LIFE ON THE WATERvideo
Hank Easom
16 July 2026 · 29 min · 10K views
What this video covers
Hank Easom, a San Francisco Bay sailor born around 1930, recounts eight decades of racing and boatyard work in this oral history. He started racing Moonboats at the Corinthian Yacht Club at age 11 after a confrontation with a San Francisco Yacht Club official ended his family's membership application.1:28 At 13 he worked at Clipper Yacht Company creosoting piles to pay for his own boat.3:19 After two years in the Coast Guard during the Korean War, he returned to found Easton Boatworks, which he ran for 35 years.4:33 His 1955 Perpetual Cup race against John Ford's Skylark ended in a loss by eight-tenths of a second after a tactical cut at Alcatraz gave him a brief lead.7:30 He sailed as local-knowledge crew on Kialoa for Jim Kilroy in the Big Boat Series, then switched to Windward Passage when Dennis Connors took his spot — Windward Passage beat Kialoa and won the series.9:56 He completed two Honolulu races, winning his class in 1963 with a fourth overall out of 75 boats using only sextant navigation.13:50 His current boat, Yucca, is a 1937 double-ended eight-metre — 7'10" beam, teak backbone, silicon bronze-fastened, double-planked Honduras mahogany — which he restored by adding 800 pounds of inside ballast on Myron Spaulding's advice.15:25 He hauls Yucca twice monthly using his own elevator hoist and does 99% of maintenance himself.7:57
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