First, the good news. Lots of new members (see below). Now, the bad news. Our total membership is flat to declining due to record numbers of non-renewals. So I guess we are doing something right and something wrong. Please check your status and get up to date. We welcome all feedback and ideas. You can send them to gbcasailing@gmail.com.

A warm welcome from the Board and the Membership to all our recent new members.

Senior Members:

Tony Nunes

Cole Mullinax

Bruce Martin

J D Hill

Joe Salinas

Josh Rubin

Dennis Kokkinis

Paul Tullos

Eddie Schleh

Mike Montgomery

Donald Chisholm

Mike Johnson

Walter Barnett

Crew Members:

Sarina Nickel

Bill Nickel

John Wodka

Chris Maginnis

Walter McNeil

Tammy Kannal

Greg Turman and the team from Horny Toad, First Place, J105

 

RESULTS

 

J-105 Class

First Place - Greg Turman, Horny Toad

Second Place - J. B. Bednar, Stinger

Third Place - John Bell, Kinderspel2

PHRF Non-Spinnaker Class

First Place - Jim Apple, Tenacious

Second Place - Mike Montgomery, Good Leif

Third Place - Greg Casamayor, Joyride

GBCA Cruising Club Class

First Place - Bob Crosby, Royal Crescent

Second Place - Brantly Minor, Other Woman

Third Place - Greg Gladden, CHIRON

TMCA Class

First Place - Ron Eddelman, Stellar of Course

Second Place - Bill Jenko, Sea Gypsy

Third Place - Ken Hutchinson, Nautilus

PHRF Spinnaker Class A

First Place - George Cushing

Second Place - David Christensen, Airborne

Third Place - Pedro Gianotti, Pingo

PHRF Spinnaker Class B

First Place - Tony Nunes/ William Plant, Picante

Second Place - Drew Peerless, Alert

Third Place - Chris Alk, Footloose

Thank you to Everyone who came out to race and enjoy the after-race festivities!

I grew up sailing on the west coast and over there Hawaii is the place you wanna sail to.  It's downwind, it's warm, it's well...Hawaii.

You may have noticed a new J/120, Shearwater, on the Bay recently.  Maybe last summer during the last Rum Races, or Harvest Moon, or the Icicle Series, or perhaps you saw us dragging a drogue around the Bay recently.  We are Chris & Justin, we live in Austin, and we've been diligently making the 3 hour trek to Seabrook to sail or work on Shearwater since we arrived last July.

Now if you were stalking us you also might have noticed Shearwater was loaded on a truck this past weekend and she is now on her  way to Richmond, California.  Come July, Chris & I will be racing Shearwater Double-Handed in the 2014 Pacific Cup.  2200 miles, mostly downwind, from San Francisco to Hawaii.  As of today there are 70 boats entered and 20 boats in the Double-Handed division.  Everything from Moore 24's to a custom 100 footer are entered this year.  A typical race starts with a beat under the Golden Gate Bridge, a few days of windy reaching, followed by trade wind running under spinnaker to the Finish.  With luck we will finish in 12 days or so.  

We bought Shearwater 2.5 years ago in Annapolis and we've been preparing for this race to Hawaii ever since.  There was a double-handed 20 day Trans Atlantic Crossing to Portugal in 2012, then a  raucous 30-40 knot blast down the Portuguese coast to Gibraltar last April, a far too warm sail down the Florida Keys and across the Gulf to Galveston last July and after our great time in Seabrook, Shearwater will soon get a taste of the Pacific Ocean.  Funny thing, when we crossed the Gulf last year, we were headed to Corpus Christi, but the winds conspired to drive us further north than planned and then the wind died and with fuel running low Galveston Bay became the closer destination.  We found the sailing community there so enjoyable we decided to stay and boy are we glad we did.

So, thanks to everyone we've met along the way, thanks to GBCA for putting together such a strong racing scene.  The sailing community, and GBCA in particular, have been so welcoming and the sailing, despite the thin water, has been spectacular.  Exactly what we've needed as we practice our boat handling in preparation for 12 days of double-handed sailing.  

If you want to follow along with us to Hawaii, you can see what we are up to at www.svshearwater.com or www.pacificcup.org, and you can follow the race at www.yellowbrick-tracking.com.

Chris & Justin Wolfe

s/v Shearwater - J/120