March 4, 2014

Everyone should have at least two boats. And if you are thinking of getting a smaller boat to add to your collection or are new to sailing, you just missed an opportunity to test-drive some of the most popular and fun little boats at Richmond Yacht Club's Sail a Small Boat Day on Saturday.

Volunteer Pat Zajac checked sailors in and put them on the list for the types of boats they wanted to try out. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

"The weather was a bit of a wildcard, but the day went really well and was a heck of a success," said Greg Pfeiffer, this year's leader of Sail a Small Boat Day. "We had 100+ attendees, 19 types of boats (40 boats/craft total) and great feedback from the people who attended."

Sailors of all ages were welcome. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

The bigger boats included an Open 5.70, an Ultimate 20 and a Wylie Wabbit. (While they are keel boats, they are smaller than most.) The daggerboard crowd included Bytes, Lasers, a Sunfish, and more. For those with the need for speed, a 29er, International 14 and International Canoe and more were represented.

Trying out a Wylie Wabbit. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

All the attendees were having great fun in the well-timed sunshine and gentle breeze. Offering you the ability to test-drive that particular boat you're interested in and getting new people into sailing are the reasons RYC does this every year.

Gail Yando describes how to sail a Byte. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

An Access dinghy. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

Most Opti sailors are smaller than this. ©2014 norcalsailing.com

Del Olson (left) represented the International Canoe class. ©2014 norcalsailing.com