Tom-Burden.com
  • Home
  • What's New
    • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup >
      • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup Slideshow
    • 2022 Delta Ditch Run
    • 2022 Big Dinghy Regatta
    • Gallery El Toro North Americans 2021
    • RYC Junior Program
    • El Toro North Americans 2021 >
      • Awards Ceremony El Toro Nationals 2021
      • Results El Toro Nationals 2021
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede
    • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Article >
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend >
        • Slideshow High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday >
        • Slideshow – High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday
      • Map of Big Creek Hydroelectric Project
      • Regatta Cup
    • 30th Delta Ditch Run Gallery >
      • 30th Delta Ditch Run Slideshow
    • Beer Cans Week Four >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Four - Slideshow
    • Meet Seven of Nine
    • Beer Cans Week Three >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Three - Slideshow
      • A Bird's Eye View
    • Beer Can Racing Is Back! >
      • More Beer Can Photos
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • UnRegatta >
      • UnRegatta Gallery
      • UnRegatta Slideshow
    • Like a Boss
    • Social Distancing Adventures
    • Spaulding >
      • Spaulding Slideshow
      • Spaulding Gallery
    • Women of RYC >
      • Women of RYC Gallery
    • Midwinters March 1
    • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 >
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Gallery
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Slideshow
    • New carbon Antrim 27 >
      • Io Under Construction
    • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters >
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Gallery
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Slideshow
    • Women's Sailing Seminar >
      • Reflections of a beginning sailor
      • On The Water
      • Race Day
      • Awards Ceremony
      • Shared Photos Day 1
      • Shared Photos Day 2
  • Videos
    • Sending It
    • Like a Boss
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Riding on a RIB at 35 Knots
  • El Toro Sailing
    • RYC Junior Program >
      • RYC Junior Program slideshow
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede >
      • Gallery 2021 Stampede
      • Gallery II 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow II 2021 Stampede
      • Results 2021 Stampede
    • 2021 Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • 2021 Gallery Totally Dinghy
      • Slideshow - 2021 Totally Dinghy
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • The 2019 El Toro Stampede >
      • before lunch
      • After lunch
      • Soda Special Race
      • Green Bottle Race
      • Stampede Awards >
        • Results
    • 2019 El Toro Worlds >
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Results
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Photo Gallery Saturday
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Gallery Sunday
    • 2019 El Toro North American Championships >
      • North American Championships Gallery
      • North American Championships Results
      • Sailing anarchy article
    • 2019 Hawaii Bullship >
      • Hawaii Bullship Results
    • 2019 Clearlake >
      • Race Results
      • Day 1 - Part 1
      • Day 1 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 1
      • Day 2 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 3
      • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Fremont Relays 2019 >
      • Fremont Relays Gallery
    • Bullship Bust
    • El Toro Stampede
    • Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • El Toro Worlds >
      • El Toro Worlds - Article
      • Day One Photos
      • Day Two Photos
      • Scores
    • 2018 El Toro North Americans >
      • Day One
      • Day Two
      • Day Three
  • Cal 40 Sailing
    • Iconic Cal 40 Images >
      • Iconic Cal 40 Images Gallery
    • Cal 40 Rendezvous
    • A Journey Into The Pacific
    • The Cult of the Cal 40
    • Cal 40 Shaman Photos >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Gallery
      • Cal 40 Shaman 2021 Haulout
    • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration gallery
    • Cal 40 Design >
      • Cal 40 Design gallery
    • Double Angle Race Article >
      • Double Angle Race Results
  • Places
    • Huntington Lake
    • Water Street
    • KKMI Sausalito
    • KKMI Richmond
    • Richmond Yacht Club >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • Kaneohe Yacht Club Gallery >
      • KYC Slideshow
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor >
      • Point San Pablo Gallery
    • Washington Avenue Miniatures
The 2019 El Toro Stampede
before lunch
after lunch
Soda Special Race
Green Bottle Race
Stampede Awards
>>>
Results
<<<
Picture
By Tom Burden
Photos by Susan Burden


Battle for supremacy in both forward and reverse gear

A bottle of Tanqueray gin, a six-pack of root beer and a 25-pound bag of steer manure; these are among the unique, bizarre awards that have been handed out every year since 1947 at the El Toro Stampede.
Picture
One of the oldest one-design dinghy events on San Francisco Bay, Richmond Yacht Club’s annual Running of the Bulls is an October tradition. And when you can hear the Blue Angels jets performing loud aerial acrobatics overhead for the Fleet Week celebration, you can bet the El Toro fleet is competing on the Richmond Riviera to see who sails quickest, in both forward and reverse gear.
Picture
The Blue Angels
All Throwers
The racing began with the first Stampede race, the All Throwers for everyone, held in the calm Potrero Reach waters near Parents Point. Our regatta included a 16-boat Senior Fleet plus six Juniors, who were given their own start. A pair of double windward/leeward races in breeze that built to ten knots delivered close racing. Knowing how to play the significant current determined who succeeded. Nick Nash sailed both fast and smart, winning the Stampede for the second year in a row. John Pacholski and Gordie Nash rounded out the top three.

Bull Throwers
Next, we were separated into four weight classes for the Bull Throwers, with the ultra-lightweight division going first, followed by lightweights and middleweights. I was in my usual spot in the over-180-pound “Clydesdale” division, battling for one of two spots in the Bull Throwers Final Race, which would happen after lunch. This was our shot at “El Sacko de Manuro,” a truly coveted Bullship award! These Bull Throwers elimination rounds finished inside the RYC harbor, for max spectator drama.
Picture
Gordie Nash with El Sacko de Manuro which he plans to donate to the flower bed at Waldo Point Harbor (Gordie lives on a houseboat)
​Lunch on shore was graciously provided by our PRO, Vickie Gilmour, who also donated her Grand Banks 32 for use as our Race Committee vessel, plus her 13’ Whaler for setting marks. Instant regatta! And then, after munching tuna sandwiches on the RYC deck, we readied for the In-Port Races.

Soda Special and Green Bottle
Ancient El Toro tradition calls for either a no-centerboard race, or a race that’s sailed upwind normally, with the downwind leg sailed stern first. Fortunately, Vickie showed mercy and picked the latter, sparing us the torture of attempting to sail upwind without a centerboard.

The elders in the Senior Fleet jumped into our Toros to begin warming up, with a perfect eight-knot breeze blowing straight down the harbor. Most folks spun out repeatedly and struggled to sail their Toro backwards downwind and maintain a straight course. Some sailors needed to sit up on the thwart and push the boom out by hand, having long arms looked to be a plus. But I had a secret weapon, and when I deployed it, my competitors were impressed.

My Toro has a strong, Dac-cord preventer, that runs through Harken blocks. When I want to engage “reverse” I just point the bow into the wind, yank on the old JC Strap, and out goes the sail. I could sit in my normal spot and concentrate on steering, so as we prepared for our start, I felt a bit like the skipper of Australia II with her secret winged keel. A laughter-filled dip start in front of Fred Paxton got me ahead, and the secret JC Strap got me the Green Bottle. John Pacholski and Chris Boome were second and third in the backwards race.
Picture
Junior winner Evan Sullivan

​Evan Sullivan, who has sailed hard all year and shown tremendous improvement, finished first in the Junior backwards fleet, winning the Soda Special, the aforementioned sixer of A&W Root Beer.

​The Bull Throwers Final, with the top eight weight-division finalists, was a tough battle with most of the usual suspects including me having made the top group. Gordie Nash pulled ahead on the reach to Daymarker Eight and held on for the in-harbor finish for El Sacko de Manuro.
The El Toro fleet is seeing some new faces this fall, like Jim “Zorro” Grossman and returnees such as Chris Boome, so there is good competition everywhere in the fleet. There’s also willingness from top sailors to lend old sails and share advice. Look for more big fleets of El Toros in the upcoming RYC Midwinters with tough, fun racing.
Picture
Jim Grossman in his "Zorro the El Toro" alter ego
Picture
Laser hero Chris Boome crosstrains in Vickie Gilmour's El Toro
home
Home
What's New
Videos
El Toro Sailing
Cal 40 Sailing
Places
Contact
Copyright © 2021
  • Home
  • What's New
    • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup >
      • 2022 PICYA Lipton Cup Slideshow
    • 2022 Delta Ditch Run
    • 2022 Big Dinghy Regatta
    • Gallery El Toro North Americans 2021
    • RYC Junior Program
    • El Toro North Americans 2021 >
      • Awards Ceremony El Toro Nationals 2021
      • Results El Toro Nationals 2021
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede
    • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Article >
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend >
        • Slideshow High Sierra Regatta 2021 - First Weekend
      • High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday >
        • Slideshow – High Sierra Regatta 2021 - Second Weekend - Sunday
      • Map of Big Creek Hydroelectric Project
      • Regatta Cup
    • 30th Delta Ditch Run Gallery >
      • 30th Delta Ditch Run Slideshow
    • Beer Cans Week Four >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Four - Slideshow
    • Meet Seven of Nine
    • Beer Cans Week Three >
      • Beer Can Racing - Week Three - Slideshow
      • A Bird's Eye View
    • Beer Can Racing Is Back! >
      • More Beer Can Photos
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • UnRegatta >
      • UnRegatta Gallery
      • UnRegatta Slideshow
    • Like a Boss
    • Social Distancing Adventures
    • Spaulding >
      • Spaulding Slideshow
      • Spaulding Gallery
    • Women of RYC >
      • Women of RYC Gallery
    • Midwinters March 1
    • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 >
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Gallery
      • Three Bridge Fiasco 2020 Slideshow
    • New carbon Antrim 27 >
      • Io Under Construction
    • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters >
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Gallery
      • RYC 2020 Small Boat Midwinters Slideshow
    • Women's Sailing Seminar >
      • Reflections of a beginning sailor
      • On The Water
      • Race Day
      • Awards Ceremony
      • Shared Photos Day 1
      • Shared Photos Day 2
  • Videos
    • Sending It
    • Like a Boss
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Riding on a RIB at 35 Knots
  • El Toro Sailing
    • RYC Junior Program >
      • RYC Junior Program slideshow
    • 2021 El Toro Stampede >
      • Gallery 2021 Stampede
      • Gallery II 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow 2021 Stampede
      • Slideshow II 2021 Stampede
      • Results 2021 Stampede
    • 2021 Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • 2021 Gallery Totally Dinghy
      • Slideshow - 2021 Totally Dinghy
    • Wing Flap Attack
    • The 2019 El Toro Stampede >
      • before lunch
      • After lunch
      • Soda Special Race
      • Green Bottle Race
      • Stampede Awards >
        • Results
    • 2019 El Toro Worlds >
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Results
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Photo Gallery Saturday
      • 2019 El Toro Worlds Gallery Sunday
    • 2019 El Toro North American Championships >
      • North American Championships Gallery
      • North American Championships Results
      • Sailing anarchy article
    • 2019 Hawaii Bullship >
      • Hawaii Bullship Results
    • 2019 Clearlake >
      • Race Results
      • Day 1 - Part 1
      • Day 1 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 1
      • Day 2 - Part 2
      • Day 2 - Part 3
      • How to Parallel Park an El Toro
    • Fremont Relays 2019 >
      • Fremont Relays Gallery
    • Bullship Bust
    • El Toro Stampede
    • Totally Dinghy Regatta >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • El Toro Worlds >
      • El Toro Worlds - Article
      • Day One Photos
      • Day Two Photos
      • Scores
    • 2018 El Toro North Americans >
      • Day One
      • Day Two
      • Day Three
  • Cal 40 Sailing
    • Iconic Cal 40 Images >
      • Iconic Cal 40 Images Gallery
    • Cal 40 Rendezvous
    • A Journey Into The Pacific
    • The Cult of the Cal 40
    • Cal 40 Shaman Photos >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Gallery
      • Cal 40 Shaman 2021 Haulout
    • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration >
      • Cal 40 Shaman Restoration gallery
    • Cal 40 Design >
      • Cal 40 Design gallery
    • Double Angle Race Article >
      • Double Angle Race Results
  • Places
    • Huntington Lake
    • Water Street
    • KKMI Sausalito
    • KKMI Richmond
    • Richmond Yacht Club >
      • Totally Dinghy Gallery
    • Kaneohe Yacht Club Gallery >
      • KYC Slideshow
    • Moss Landing, CA
    • Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor >
      • Point San Pablo Gallery
    • Washington Avenue Miniatures