Sailing & Cruising
Sailing on Scotts Flat Lake during the summer months is the primary activity of GCYC. Our members enjoy the beautiful daytime conditions, beer can races on weekday evenings, weekday sailing lessons, and weekend racing. The summer weather and lake breezes are perfect for sailing, the coves perfect to anchor for a barbeque with friends, and the clear water perfect for swimming.
GCYC Fleet of Boats
Members interested in checking out a boat from club's fleet of Sunfish and Flying Junior sailboats can contact the Port Captain at portcaptain@gcyc.net . Read more about the club fleet below.
GCYC boats Kia Orana and Valhalla anchored at Coches Prietos in the Channel Islands
Cruising
Many GCYC members have cruising boats in San Francisco Bay or on trailers. They arrange SF Bay, offshore, and lake cruising and trailer-sailing adventures to such locations as Half Moon Bay, Monterey Bay, the Channel Islands, Puget Sound and Redwood City. Several members have sailed their boats to Mexico and other distant ports.
2024 CRUISE SCHEDULE
April 18-21
Petaluma Butter and Egg festival cruise.
Petaluma 24
May 16-19
Boat Show Cruise (carpool).
Bay Boat Show
June 17-21
Catalina Island Cruise
June 27-30
Half Moon Bay Cruise
HMBYC Regatta
July 20
Irish Musical Cruise
Aug 10
Australia Cruise (simulated)
Sept 12-15
Lake Shasta Cruise
Cruising in Conch Key, Florida
The GCYC Fleet
Sunfish
The club maintains a fleet of Sunfish sailboats. The Sunfish is a small sailing dinghy utilizing a pontoon-type board-shaped hull with a lateen sail mounted on an un-stayed mast. Developed by Alcort, Inc. around 1952 as a wood hull design improvement of their Sailfish, it was changed to fiberglass a few years later. Having a lateen sail with its simple two line rigging makes the Sunfish simple to set-up and learn the basics of sailing.
In 1995 the Sunfish was recognized by The American Sailboat Hall of Fame for being “the most popular fiberglass boat ever designed, with a quarter million sold worldwide”. Today, the Sunfish remains the most popular sailboat of its type and has served as the classroom for several generations of sailors, including some club members.
Flying Junior (FJ)
In 2013, the club bought and restored several Flying Juniors (FJ) at the request of youth sailing graduates looking for the next step in their sailing development. The FJs will be used as the platform for the Level II class now being offered.
The FJ was originally designed in 1955 in the Netherlands to serve as a training boat for the then Olympic class Flying Dutchman. With a beam of 4'11" and an overall sail area of 100 square feet, the FJ is an ideal class for young sailors. Today the FJ is sailed worldwide with a International FJ-Class World Championship held annually. It is still popular in High School and Collegiate programs across the United States.