Tom Blackaller

Thomas David Blackaller, Jr. (born Jan. 6, 1940, died Sep. 7, 1989) was a world-champion American yachtsman, America's Cup helmsman, sailmaker, and racecar competitor prior to his death at 49. He was a two-time world champion in the Star class keelboat, a world champion in the international Six metre class, raced in three separate America's Cup campaigns, and influenced the careers of other sailors, including Olympic sailor Paul Cayard. Contemporaries cited his colorful personality along with his demonstrated racing acumen as central to his fame. A permanent racing buoy in San Francisco Bay was named for him immediately after his death.

Early life

Blackaller was born January 6, 1940, in Seattle, Washington. He moved with his parents to the San Francisco Bay Area as a child and began sailing when he was 10 years old.

Sailing career

Blackaller is considered by many in sailing circles to be one of the greats in American yacht racing. Ultimately becoming a member of the St. Francis Yacht Club of San Francisco, his racing ranged from smaller boats to America's Cup boats and then multihull vessels (catamarans).

Blackaller initially became known for sailing Star class keelboats, an Olympic class. He bought his first Star boat in 1957, a chubby hull #2482, named "Spirit." Seeking a faster boat, Blackaller ordered a new boat that winter from boatmaker Carl Eichenlaub, which became hull #3938 and named "Good Grief!" He subsequently competed in hull #5150, also named Good Grief! Using this boat, he won his first major events in 1968, taking a Silver Star at the Western Hemisphere Spring Championship and then a second Silver Star at the North American Championship. Blackaller won district championships (5th District) in 1971 and in 1979. In 1974 and 1980 he won the Star Class world championship, receiving Gold Stars for those wins.

He became known among fellow competitors as Charlie Brown, because he liked to clown around, and the name of his boat evoked the character of the same name from the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz.

As his reputation grew, Blackaller began to compete internationally in 6-Meter keelboats (also known as the Six metre class or 6mR). In 1969 the St. Francis Yacht Club became involved in a new international 6-meter competition in neutral waters called the Australian-American Challenge. The following year, the club bought a new Olin Stephens-designed 6-meter named Toogooloowoo IV, originally owned by John Taylor of Australia. Renamed St. Francis IV, Blackaller helmed her to victory in the November 1970 challenge in Australia against John Taylor’s new Stephens Six, Toogooloowoo V. In 1973, a first World Cup in 6-meters was held in Seattle, which Blackaller also won.

Blackaller's broader fame in yachting grew largely through his America's Cup campaigns 1980-1986. In 1980, Blackaller became tactician for the Clipper syndicate, but Clipper failed to win in the trial races to determine the one boat to race against the holder of the Cup. In 1983, he skippered the 12-Meter (or 12-Metre class) Defender, which also lost the trials. In 1986, Blackaller became skipper of USA—a very fast, experimental design with fore-and-aft rudders and a ballast pod known as "the geek." USA was one of seven United States yachts that challenged Australia for the America's Cup. Dennis Conner beat USA in the semifinal races, going on to win the 1987 America's Cup with the 12-Meter yacht Stars & Stripes.

By 1988, Blackaller turned to multihull sailing, which marked a shift from quasi-amateur status to professionally paid sailor. He began to campaign a Formula 40 catamaran in the $500,000 ProSail Series, which commenced August 11, 1988, in Newport, Rhode Island. The four-day regatta in Newport was the first of three national meets that year that included San Francisco, Oct. 6-9, and Miami, Dec. 8-11. (Lloyd, 1988) In the 1989 ProSail Series, immediately before his death, he had helmed his catamaran to win two races to one against Randy Smyth, reported at the time as America's top catamaran sailor. Blackaller was preparing to compete in the San Francisco race of the series when he died.

Motorsports involvement

In addition to his sailing career, Tom Blackaller also raced cars. In the early 1980s he drove a Ralt RT4 in the WCAR Formula Atlantic Championship. He switched to sportscar racing in the IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) Championship. In March 1989, he finished 25th overall in the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Spice SE88P-Buick. He went on to drive an Argo JM19-Mazda entered by Jim Downing.

Later in 1989, Blackaller entered a Swift Engineering DB2 Sports 2000 with Sonoma County (California)-based Pfeiffer Ridge Racing for the IMSA 300 Kilometer race to be held at nearby Sears Point Raceway (now Infineon Raceway), on 10 September of that year.

Blackaller suffered a heart attack while practicing for that race.

Sailmaking career

Blackaller worked as a sailmaker for Lowell North, a position that helped to cover the costs of most of his racing as an amateur and quasi-amateur. He managed the North Loft in San Francisco 1973-80 and North Sails West 1980-85. He was considered one of North's most visible and audible "Tigers."

Colorful personality

What made Blackaller so widely known was his extremely colorful, opinionated, free-wheeling, and mischievous personality. Blackaller stories were so prevalent and enjoyed that web pages sprang up following his death to share them. On September 9, 2009, occasioned by the 20th anniversary of his death, a tribute was held by his friends and colleagues at the Rolex San Francisco Big Boat Series at the St. Francis Yacht Club, recounting many of these tales. The tribute was preceded by collection of tales at the daily sailing electronic newsfeed Sailing Scuttlebutt and by posting of a dedicated website.

Blackaller Buoy

Following Blackaller's death, members of the St. Francis Yacht Club decided to establish one of their permanent racing marks as the "Blackaller Buoy." It is a buoy that forms an official racecourse mark for yacht racing on San Francisco Bay. The Yacht Racing Association of San Francisco Bay lists it as mark number 16. The buoy is a yellow column-shaped buoy labeled in black letters "Blackaller," 0.2 nautical miles east of San Francisco's Fort Point. YRA Mark 16 was designated the Thomas D. Blackaller Jr. Memorial Buoy by the YRA Board of Directors, and its maintenance is funded by the Thomas D. Blackaller Jr. Fund.

Death

On Thursday, September 7, 1989, Blackaller was practicing for the IMSA 300 Kilometer race to be held on September 10 at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma County when he suffered a heart attack at the wheel of his car. The car slowed, and watchers described that it "parked itself gently" in the safety fencing surrounding the track with minimal damage. Rescuers found Blackaller unconscious. He was immediately trasferred by helicopter to Angel of the Valley Hospital in Napa, California, where he later was pronounced dead.

Family

Upon his death, Blackaller was survived by his wife, Christine; two daughters, Lisa and Brooke, both of San Francisco; his father, Thomas Sr. of Berkeley, Calif., and two sisters, Nancy Hardie of Kirkland, Wash., and Lois Wolfe of Santa Cruz, Calif.

References and external links

• Bolles, David and Skip Allen, "Remembering Tom Blackaller" Star Class Association Website, June 29, 2003.
• Latitude 38, Central Bay Marks.
• Lloyd, Barbara, "Tom Blackaller, 49, Competitor in America's Cup", New York Times, September 8, 1989.
• Lloyd, Barbara, "Yachting Catamarans in Racing Series", New York Times, August 8, 1988.
• Motorsport Memorial "Tom Blackaller".
• Remembering Blackaller website.
• Roberts, Rich, "Competition Was Enough For Him", Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1989.
• Sailing Scuttlebutt, Blackaller page.
• Sailing Scuttlebutt, Blackaller forum.
• Sailing World, "Tom Blackaller, Lowell North's First Rockstar Tiger", April 24, 2002.
• Street, Tim, "Modern Six-Metre’s Newsletter No. 1", International Six-Metre Association, December 13, 2005.