October 14, 2013

Donald Sandstrom passed away on September 5 at the age of 77. You can read his obituary on SF Gate. His many sailing adventures included two circumnavigations with his wife Joanne and sons Donald and Erik aboard the Cross 40 trimaran Anduril, which they built themselves. They first circumnavigated in 1975-1980 after Don was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and went again in 1988-1990.

Pat Broderick brought Sandstrom's death notice to our attention, writing, "The year after the terrible Doublehanded Farallones race in 1982 with all the fatalities, Golden Gate Yacht Club wouldn't allow BAMA to use their deck – and StFYC was pretty much off-limits to anyone except the YRA. So Don anchored his boat right in front of GGYC and we used it as the 'club' end of the line, with mark X as the pin. It sort of didn't work out. So for the next couple of years he parked his camper opposite the stone lighthouse in the parking lot, and that was both the 'club' and the finish line."

Sandstrom, sailing Anduril with Geoffrey Love, was noted on the Bay Area sailing scene as recently as April 2012, when Anduril was the only multihull to finish the Doublehanded Farallones, braving the morning's 50-knot winds.

Our condolences to Don's wife, family and friends.

Donald A. Sandstrom
Aug. 20, 1937-Sept. 5, 2013
©2005 Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Assn.

Anduril. ©2002 Cross Multihull Designs

You can read a meteorological analysis of the 1982 DHF here.