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El Toro (dinghy)
Encyclopedia
The El Toro is a one-design
class of sailing dinghy
. The El Toro is quite small—approximately 8 feet (2.44 ) long—and very simple to sail.
for ferrying people and material to and from a larger yacht. The hull measures only 8 feet (2.44 m) long and 3 feet 11 inches (1.19 m) at its widest point. The design features a thwart
, or bench, provided for use when rowing.
The available space for the sailor is smaller still, as the sailor usually sits on the deck in the area behind the thwart. (Sitting on the thwart while under sail puts the sailor’s head above the boom
of the mainsail
—even in a small boat, being struck on the head by the boom is painful.)
With a characteristic snub-nosed bow and high sides, the El Toro design is a sharp contrast to the low-profile, more sleek design of the Laser
or many other newer boats. However, the stability of the El Toro makes it ideal for teaching sailing.
Many junior sailing programs use the El Toro to introduce new sailors to racing, as the boat is easier for the young or inexperienced to control. Lasers, and other similar boats, generally require a larger person and quick reactions to keep the boat under control in brisk winds.
While the boat is often used by children and junior sailors, and many adults complain of the small space available for sitting in, the boat should not be considered a "youth only" boat. As the annual regatta season makes clear, there does exist a community of adults who continue to sail El Toros long past their early junior sailor days.
Although it is possible to sail an El Toro in the Monterey Bay
and San Francisco Bay
, the boats are most often used on more protected waters of the lakes and estuaries in the Northern California
region.
around 1940. This is one of many boats derived from the MacGregor Sabot
design, which was published in Rudder magazine in 1939.
The El Toro features a decked over bow, which distinguishes it from the Naples Sabot, which is the predominant Sabot style dinghy in Southern California
. With the decked over bow, the El Toro is able to handle the rougher waters of the San Francisco Bay
.
The El Toro name and the shovel sail insignia are attributed to being named after the 'bull sessions' that gave rise to the boat and the program.
The original El Toros were made of wood, with newer materials approved for use in the 1970s. The 1970s also saw the introduction of the self-rescuing El Toro, which includes air tanks that prevent a capsized El Toro from completely submerging.
The First El Toro was built in Berkeley, in a night school shop where Ernest(Bud) Coxhead taught boat building. Coxhead, Hal Decker and Bill Warren were instrumental in selecting the design for the Richmond Yacht Club, which wanted a small boat for use as a yacht tender and sailing dinghy.
The trio drafted the El Toro design by copying and modifying plans published in Rudder Magazine for the MacGregor Sabot, an eight foot pram.
The Richmond Yacht Club's 40 members, who had been debating possible designs at regular meetings, adopted the plan and named the boat after these bull sessions.
According to the El Toro International Yacht Racing Association, there were over 11,000 El Toros in the class in 2002.
, there is a year round series of regatta
s in the El Toro class.
The original name for the race was the Ano Del Gran Concurso Barco Toro, which translates roughly into Golden Gate Bullship Race".
The Bullship Race has been running since 1953 and represents one of the most harrowing El Toro regattas in the racing schedule. The course starts in Sausalito, crosses the bay between Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge
and ends at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.
There is a similar Bullship Race in Kaneohe, Hawaii that leaves from Kaneohe Yacht Club rounds coconut island and returns to the yacht club.
Narrasketuck Yacht Club, located in Amityville, New York, holds an annual frostbite series for El Toros. The series kicks off with the Bullshot Regatta, held on New Year's Day.
BULLSHIP RACE HISTORY
The first Bullship Race was April, 1954. Charles O’Gara and Lynn Pera set out to prove the merits of sailing to Barnaby Conrad, author and bull-fighting expert, by racing from Ondines in Sausalito to the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. O’Gara lost the race (and by tradition has been the last skipper ever since) but Conrad was convinced that the El Toro class was worthy of a trophy to perpetuate the event. The trophy was the tail of a bull awarded each year to a last place sailor.
In 1956 the Monterey Herald donated a perpetual trophy for feminine skippers and in 1958 George Guatekunst gave the Ondine Perpetual trophy for Maiden Voyagers only. In 2006 two new trophies have been designated by the committee; the Robert Cresswell Woody Award for the first wooden boat finishing, and the Clydesdale Award, for the first finisher that weighs over 200 pounds.
The legendary Tempest Storm has served as honorary meteorologist since the early years.
Traditionally the race is held on the Saturday after Easter to take advantage of favorable tides. After 134 El Toros raced in 1962, a limit was set at 100 entries per race.
The skippers carry their boats through the Sausalito Yacht Club and put them in the water off the SYC dock. The race starts and 9 am. A continental breakfast is always provided to the racers by the SYC Auxiliary starting at 7:30am.
One-design
One-Design is a racing method where all vehicles or boats have identical or very similar designs or models. It is also known as Spec series. It is heavily used in sailboat racing. All competitors in a race are then judged based on a single start time...
class of sailing dinghy
Dinghy sailing
Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls:* the sails* the foils ....
. The El Toro is quite small—approximately 8 feet (2.44 ) long—and very simple to sail.
Design and use
The El Toro was designed to serve as both a racing dinghy and a tenderShip's tender
A ship's tender, usually referred to as a tender, is a boat, or a larger ship used to service a ship, generally by transporting people and/or supplies to and from shore or another ship...
for ferrying people and material to and from a larger yacht. The hull measures only 8 feet (2.44 m) long and 3 feet 11 inches (1.19 m) at its widest point. The design features a thwart
Thwart
A thwart is a strut placed crosswise in a ship or boat, to brace it crosswise.In rowboats it can also serve as a seat for a rower....
, or bench, provided for use when rowing.
The available space for the sailor is smaller still, as the sailor usually sits on the deck in the area behind the thwart. (Sitting on the thwart while under sail puts the sailor’s head above the boom
Boom (sailing)
In sailing, a boom is a spar , along the foot of a fore and aft rigged sail, that greatly improves control of the angle and shape of the sail. The primary action of the boom is to keep the foot of the sail flatter when the sail angle is away from the centerline of the boat. The boom also serves...
of the mainsail
Mainsail
A mainsail is a sail located behind the main mast of a sailing vessel.On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast....
—even in a small boat, being struck on the head by the boom is painful.)
With a characteristic snub-nosed bow and high sides, the El Toro design is a sharp contrast to the low-profile, more sleek design of the Laser
Laser (dinghy)
The International Laser Class sailboat, also called Laser Standard and the Laser One is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy. According the Laser Class Rules the boat may be sailed by either one or two people, though it is rarely sailed by two. The design, by Bruce Kirby, emphasizes...
or many other newer boats. However, the stability of the El Toro makes it ideal for teaching sailing.
Many junior sailing programs use the El Toro to introduce new sailors to racing, as the boat is easier for the young or inexperienced to control. Lasers, and other similar boats, generally require a larger person and quick reactions to keep the boat under control in brisk winds.
While the boat is often used by children and junior sailors, and many adults complain of the small space available for sitting in, the boat should not be considered a "youth only" boat. As the annual regatta season makes clear, there does exist a community of adults who continue to sail El Toros long past their early junior sailor days.
Although it is possible to sail an El Toro in the Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California. The bay is south of San Francisco and San Jose, between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey....
and San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
, the boats are most often used on more protected waters of the lakes and estuaries in the Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
region.
History
The El Toro design is traced back to the Richmond Yacht Club in San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
around 1940. This is one of many boats derived from the MacGregor Sabot
Sabot (dinghy)
The Sabot is a sailing dinghy that is sailed and raced singlehandedly usually by young sailors in various places around the world.It is a hard-chine pram 8 feet in length with a maximum width of 3'11" . The Sabot is equipped with a dagger board and a 36 square-foot Bermuda-rigged sail...
design, which was published in Rudder magazine in 1939.
The El Toro features a decked over bow, which distinguishes it from the Naples Sabot, which is the predominant Sabot style dinghy in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. With the decked over bow, the El Toro is able to handle the rougher waters of the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
.
The El Toro name and the shovel sail insignia are attributed to being named after the 'bull sessions' that gave rise to the boat and the program.
The original El Toros were made of wood, with newer materials approved for use in the 1970s. The 1970s also saw the introduction of the self-rescuing El Toro, which includes air tanks that prevent a capsized El Toro from completely submerging.
The First El Toro was built in Berkeley, in a night school shop where Ernest(Bud) Coxhead taught boat building. Coxhead, Hal Decker and Bill Warren were instrumental in selecting the design for the Richmond Yacht Club, which wanted a small boat for use as a yacht tender and sailing dinghy.
The trio drafted the El Toro design by copying and modifying plans published in Rudder Magazine for the MacGregor Sabot, an eight foot pram.
The Richmond Yacht Club's 40 members, who had been debating possible designs at regular meetings, adopted the plan and named the boat after these bull sessions.
According to the El Toro International Yacht Racing Association, there were over 11,000 El Toros in the class in 2002.
Racing
Throughout the greater San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, there is a year round series of regatta
Regatta
A regatta is a series of boat races. The term typically describes racing events of rowed or sailed water craft, although some powerboat race series are also called regattas...
s in the El Toro class.
The original name for the race was the Ano Del Gran Concurso Barco Toro, which translates roughly into Golden Gate Bullship Race".
The Bullship Race has been running since 1953 and represents one of the most harrowing El Toro regattas in the racing schedule. The course starts in Sausalito, crosses the bay between Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
and ends at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.
There is a similar Bullship Race in Kaneohe, Hawaii that leaves from Kaneohe Yacht Club rounds coconut island and returns to the yacht club.
Narrasketuck Yacht Club, located in Amityville, New York, holds an annual frostbite series for El Toros. The series kicks off with the Bullshot Regatta, held on New Year's Day.
BULLSHIP RACE HISTORY
The first Bullship Race was April, 1954. Charles O’Gara and Lynn Pera set out to prove the merits of sailing to Barnaby Conrad, author and bull-fighting expert, by racing from Ondines in Sausalito to the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. O’Gara lost the race (and by tradition has been the last skipper ever since) but Conrad was convinced that the El Toro class was worthy of a trophy to perpetuate the event. The trophy was the tail of a bull awarded each year to a last place sailor.
In 1956 the Monterey Herald donated a perpetual trophy for feminine skippers and in 1958 George Guatekunst gave the Ondine Perpetual trophy for Maiden Voyagers only. In 2006 two new trophies have been designated by the committee; the Robert Cresswell Woody Award for the first wooden boat finishing, and the Clydesdale Award, for the first finisher that weighs over 200 pounds.
The legendary Tempest Storm has served as honorary meteorologist since the early years.
Traditionally the race is held on the Saturday after Easter to take advantage of favorable tides. After 134 El Toros raced in 1962, a limit was set at 100 entries per race.
The skippers carry their boats through the Sausalito Yacht Club and put them in the water off the SYC dock. The race starts and 9 am. A continental breakfast is always provided to the racers by the SYC Auxiliary starting at 7:30am.