Remembering Sailing Legend Hank Easom

Hank Easom aboard his 8-meter sloop Yucca  |  photo by Scott Easom for Spaulding Marine Center  |  post by Larry Clinton

Spaulding Marine Center will host a remembrance of local sailing hero Hank Easom from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 25. Filmmaker Oleg Harencar will share memories of the legendary Bay sailor before showing his film Hank Easom: Portrait of a Legend.

Spaulding Marine Center is located at 600 Gate 5 Road in Sausalito. The nonprofit’s mission is to preserve the historic Spaulding Boatworks as a working and living museum, to educate the next generation of shipwrights and marine service technicians, to restore historically significant vessels such as the flagship Freda, and to share maritime history and culture through classes and public programming.

Marin native Hank Easom, who passed away last month at age 88, got his start as a sailing professional at age 13 when he began working at Clipper Yacht Harbor in Sausalito. According to an obituary by the Chronicle’s Carl Nolte, young Easom “commuted to Sausalito from Belvedere in his Moon boat. He had the good fortune to be mentored by two men who helped craft Sausalito’s waterfront industry—Myron Spaulding of Spaulding Boat Works and Cliff Pederson of Clipper Yacht [Harbor].”

Easom raced all varieties of sailboats for 81 years. He was named Yachtsman of the Year twice. He crewed, raced, and won races in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit as well as races to Hawaii, Europe, Mexico and beyond. Carl Nolte described Easom this way: “counsel to many, friend to all, and always with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes, Hank was beloved by the sailing community, his friends of many years, and his family.”

No RSVPs are necessary for the March 25 event.