See full version: The America; s Cup Sailing Experience on San Francisco Bay
During the winter we race on the first Saturday of the month on the central Bay between Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. All guests are invited to join us at the Golden Gate Yacht Club following the race for dinner and drinks. here
Join us on USA 76 during the last few daylight hours of the day as the sun dips below the Golden Gate Bridge and the lights come on in our city by the Bay. Now offered on select days throughout the year. These sails are 2.5 hours long finishing right around sunset. [links]
Purchase a USA 76 Gift Card for any of our activities. Valid for one year from date of issue.
Purchase Gift Card [links]
Create a unique outing for your group of up to 20 guests with USA 76. Great for birthday parties, anniversaries, holiday celebrations, team building, corporate offsite events and special occasions. Whether you are aboard just to have fun or want to learn to work together as a team, sailing an America's Cup yacht is sure to impress. Larger groups up to 50 guests can be accommodated with additional partner yachts.
TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Awardee and 5-Star Rating and Reviews!
BW: We used to sail the IACC on a course that was effectively 12 miles, although you cover a lot more distance when you’re zigzagging up. Those races were about an hour to an hour and half long. We are now doing the same distance for the last America’s Cup in 2013, in San Francisco, doing the same distance in about 25 minutes in the catamarans. Still kind of doing the same distance but screaming around the race course. more
VFB: How long you have been racing boats Brad?
BW: I started sailing when I was 12, in just a little dingy, in Wellington, NZ. I used to enjoy sailing on my own but for whatever reason, I enjoyed sailing with other people more and as I got further into it, I realized as much as I was quite a good driver, a Helmsman, I was a better crewmember, especially on the bow at the front of the boat. And then, my career happened more by accident then by good management. I decided to take a couple years off just to figure out what I wanted to do with my life: that was 20 years ago. I grew up looking at the big glossy magazines, with nice boats and sun drenched ports, and that seemed to me like a pretty good way to spend a couple of years. I wanted to go and sail the big blue water events, I wanted to sail on big fast boats, so I did. I had this drive to be better, I wanted to do things better every day I went out. I started sailing on the match racing circuits around the world, with some different skippers and my first America’s Cup was in 1995 in San Diego. Again it was more by accident than good management. Between 1995 and 2000, which was the next American’s Cup in New Zealand, I went sailing around the world, and sailed in a lot of different places. I think there was 140 events in 16 different countries over four and a half years. I did a lot of sailing, and sailed with a lot of people, in a lot of different situations and gained a lot of experience. When my second America’s Cup came around in 2000 with America True, the San Francisco team, I was pretty well prepared. Later that year I was picked up by Oracle Racing for the 2003 America’s cup, and I’ve been with Oracle Racing ever since, 5 campaigns and over 14 years.
BW: There wasn’t necessarily a bolting issue, the Maxbolts where just the right product and application because you can see what the loading was. You can see that you were getting the numbers that the designers were asking for. We rely HEAVILY on analytics and engineering and design numbers, not only to build it, but to maintain it and monitor the boat, day in and day out. [When racing] we would take the keel on and off of this boat, probably once a month just to check it and make sure nothing was going wrong. For me it’s just all about reliability. Reliability was a HUGE thing for us when we were racing this boat because we had to finish races. We have to have faith in our gear. My mentality now is on a commercial operation, inspected by the coast guard, and I have paying passengers onboard. My liability is huge. Keels have fallen off and broken off America’s Cup boats in the past. Generally not because of the bolts, but for other reasons through fatigue and poor engineering. That still doesn’t mean that I want to risk sitting back and not doing anything. I have a lot of faith in how this keel was engineered. On these boats, the keel is just a huge, huge deal. If you engineered the hull and the rig and everything else light, there was more lead you could put downstairs. But it also meant the keel bolts were going to be working a lot harder, so the keel bolts were a huge part of the equation when these boats were being built, the way they’re engineered and the way the whole structure was engineered around the keel. Everything else doesn’t see that kind of load. I am quite close to the guy that designed the keel in the first place. We constantly talk about cycles and fatigue that the boat is going through. We took a lot of lead out of the bulb when we put it back in the water [commercially] and took some sailing rear off. So the bolts aren’t under what they were designed for, they aren’t seeing the design load they originally engineered for. It would be quite a lot lower. However, they are seeing a lot more cycles than they were originally engineered for. Which is why we haven’t had a lot of concern, because we think there have been some tradeoffs. Now that it’s been four years, we think the prudent thing is to take them out, check them, have them tested, put new ones in and see where we stand and ensure that we have confidence in the boat forward. [links]
USA 76 was launched in 2011 by Brad and Karen Webb to provide guests with the ultimate sailing experience. Consistent winds, mild year-round temperatures, and spectacular scenery make San Francisco Bay one of the most iconic places in the world to sail. Many of the world’s greatest sailors and several America’s Cup Teams have been launched from these waters. San Francisco’s entry for the 31st America’s Cup in 2003 was the yacht patriotically named USA 76 with Brad Webb sailing in the bowman position. Brad is still sailing today with Orcale Racing defending the America's Cup. more
USA 76 is a thoroughbred racing yacht of the International America's Cup Class. She's pure carbon fibre, fast and fun to sail. Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to sail a piece of America's Cup history.
USA 76 capacity is 20 passengers. We offer Clif bars and bottled water aboard each trip. There is no other food or beverage allowed. SPECIAL NOTE: There is no restroom aboard this vessel so strategic planning is required :-)
You can buy tickets for her various trips. If you want the boat for private charter, 20 tickets must be purchsed. [links]
In September 2003, ORACLE arranged for a “rematch” to be held against Alinghi in San Francisco. Both pro and owner-driver series’ scheduled, it was an opportunity to showcase America’s Cup sailing on the Bay, and allow the Golden Gate Yacht Club representatives a chance to regain pride after their defeat in Auckland. Again the competition was tough, especially in the windy confines of San Francisco’s city front. ORACLE and USA 76, with a little more time to prepare and local honor at stake, won both events. USA 76 is now berthed at PIER 39, and has been in charter operation since June of 2011.
TOMCAT is a performance racing Prosail 40 catamaran, that has served as a platform and inspiration for the direction of multi-hull America’s Cup sailing. more
Tom Blackaller was a charismatic San Francisco sailing legend. He won numerous World Championship titles and his involvement in the America’s Cup in 1980, 1983 and 1986, preceded his shift towards multihull sailing. He began campaigning a Formula 40 catamaran named ‘TOMCAT’ in the ProSail Professional Sailing Series in 1988, and was leading the 1989 series at the time of his passing. here