Opening Day on the Bay is a long-observed ritual that takes place annually on the last Sunday of April on San Francisco Bay.
Opening Day on the Bay, which kicks off the 2010 boating season, takes place on Sunday, April 25. Photo by Marianne Armand, Club Nautique
By Gary Scheier
Published: April, 2010
Opening Day on the Bay is a long-observed ritual that takes place annually on the last Sunday of April on San Francisco Bay. People participate in the event for a variety of reasons, but whether they view it as a religious event or just a rite of spring, all participants celebrate the upcoming boating season.
The 94th annual Opening Day, which will kick off the 2010 boating season, takes place on April 25. There are organized events happening all over the Bay that you can enjoy, and several of the individual yacht clubs have special events for their members or the public.
Events
Opening Day’s main event is a parade. Participating yachts pass by an official committee boat, where the most creatively-decorated boats compete for top honors bestowed by the designated judges. The parade will contain over 120 boats—including historic boats, fireboats, towboats operated by Vessel Assist, as well as several pleasure yachts—decorated to this year’s theme: “Building Bridges.” The parade can be viewed along the San Francisco shoreline from Crissy Field to Pier 39 and runs from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.
In the past, the parade themes have varied, with some more serious than others. However, the themes always spawn very creative decorations. After September 11, 2001, the next Opening Day theme was definitely patriotic, with more Old Glories hoisted than ever before. After Hurricane Katrina, the theme was Mardi Gras—I recall one particularly spectacular boat with a 12-foot giant cartoon alligator blowing a saxophone on its foredeck.
One of the other Opening Day events is the Blessing of the Fleet, sponsored by Corinthian Yacht Club. Aside from the Saturday night dinner, the Sunday breakfast and their own separate judging of the decorated boats, the Corinthian arranges for one of the Coast Guard ships to anchor in Raccoon Strait just offshore from the yacht club in downtown Tiburon. Once anchored at about 10:30 a.m., a line of boats begins to parade past the Coast Guard vessel, which contains religious personnel bestowing their blessings on the boats as they pass. These boats, if not decorated for the main parade, usually have very colorful flags hoisted and other celebratory decor. I recall that, one year, a large yacht had a brass band up on its fly bridge that played the Coast Guard marching song, “Semper Paratus.” The band was fantastic and drew great applause from the Coasties.
The main Opening Day events are promoted by the Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association (PICYA), which was formed in 1896 to improve communications between yacht clubs, provide uniform rules for regattas, and generally to promote yachting. Currently, PICYA has approximately 107 member yacht clubs in Northern California, with approximately 15,600 boating families.
PICYA has coordinated Opening Day on the Bay since 1917. As things grew over the years, various yacht racing associations have formed to take over the various regattas. In 1964, PICYA formed Recreational Boaters of California, an advocacy organization that represents the recreational boating public in matters of enjoyment, protection and responsible use of the waterways.
How to Participate
There are several ways to participate in Opening Day on the Bay, even if you do not have a boat or friends with boats. As mentioned above, there is free public viewing at Crissy Field to Pier 39. You can easily watch the fleet blessing from the shoreline in Tiburon. You can also purchase tickets to sail on the California Hornblower dining cruise yacht, which also serves as the PICYA judging committee boat. Passengers on Hornblower will get a light breakfast, gourmet lunch and have access to its full bar. Please see the PICYA website for the Hornblower reservation information at www.picya.org. Additionally, there are several MeetUp groups that plan on-the-water outings. You can visit www.meetup.com and search for sailing groups in San Francisco.
The more adventurous among you can charter a boat with a crew from one of the charter companies, or if you have a proper sailing or power boat resume, you can charter a bareboat and put together a crew of friends and participate in the on-the-water events. Some of the local charter companies include: Club Nautique, J-World, Modern Sailing Academy, OCSC, Spinnaker Sailing and Tradewinds. All of these companies have sailing schools; Club Nautique has a powerboat school as well. So, if you have a dream about learning how to be a competent skipper for next year’s Opening Day on the Bay, these organizations can help get you there.
Each year boats are decorated based on a theme. This boat was decorated with a Mardi Gras theme in 2006. Photo by Michael Slater, www.BoatingSF.com
The Bay Area waters will be full of recreational boaters during the Opening Day on the Bay. Photo by Peter Lyons - Lyons Imaging
