(San Francisco, CA)- The weekend of Thanksgiving in America has become
what is known as “Rivalry Week” in American college football. Over
time, many events have been created that augment the gathering together
of the “tribes” that support each university, whether competing schools
have fun in tug-of-wars, go-kart racing, battle of the bands, chili
cook-offs, or bocce ball. All in the name of fun and, for the most
part, engaging in a friendly reparte’ with the opposing team and alumni.
In
California, the San Francisco Bay region enjoys two of the more
prestigious universities in the world- University of California-
Berkeley (a.k.a. “Cal”) and Stanford University. Alumni from both
schools, many of whom are members of St Francis YC, decided it would be
fun to have an informal, off-beat, regatta at StFYC prior to “the
game”. In recent years, it has been a fun event sailed on StFYC’s
J/22’s literally right off the clubs extended waterfront decks. This
year, the club hosted the 14th edition of the “Big Sail” with Paul
Heineken as chief on-water commentator.The shoreside entertainment has sometimes eclipsed the hot and heavy action on the water. As it turns out, this year that was the case. The “battle of the bands” and the “battle of the cheerleaders” all drew a lot more attention than the “drift-a-thon” that was occurring just off the waterfront. Watch the entertaining video here- The Pac-12 TV Network showed up for the event and produced a nice highlight of
all the hot and heavy action- particularly on shore.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx8H7O_hXZE
Nevertheless, the sailing still took place. The two schools fielded teams in all four categories- Varsity, Young Alumni, Masters Alumni, and Grandmasters Alumni. Due to the insanely light conditions on a perfectly sunny day, a most unusual scenario for sunny, windy San Francisco Bay, each division was only able to sail one race. After winning three of the four divisions, Stanford was declared the 2017 winner of the Big Sail with a 3-1 record. For more Big Sail event and sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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