By Tom Burden
Photos by Susan Burden
Photos by Susan Burden
Mile-high sailing off the beach on a crystal lake in the Sierra Nevadas with finnicky zephyrs of wind, and the aroma of pine trees, campfires, sunblock and barbecue in the air. Bright sun, swimmers, kids splashing, pontoon boats; it’s the El Toro Worlds at Pinecrest Lake.
There’s something special about dinghies on mountain lakes in the summertime that draws small-boat racers like a magnet to faraway destinations such as Pinecrest. It starts with the breeze. It bounces and swirls around the majestic rock outcrops forming the giant bowl that surrounds the 300-acre lake. There’s almost always wind, typically beginning about noon, but the direction and velocity are, shall we say, optional.
Two El Toros sailing 30 feet apart may have wind from opposite poles of the compass, or you might be in a windless hole as your competitor steams past, doing hull speed in a 12-knot gust. Or the entire fleet may likewise go roaring right past, leaving you gasping for air. It’s called “getting Pinecrested.” It happens here a lot.
Race one just after crossing the starting line
With all of this meteorological randomness, there are shifts you can tack on, patterns to the noise. And often, the same people tend to win. Mastering this kind of mountain lake, light-air sailing is a skillset. It’s an under-appreciated, catlike discipline practiced by the likes of Art Lange and the late Jimmy Warfield, who once proclaimed, “When the going gets weird, the weird get going.”
Classic course chart created by our founder the late Gill Gilluly
Pinecrest sailing consists of lots of morning relaxation time, sitting on the beach under a shady tree, until you wade out in the sparkling, refreshing water to your moored El Toro, hoist your sail and step aboard for your 12:30 start.
The locals, a group of cabin-owning Toro sailors calling themselves the SOBYC, have an ancient tradition of racing El Toros on Pinecrest each afternoon between the Fourth of July and Labor Day. SOBYC stands for either “Sitting On the Beach Yacht Club,” or something not suitable for publication.
To enter the Worlds, each sailor chooses to represent a country. You also need to own a sense of humor, as the event is designed as a satire of a Grand Prix world championship regatta.
The locals, a group of cabin-owning Toro sailors calling themselves the SOBYC, have an ancient tradition of racing El Toros on Pinecrest each afternoon between the Fourth of July and Labor Day. SOBYC stands for either “Sitting On the Beach Yacht Club,” or something not suitable for publication.
To enter the Worlds, each sailor chooses to represent a country. You also need to own a sense of humor, as the event is designed as a satire of a Grand Prix world championship regatta.
Bizarre and unique: The winner of each race picks the course for the next one, and then counts the fleet down from 30 for the start, while managing his or her own Toro as well. Course names include the likes of Zig Zag, Zag Zig, Zig Zig, Portable, Senility and the extra-long Monarch.
No race committee. No stopwatches. No protests or time limit. You can touch marks too, as long as you round correctly. Two races Saturday, with time for more sitting on the beach in between. One race Sunday, so the Bay Area folks can get an early start down the hill for home. No throwouts.
No race committee. No stopwatches. No protests or time limit. You can touch marks too, as long as you round correctly. Two races Saturday, with time for more sitting on the beach in between. One race Sunday, so the Bay Area folks can get an early start down the hill for home. No throwouts.
Off the beach launching from our moored boats
This year’s racing opened with a wild, exhausting and melodramatic first race. Lots of gusts and lulls, big shifts and vortexes made a gentle, medium-air race into a page-turner novel. After Art Lange executed a perfect first leg to the Beach mark, he extended and was gone. The rest of us battled. A long band of enhanced pressure on the leg from Tunnel to Cove allowed Gary Winton and I to “Pinecrest” the fleet, but it didn’t last and we fell back. So it went.
By the second race the breeze had settled down, making for a more “normal” experience, but that race ended the same way as the first one, with Art Lange again winning, and John Pacholski in a solid number two spot with second and third place finishes.
Sunday’s race followed a different plotline, as young Chase Englehart, who recently lifted the Junior North American Championship from the Hawaiians on Kaneohe Bay, blasted into the lead at Beach. Chase clung tenaciously to the top position, covering intelligently and surviving dogged pursuit from Fred Paxton, John Pacholski and others, to finally cross in first place.
By the second race the breeze had settled down, making for a more “normal” experience, but that race ended the same way as the first one, with Art Lange again winning, and John Pacholski in a solid number two spot with second and third place finishes.
Sunday’s race followed a different plotline, as young Chase Englehart, who recently lifted the Junior North American Championship from the Hawaiians on Kaneohe Bay, blasted into the lead at Beach. Chase clung tenaciously to the top position, covering intelligently and surviving dogged pursuit from Fred Paxton, John Pacholski and others, to finally cross in first place.
Chase Englehart wins the 3rd race, followed by John Pacholski, with a photobomb by Fred Paxton
Meanwhile, Art Lange was in the tank and taking gas. On the final beat, I was happy to pick his pocket on a windshift followed by a hole that Art missed, and then Gary Winton got past too. Could this be an epic collapse in the making?
Art finished sixth, tied with John and winning the tiebreaker due to the pair of first place finishes from Saturday. Chase’s win moved him into third and broke a tie with Fred Paxton. Jay Copeland got the award as the top SOBYC finisher.
Trophies in the usual quirky style were provided by Lynn Hrubes. Thanks to John Pacholski and Fred Paxton for organizing the event. See you next year!
Art finished sixth, tied with John and winning the tiebreaker due to the pair of first place finishes from Saturday. Chase’s win moved him into third and broke a tie with Fred Paxton. Jay Copeland got the award as the top SOBYC finisher.
Trophies in the usual quirky style were provided by Lynn Hrubes. Thanks to John Pacholski and Fred Paxton for organizing the event. See you next year!