Gosling's booty to the contestants.
Really, these guys out did themselves by building a 'yacht' capable of sailing three crew 'offshore' - nice job!
Psssst, 'hey, you want to buy a Summer Sailstice t-shirt?'
