Hoppe Regatta

[Ed Ekers]

Congratulations to Bill II on his win in this years Hoppe Regatta. He showed up with #76 (aka Ol' Yeller) sporting and bright new set of sails. He looked mighty impressive beating to weather across the San Francisco Bay.

The race is an annual event that starts in the area of the SFYC and allows you to go in either direction around Angel Island. Bill II was the only skipper to choose to go clock wise and ended up winning by a large margin.

Well done Bill and crew.......ed

P.S. A thank you to Bill I for the organization of the event

[Bill II]

Thanks Ed for the kudos!

It was pretty exciting to actually come in within the top two boats for once... :rolleyes:

The new sails make a HUGE difference in the way the boat handles and how it points.

Well, I hope this isnt the last win for us. Only more races will tell.

-Bill :cool:

[Bill]

This year's Hoppe race saw a traditional start.  

[Bill]

Here is the committee boat for the regatta.  Note the fever pitch of activity.

[Bill]

In all the excitement I forgot to mention that the committee boat sighted a whale after the race on the way back to Brickyard Cove.  The whale was about 30 or 40 yards away from the boat when it surfaced to blow.  Someone yelled "whale" and the skipper turned the boat in the whale's direction.  It surfaced once more and then dove.  We got to see the whale's tail rise into the air as the it dove deeper into the water.  It did not reappear.  I'm not sure, but the whale appeared to going to Sacramento!  At least it was in the ship channel and headed that direction.  First time anyone on the committee boat had seen a whale.

[French]

I thought it was suppose to rain big time that day, so I change my sail to Alameda adventure plans for the weekend....Bummer I missed all the fun!