Racing
Throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area, there is a year round series of regattas in the El Toro class.
The original name for the race was the Ano Del Gran Concurso Barco Toro, which translates roughly into Golden Gate Bullship Race".
The Bullship Race has been running since 1953 and represents one of the most harrowing El Toro regattas in the racing schedule. The skippers carry their boats through the Sausalito Yacht Club entering the water off the SYC dock. The SYC Auxiliary provides the skippers with a Continental Breakfast before the race. The course starts in Sausalitoin front of Ondine Restaurant, crosses the bay between Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge and ends at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.
There is a similar Bullship Race in Kaneohe, Hawaii that leaves from Kaneohe Yacht Club rounds coconut island and returns to the yacht club.
Narrasketuck Yacht Club, located in Amityville, New York, holds an annual frostbite series for El Toros. The series kicks off with the Bullshot Regatta, held on New Year's Day.
BULLSHIP RACE HISTORY The first Bullship Race was April, 1954. Charles O’Gara and Lynn Pera set out to prove the merits of sailing to Barnaby Conrad, author and bull-fighting expert, by racing from Ondines in Sausalito to the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. O’Gara lost the race (and by tradition has been the last skipper ever since) but Conrad was convinced that the El Toro class was worthy of a trophy to perpetuate the event. The trophy was the tail of a bull awarded each year to a last place sailor. In 1956 the Monterey Herald donated a perpetual trophy for feminine skippers and in 1958 George Guatekunst gave the Ondine Perpetual trophy for Maiden Voyagers only. In 2006 two new trophies have been designated by the committee; the Robert Cresswell Woody Award for the first wooden boat finishing, and the Clydesdale Award, for the first finisher that weighs over 200 pounds. The legendary Tempest Storm has served as honorary meteorologist since the early years. Traditionally the race is held on the Saturday after Easter to take advantage of favorable tides. After 134 El Toros raced in 1962, a limit was set at 100 entries per race. The skippers carry their boats through the Sausalito Yacht Club and put them in the water off the SYC dock. The race starts and 9 am. A continental breakfast is always provided to the racers by the SYC Auxiliary starting at 7:30am.
Read more about this topic: El Toro (dinghy)
Famous quotes containing the word racing:
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—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)