The Santa Barbara Yacht Club (SBYC) celebrated the opening of the 2017 racing season on March 5. The event marked the 145th opening day of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club.
At the helm was 2017 Commodore William Guilfoyle, assisted by Vice Commodore John Koonz and Rear Commodore Scott Deardorff, who welcomed members and guests to the official kickoff of the yachting season.
Visiting yacht club commodores from San Francisco to San Diego were in attendance as well.
The official program included introducing the 2017 SBYC Board, the salutation of visiting commodores, and the opening of the racing season with the traditional opening-day cannon blast creating a breezeway through the plastic wind barrier on the Yacht Club deck.
Later, the Parade of Fleet, honoring Guilfoyle, bobbed around on a white-capped ocean in front of the Yacht Club. Members and guests joined the parade on spectator boats provided by the SBYC fleet.
The final activity of the day was the Casper Opening Day Race. Among the winners of the Casper Trophy were Laura Schlessinger in her boat Warrior, Chris Parker in Venom, and Ron Boehm in California Zepher.
— Sigrid Toye for the Santa Barbara Yacht Club.