The El Toro Stampede, held yesterday at Richmond YC, was won by Will Paxton, whose dad Fred came in second. Will also won the ‘Bull Throwers Weight Race’ aboard Saco de Manure. Dylan Barry won the three-boat Junior division. Twenty boats raced, including the juniors. Among the sailors from RYC were Gordie Nash (who came in third), Steve Lowry, John Liebenberg, John Amen, Dennis Silva, Bruce Bradfute, and new member Bob Hrubes. Visiting sailors came from Santa Cruz, Lake Merritt (Oakland) and other venues.

Racing in the morning was “nice.” But the wind came up in the afternoon - anyone who sailed, or went outdoors, or even stayed indoors on Saturday would know all about the afternoon wind coming up - so, after a few boats flipped over, the afternoon racing including the ‘Green Bottle Race’ and ‘Soda Special’ was cancelled.

Event organizer Vickie Gilmour comments, “The 60th annual El Toro Stampede was raced under windy conditions but blue skies off of ‘Screaming Parents Point’ in the Richmond Channel, also known as Point Protrero Reach. Windward-leeward courses were sailed except for the Bull Throwers weight group races, which finished inside the Richmond Yacht Club breakwater.

“This is the longest running regatta that Richmond YC hosts. It started in 1949 and is still going strong today in 2009. Some of the names on the various trophies include Paul Cayard and John Kostecki.”

On Saturday afternoon RYC hosted one of their newest events, the Around the Brothers Race, the last of a four-race club series. The 40+ stuff blew in after all 34 boats were safely tucked into their berths. If it had came in earlier, we might have seen reefed sails and thermonuclear sledding.

Dave Rasmussen’s Synergy 1000 Sapphire emerged the winner of the four-race series. We’re told that he took this club series more seriously than most of this season’s ‘serious’ races.

Our source at RYC reports that, “A protest over a starting line peck on the cheek was handled military drum head court martial style at the bar. Each side had one minute to state their case, with no rebuttals and no calling witnesses. The protest committee adjourned to the ‘cone of silence’ (the club elevator) and rendered a verdict in three minutes. Since it was held in public the sea lawyers are still unabatedly discussing whether justice was served.”

Results of the Around the Brothers Race and the RYC club series can be found at www.richmondyc.org. El Toro Stampede results should be up soon at www.eltoroyra.org/regattas.htm. The next race for the 8-ft prams will be the Corkscrew Slough Regatta, hosted by Sequoia YC of Redwood City.