July 22, 2015

Bay Area sailor Gary Sadamori passed away from heart failure on July 12 at home in San Francisco.

Gary grew up in landlocked eastern Oregon, but his life followed a trajectory that took him to the heights of grand prix sailing. After graduating from Oregon State in 1975 he moved to San Francisco to work for Procter & Gamble. He had a long career in advertising and marketing, and at the time of his death he was with Fairchild Semiconductor.

Gary discovered sailing in the mid-1980s, and it quickly became his lifelong passion. Within a few years he was racing competitively on J/24s. For five years Gary was the bowman on Peter Stoneberg’s Farr 40 Shadow. Gary was known as one of the best bowmen in the Bay Area, and it's hard to think of a class that he never sailed in. Most recently, as part of the Easom Rigging crew, he sailed on Kokopelli 2 (Santa Cruz 52), Soozal (King 40), Eight Ball (Farr 30), and Whiplash (MC38). Gary considered it a privilege to have sailed with people such as Jeff Madrigali, Paul Cayard, Eric Doyle, Dave Ullman and Ed Baird.

It's a testament to his vitality and skill that even at the time of his death, at age 62, he was still actively sailing on extremely competitive teams. "Somewhere over the horizon he is no doubt bemused that his final sail was on Kim and Anna Desenberg's Flying Scot in the Inverness Yacht Club Fourth of July race," said his wife, Marceline Therrien.

Gary and Marceline had their first date on her boat, and they married in March, 2013. Our condolences to Marceline and to the rest of Gary's family, friends, and fellow race crew.

Plans are in the works for a celebration of life to be held at St. Francis YC, where he was a member, on Thursday, August 20. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the St. Francis Yacht Club Foundation.