I’ve been sailing out of Berkeley since we moved here from England 10 years ago, but only got around to joining BYC in late 2023 when I became more interested in racing. I don’t have a good excuse for that. I keep two boats in the marina.
Little My is a 28-foot long-keel wooden sloop built in Sweden in the early 1960s. She follows me around the world looking neglected and spending far too much time on the hard at Berkeley Marine Center. Mymble is a J/99 who joined our family last year so we could spend more time sailing than varnishing.
I learned to sail as an adult around the Isle of Wight with the Royal Yachting Association. My most memorable sailing experiences are an embarrassingly long list of near disasters from which I’ve eventually learned how not to sail.
By far the most rewarding experience has been building a team to race Mymble. In just over a year, we have progressed from not making it to the starting line, to not finishing, to finishing dead last, to finishing not quite last, to occasionally leading the fleet.
We plan to join in most of the BYC Friday Night Beercans this year as we prepare for some more ambitious offshore races. We’re often looking for an extra hand. Aside from San Francisco Bay, my favorite place to sail is in Greece. Twenty years ago my wife, Sowmya, and I chartered our way around the islands of the Aegean and we long to return.
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