st francis yacht club youth sailing

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St. Francis Yacht Club

700 Marina Blvd

San Francisco , CA 94123

(415) 563-6363

Becoming St. Francis

St. Francis Yacht Club was founded in 1927 by a group of 21 San Francisco yachtsmen with a vision of a club in the City. It was an offshoot of the San Francisco Yacht Club, which was founded in 1856 and had its facility in Sausalito, across the Bay. That facility burned to the ground in the mid-twenties and a fierce debate raged after the fire between those who lived in Marin County and those who lived in San Francisco. The city-dwellers wanted to relocate to San Francisco—not surprising given that this was before the Golden Gate Bridge, so SF members had to travel by water to their club. Members from Marin found a suitable location in Belvedere against the wishes of their SF membership and pulled some fast and furious moves to secure the right number of votes to make it happen. This so offended the SF members that they chose to leave San Francisco Yacht Club and form their own club: the St. Francis Yacht Club.

Today, there is great camaraderie between the two clubs and many members belong to both.

For the club’s full history, click here .

St. Francis Yacht Club Honors Hall of Famers

The St. Francis Yacht Club honored their Hall of Famers at a dinner on October 28, 2014 with 200 people attending.

Those honored included National Sailing Hall of Famers Tom Blackaller, Paul Cayard, Stan Honey and John Kostecki, plus America’s Cup Hall of Famers Lucy and Fritz Jewett. Another Hall of Famer, National Sailing Hall of Fame President Gary Jobson, was the Master of Ceremonies.

Here are some photos of the event, courtesy of photographer Igor Capibaribe, and a short video tribute that was played during the dinner.

L-R: St. Francis YC Commodore Bruce Munro, John Kostecki, Stan Honey, Lisa Blackaller, Lucy Jewitt, Paul Cayard, Gary Jobson, St. Francis YC Commodore George Dort

Video: Tribute to the St. Francis Yacht Club Hall of Famers (4:15)  :

Quick Links

Getting Here

The Sailing Museum & Hall of Fame

365 Thames Street

Newport, RI 02840

401.324.5761

[email protected]

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Get Your Feet Wet This program introduces people to the joys of sailing aboard the club’s J/80! Volunteer coaching, organized this year by StFYC member Alex Salogub, will provide instruction for members and guests who consider themselves beginner- to intermediate-level sailors who are new or rusty at handling a small boat on San Francisco Bay. Up to three spots are available for each class, first come, first served, $60 per individual. Stay tuned for scheduled dates, starting in April.

J/80 Ladies Ladies’ morning spring classes will be offered to StFYC members on Thursdays from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. twice per month. All levels welcome! Instruction is flexible based on the skill level and interests of participants. The first two classes will be March 16 and March 23 — thanks to Katie White and Pam Healy for volunteering to coach. Up to three spots are available for each class, first come, first served, $60 per individual.

The first two programs opened for StFYC members today, and will be available for others to register starting next Friday, February 24.

For full details go to:  St. Francis Yacht Club/Sailing Education .

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Leading Yacht Clubs • Working Together • Sharing Experiences

Offering a bigger experience of sailing

Kimball Livingston

St. Francis Yacht Club

June 21, 2023

By Kimball Livingston, St. Francis Yacht Club

When Kimball Livingston was the 2016 Commodore of St. Francis Yacht Club he led an initiative that changed the focus of his club’s youth program. Now with the title of Staff Commodore Ambassador to Youth Sailing\, he offers this update.

I follow, fascinated, the stream of commentary in our sport’s media expressing pride, dismay, optimism/pessimism and, occasionally, disdain for the state of youth sailing in this moment when everything is happening at once. Gone are the days of advancing automatically from this little-kid boat to that big-kid boat. Kids are being diverted into the newest, fastest thing, including other, related watersports—wingfoiling has proven irresistible to the young and not so young at StFYC. It’s also proving to be more teachable and cost-effective than the kiting it is largely replacing, and we think it’s safer too.

After years of fretting that we couldn’t get teens kiting because of the windy, current-ridden waters in front of StFYC—and sending kids elsewhere to learn—we’re teaching the sport of foiling at last. First on a tow-behind. Then the kids get their wings.

So far, we’ve produced no experts to follow in the footsteps of our world champion kite sailors, but our newly minted, foiling 15-year-olds are about same age as six-time Formula Kite World Champion and StFYC member Daniela Moroz when she first launched from Crissy Field Beach adjacent to our clubhouse.

All my kids want to foil. That’s why the dinghy park is not Waszp-free.

Everything happening at once? We’re planning a free one-day clinic for Fevas and Teras on the Friday ahead of their Pacific Coast Championships, July 22-23, 2023. We believe in Teras as singlehanded trainers and Fevas as a doublehanded tweener. Both fleets deserve to grow, and the reasonably-priced Feva, with its asymmetric kite and rotomolded skiff shape, is a planing thrill ride and a great stepping-stone to the next fast thing.

That is why we’re offering clinics for both fleets, and that is why we’re making the clinics free, with the St. Francis Sailing Foundation making it possible. Tera coaching at press time is TBA, but Feva World Champion Ben Hutton-Penman will coach Fevas. That’s one big, y’all come.

Meanwhile, a cadre of our older teens will soon be off to C420 regattas on Lake Michigan and the East Coast of the United States. The C420 was designed in 1959, so cutting edge it’s not, but with C420s we get to teach spinnaker and trapeze, unlike with the white-sails-only FJs our kids have to sail to participate in high school sailing in the Pacific Coast district.

Just as every club has its own character, capabilities and limitations, we work with ours. StFYC walked away from spring-semester high school sailing beginning in 2018 to offer a bigger experience of sailing. But to be clear: Any of our seven high school teams that choose to race spring regattas on their own are supported with cheap boat charters and encouragement. The coaches are meanwhile coaching elsewhere. Some teams carry on, and it’s good for them.

For international readers: In the USA, our high school sailing teams race in a system building from the local to the regional to the national level in robust, simple dinghies designed seven decades ago. The high school system feeds effectively into the college system, based on a similar model and often indicted for diverting potential Olympians in critical years of their development. I could easily and unnecessarily scratch open sores and so…

Moving on quickly, I note that our StFYC coaches care very much about the big-picture fun factor to set the hook for a lifetime of sailing. A kid can be a kid around here, but our home in the maw of the Golden Gate wind funnel does not accommodate casual picnic outings. We have an island in the Sacramento Delta for that.

And when it comes to the popular game of comparing class versus class, it occurs to me that for as long as I’ve been sailing, I’ve had friends in Southern California agonizing over the value of Sabots, with their leeboards and a distribution of 100 miles, versus Optis with a reach that girdles the globe. Not to worry about the subset of over-ambitious parents who pop up in any class, I observe simply that SoCal kids sail Sabots, and SoCal kids sail Optis, and when they move to their next boats, they’re the same sailors.

StFYC’s Hoel Menard as a teen skipper was part of our brief flowering as a center of ripping it in Nacra 15 performance catamarans. Now he tells me he’s still learning, sailing alongside UC Santa Barbara sailors in pokey ole FJs.

We ran our Opti Heavy Weather Regatta, with a Slalom, June 15-18, with a few folks asking the Annual Question: “If we sold off all our Optis in favor of Teras, because a Tera is a boat, not a box, and you don’t have to sail-and-bail, sail-and-bail, why run a regatta that our own kids won’t enter?

The answer will remain the same: Because it’s a great event. Kids from Vancouver to San Diego come here to race and get thrashed and go home with bragging rights. Ask Charlie Buckingham how he felt when he won the first one in 2002. By the way, none of our kids worry about any of this. They just want to get out on the water.

Published on December 21st, 2023 | by Assoc Editor

St. Francis Yacht Club’s 2024 Season

Published on December 21st, 2023 by Assoc Editor -->

San Francisco, CA (December 21, 2023) – St. Francis Yacht Club has released a 2024 regatta schedule that’s comprehensive in its inclusion of various types of sailing; from board sports and dinghies, to keelboats and classic yachts, to team and match racing. Local, national and international sailors will have a plethora of opportunities to test their skills on the challenging waters of San Francisco Bay.

“Our mission is to be a leader in yachting and inviting the most talented sailors in the world to our shores and to our club is our highest calling. We’re looking forward to another stellar season of racing on San Francisco Bay,” said Chris Perkins, incoming Commodore of St. Francis Yacht Club.

While sailors of various disciplines will have multiple opportunities to challenge each other in weekly series and seasonal regattas, St. Francis Yacht Club will also host several high-profile events, such as the US Sailing Wingfoiling Championship (August 2-4), the International Knarr Championship (August 31-September 7) and the 60th anniversary of their signature Rolex Big Boat Series (September 11-15). The club will also host stops for the US Match Racing Championship (October 4-6), the Women’s World Match Racing Tour (May 1-5) and SailGP (July 13-14).

“With over 100 days of racing on the calendar, we run a very busy racing schedule, and from a race management perspective, we are always looking for ways to improve. In 2024, we’re focusing more on quality versus quantity, by combining some events to deliver a top-level experience from the moment a sailor arrives at St. Francis Yacht Club, through their time on the water and after racing, enjoying the parties and amenities ashore. We want an outstanding experience at all points,” said Felix Weidling, Race Director of St. Francis Yacht Club.

World-class race management includes ensuring all events meet or exceed international standards. “We spend a lot of time in the off-season liaising with officials at US Sailing, the Offshore Racing Congress and other organizing authorities to ensure our race management aligns with top industry standards and that we continue to be a leader in the space,” said Dave MacEwen, incoming Chair of St. Francis Yacht Club’s Executive Race Committee. “We also aim to foster sailors from youth through grand masters in the many disciplines of our sport, which is why we invest in such a diverse and dynamic regatta season.”

DINGHIES Small-boat sailors can look forward to Spring Dinghy (May 18-19) and Fall Dinghy (October 26-27) running repeated courses during both events to provide an opportunity to improve on the same playing field as the year progresses. The Elvström/Zellerbach Regatta will be combined with Spring Dinghy to draw a larger pool of competitors in the invited one design classes. The club’s popular Opti Heavy Weather Slalom & Regatta also returns (June 21-23) to test the smallest boats in the big summer winds of San Francisco Bay.

BOARD SPORTS After the success of the inaugural Wingding Regatta in 2023, the event will return in early August of 2024 as the Wingding US Sailing Wingfoiling Championship, the first national wingfoiling event in the United States for this board sport. Foiling enthusiasts will enjoy the weekly Thursday racing series, which began decades ago when windsurfing was the hot new sport, and which now draws a loyal following of foiling kites, wings and windsurfers. For those looking for a full-send experience, Ronstan Bridge to Bridge is scheduled for August 29, when the westerlies are typically strong enough to sail a foilboard from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge faster than a bird flies—will someone make it in under 10 minutes this year?

KEELBOATS Keelboat enthusiasts will be busy this season, beginning with Spring Fest & Stone Cup (April 6-7) and the start of California Race Week’s CA 500 (May 25) and Spinnaker Cup (May 26). IODs, Folkboats and Knarrs can look forward to the Woodies Invitational (June 28-30), and the Knarrs play again August 31-September 7, at the 52nd International Knarr Championship, just ahead of Rolex Big Boat Series, which also hosts a Classic Yachts division.

In past years Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta and Aldo Alessio were held the same weekend, to serve as a tuneup to Rolex Big Boat Series. This year, the two events will split, with Swiftsure remaining in the tuneup position (August 17-18) and Aldo Alessio held as an offshore return race for Rolex Big Boat Series competitors (September 21). J/Boat fleets will be busy all year, and the J/105 Women’s Skipper Invitational (May 11) will be run for the third time, encouraging greater helm time for talented female sailors.

The J/105 class will likely be the largest fleet competing at Rolex Big Boat Series (September 11-15), which will celebrate its diamond anniversary with a week of world-class competition and stellar post-race celebrations. Various one design classes, ORC-rated boats, and classic yachts will be invited to compete, with registration opening in early 2024.

MATCH RACING With its fleet of J/22s now expanded to 13 boats, St. Francis Yacht Club remains a prime host for match racing events, including stops of the California Dreamin’ Series (March 16-17) and the Women’s World Match Racing Tour (May 1-5). The US Match Racing Championship also returns to San Francisco Bay (October 4-6).

TEAM RACING A highlight in the 2024 season will be the Cornerstone Cup (August 23-25), a four-way international team racing event between New York Yacht Club, Royal Yacht Squadron, Royal Thames Yacht Club and host St. Francis Yacht Club. Last run in San Francisco in 2015, the event features top-level competition and interclub camaraderie. Team racers can also look forward to an inaugural San Francisco Sailing League Regatta (June 8-9), which will import a popular European format to the West Coast for the first time.

Details: https://www.stfyc.com/racing

Tags: St Francis Yacht Club

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Supporting Current and Future Olympians

Bringing Sailing to a New Generation of Kids

Enabling Adaptive Sailing

Assisting Top Amateur Match and Team Racing

The St. Francis Sailing Foundation provides support to young sailors just beginning their sailing careers, competitive sailors as they advance, and elite sailors seeking world class competition.

Mission Statement

Grants Awarded

The st. francis sailing foundation proudly offers, support and mentoring, training and coaching, what our athletes say.

Nicole Breault

Match Racing 2-Time US Women’s Match Race Champion 1st ISAF Nations’ Cup 2015

Daniela Moroz

6-Time Women’s World Champion 4-Time Rolex US Yachtswoman of the Year Campaigning for 2024 Olympic Games

Caleb Paine

Bronze Medal, Olympics 2016 Finn, Heavyweight men’s singlehanded dinghy Rolex US Yachtsman of the Year 2016

It has been an honor to have the support of the StFSF during my 15 years of match racing across the US and internationally. Its support has made a real difference in achieving our goals.

~Nicole Breault, Women’s Match Racing Champion

The support the Foundation has given me has undoubtedly helped me achieve my goals and helped me win multiple World Champion and Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year titles.

~Daniela Moroz, World Formula Kite Foil Champion

The support of the St. Francis Sailing Foundation allowed me to realize my dreams of going to the Olympics and standing on the Olympic Podium for the United States of America.

~Caleb Paine, Olympic Bronze Medalist, Rio 2016