THE CROWD:

The majesty of San Francisco on a blustery spring weekend attracted a host of families from Newport attending the St. Francis Yacht Club Collegiate Regatta hosted by Stanford University.

Forty-two universities sent “A” and “B” teams to The City by The Bay to compete in events. The collegiate teams are just weeks away from “Nationals,” scheduled for May 26 to June 4 at Newport, Rhode Island, hosted by Brown University. The competition in San Francisco last weekend set the stage for the Pacific Coast Championship featuring sailing teams this weekend in Long Beach, hosted by the USC Sailing Program.

The Stanford sailing weekend was an opportunity for family and friends to unite with their athletic college competitors for a bit of adventure in the choppy San Francisco bay and some classic socializing in the grand old St. Francis Yacht Club.

Stanford’s Edward Conrad led the charge, taking 1st place for the university in the co-ed “A” division. Conrad served as captain with Carrie Denning as crew.

Conrad’s parents, Lois and Bill Hartog, jetted in from Lexington, Virginia, where Bill Hartog is a dean at nearby Washington and Lee University. The Hartogs bundled up on the rocks of the jetty at St. Francis Yacht Club to cheer on their son and his teammates facing high winds that capsized many of the sailboats, tossing their crews into the frigid waters facing the once notorious Alcatraz Island. The winning “B” team was also pure Stanford; T.J. Tullio served as captain with Kelly McKenna in crew position.

Newport’s Graham Brant-Zawadzki of Lido Isle, son of Toria and Michael Brant-Zawadzki, made a strong showing. The Stanford senior is a graduate of Newport Harbor High School and ranks as one of Stanford’s top sailors. Graham is headed for medical school. Also front and center from Lido Isle was Cole Hatton, a Stanford freshman also formerly a Newport Harbor High student. Cole is the son of Annie and Greg Hatton.

Finishing 4th in the competition was Newport’s Taylor Grimes, sailing with Evan Brown. Taylor is a junior at Stanford with a human biology major. Her parents, Lido Isle residents Sharon and Gary Grimes, traveled north for the weekend along with daughter Jennifer Graber and grandchildren Nicole and Elizabeth. The Grimes family turned the sailing event into a birthday celebration for Taylor, who turned 21 recently.

Also from Newport supporting Stanford were Big Canyon residents Polly and Paul Stemler joining son Peter Stemler, a Stanford sophomore and former Corona del Mar High sailor.

Following the first day of competition, the sailors and cheering fans left the boats behind for a cocktail reception in the decidedly warmer climate of a private reception room upstairs in the St. Francis Clubhouse.

A fire crackled in the fireplace as the athletes emerged from the sauna and hot showers in the men’s and women’s locker rooms to raise a toast to victory, honoring the ancient sport to which they are so dedicated, and to their coach Jay Kehoe, a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy and former sailing coach at Yale University. Kehoe, emceed the reception standing with wife Amy and young daughter Merrick, attired appropriately in a crisp navy blue sailors dress piped in white.

The respected and much-loved coach Kehoe joined assistant coach Erik Storck as he introduced his team and shared their accomplishments with the overflow crowd.

Others competing for Stanford included Hannah Burroughs, Craig Page, Beth Hoover, Haley Tobin, Sarah Schoknecht, Leigh Hammel, Megan Grove, Graham Todd, Catherine Cu, Ben Pedrick, Lauren Egge, Jonah Greenberger, Mariana Beardsworth, Cameron Bell, Jared Sun, and Sam Courtney.

Overall champions among the 42 school teams competing following Stanford co-eds in first place were University of Hawaii co-eds in 2nd position, Charleston women in 3rd and Stanford women in 4th. Lido Isle will be the headquarters for both the Stanford men and women this weekend, hosted by the Grimes and Hatton families.

As the reception came to a close, Coach Kehoe was surrounded by sailors and parents discussing the day and planning for the second session on Sunday.

Waiters in short-waisted jackets of starched white cotton with golden buttons passed the final crab cakes and crudités. Looking west at the Golden Gate through the 10-foot tall French windows in the St. Francis salon, the Saturday evening sunset fog began to envelope the city.

The Grimes family joined the Hartogs heading to Chinatown as others in the crowd dispersed to North Beach and Nob Hill for an evening in Babylon by the Bay. It was back on the rocks of the jetty and into the boats by 10 a.m. Sunday.

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