Tom Blackaller: Twenty-Four Years Ago

It’s a fitting coincidence that on September 7, exactly 24 years after the death of San Francisco Bay sailing icon Tom Blackaller, the 34th America’s Cup began. Blackaller was the first renowned sailor since legendary yacht designer Nathanael Herreshoff to embrace multihulls. Always colorful, sometimes controversial, Blackaller was also a visionary.

Twenty-five years ago, he said the America’s Cup should be raced in San Francisco Bay on really fast catamarans. Some listened; few agreed. Blackaller would surely be smiling now. Read full report by Lester Hardy in SF Chronicle.