StFYC WYL: John Rousmaniere's presentation is a must-watch for American (and British) yachting h

SAN FRANCISCO – John Rousmaniere (New York, NYYC, CCA), esteemed yachting historian, author and sailor, longtime friend, was the guest speaker at yesterday's St Francis Yacht Club Wednesday Yachting Luncheon. John's presentation on the history of American yachting was fascinating, especially for those interested in the development of our sport since 1840.

Sailing Illustrated was invited to livestream John's talk to our SI Facebook page. It was our first go at a remote production at this level, and overall we were pleased with the result. But with new tech, there are new challenges.... Sorry about the long (7:45) "beginning momentarily" opening slide, but just as we went live there was a technical glitch (not ours) that the Club's engineer had to sort out for John's presentation (you can easily skip ahead on the video below); and apologies for the lack of audio at the start, which WAS our fault not the Club's. We missed the the warm applause from the big luncheon crowd in the club's Golden Gate Room as WYL host/emcee, Ron Young, took the podium and gave his usual marvelous introduction of the day's guest speaker. The audio comes good just after John began his talk.

To paraphrase Ron, "John Rousmaniere has authored over 30 books including The Annapolis Book of Seamanship which has gone through four editions; Fastnet, Force 10, his first-person account of sailing in the tragic 1979 Fastnet Race; and After the Storm: True Stories of Disaster and Recovery at Sea. He edited the autobiographies of Olin Stephens and Dennis Conner and has been published in Sailing World, Cruising World, Sail, Scuttlebutt, Yachting and Sail World. A sailor in his own right, Rousmaniere has sailed more than 40,000 miles, including nine Newport Bermuda Races (two in the second-place boat), two Fastnet Races and three transatlantic races or cruises. After he finally hung up his sea boots, Rousmaniere’s passion became safety at sea and he has organized more than 100 safety-at-sea events, including tests of equipment and studies of sailing accidents that have changed the way we treat safe sailing."