BYC's signature regatta is the official kickoff to the summer sailing season on the bay! Oysters will be served.
Rollo Wheeler is an all-Berkeley Yacht Club regatta that started 52 years ago. But who was Rollo Wheeler and why oysters?
First, I will explain the oysters. It all started years ago before online entries, and the digital publication of the Notice of Race (NOR) and Sailing Instructions (SI). In the old days we had to physically show up at the club on Friday night to get the Sailing Instructions.
Back then, we did not have Friday night dinners so S/C Kathy Pickup and Chuck Johnson would drive up to Hog Island and bring oysters back to the clubhouse for Friday night cocktails as an enticement to come get your Sailing Instructions. The tradition has continued with support every year from Kathy and Chuck, Maria Wallace, R/C Mari Bird, Vanessa Valdez and oyster-shuckers Chuck Johnson, Tom Loughran, S/C Bob Gray, S/C John Danielson, Glen Garfein, any many more.
We always need volunteers for both the on-the-water activities and race management run by S/C Mark Bird, and the shoreside activities, preparing food and shucking oysters. Please come by and lend a hand!
BYC HISTORY: WHO WAS ROLLO WHEELER?
The following article appeared in the March 1981 Now Hear This. Reprinting now seems appropriate, as we all gear up for the 52nd running of the Wheeler Regatta, April 12-13. The original title was “It Happened.” This year’s 52nd Wheeler Regatta includes both The Wheeler and City of Berkeley races.
WRITTEN BY 1968 STAFF COMMODORE JIM LUCAS:
“The Berkeley Yacht Club annually sponsors a regatta in memory of one of its most colorful past commodores, Rollo Wheeler. He and his wife, Barbara, were lost at sea while vacationing in Mexico near La Paz in 1974. It was under his leadership that BYC began the expansion program in 1968. He was one of the commodores that negotiated a lease with the City of Berkeley, which provided the club with a permanent home for at least 50 years.
He was a sailor with a yearning for boats that were unique, the first being a small ketch, the “Colleen”, that some may remember. His purism for tradition culminated in the acquiring of the brigantine “Rendezvous”, which was a hermaphrodite square-rigger, having a fore-and-aft main. He crewed on the “Rendezvous” while a teenager in San Francisco, and he always had the desire to someday own it. The large photographs behind the bar are of that magnificent yacht. (Ed. Note: where are these photographs today?)
Although Rollo belonged to other yacht clubs, his devotion and energies were concentrated on the Berkeley Yacht Club. The construction of the first addition to the clubhouse, which was the much needed bar and lounge room, was begun during his term as commodore in 1967. The club members actually built this first addition. There were work parties during all phases of the building, and Rollo and Barbara would be there to keep things going. If you look closely at the second ceiling beam from the west wall, you will see Barbara’s handprint on the beam she was painting. She nearly fell off the ladder she was standing on and grabbed the beam to steady herself, leaving a handprint that has never faded away. (Ed. Note: can you find the handprint today?)
Rollo was a product of San Francisco and graduated from U.C. Berkeley in architecture in 1950. His practice was highlighted by many outstanding homes in the Piedmont and Orinda areas. He also practiced in Germany for six years, but like nearly all sailors, returned to Bay Area, boating and the Berkeley Yacht Club.
The purpose in sponsoring a regatta in his name is to keep his memory fresh for those who knew him and to pass to others his enthusiasm for boating and the BYC. His spirit of camaraderie and good fellowship in a common cause was infectious to all. So take a moment and give your own kind of tribute to one who has given so much to Berkeley Yacht Club and had kindled so much enthusiasm that still remains for us in the joys of sailing. “
The original Wheeler Trophy was destroyed in the fire at St. Francis Yacht Club in 1976, and the trophy we use today is from 1977. That year, Bobbi Tosse, Race Chair said that the regatta had been very successful with 83 boats entering four divisions. The Wheeler Regatta is now led by Race Chair and S/C Mark Bird, who has kept it alive with both the Wheeler and City of Berkeley Races. The 2025 Wheeler Regatta will be April 12-13; look forward for to great racing and an outstanding social scene in the clubhouse with many volunteer opportunities. We’ll see you there!
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