The El Toro
The rebirth of the El Toros in the Washington, DC area occurred in 1968. The
reactivated Fleet 16 had a total of 6 El Toros, two of the original skippers
(Ellie & Jim Ayres) are the icons of our current fleet and will always be remembered for building the fleet to what it is now.
During the late 60's & early to mid 70's the local fleet grew in size and
eventually split into four different fleets. By the mid 80's the remaining
active boats along with the remaining boats of the Magothy River, and Cape
Saint Claire fleets all coalesced into one Chesapeake Bay Fleet.
The expansion of El Toro's initially started in 1969 when 22 boat hulls were
imported from Alspar boats of Arlington, TX. In 1970 HAPCO Marine Inc. was
formed and set about becoming boat manufacturers. The HAPCO hulls were built
by Moorman Mfg. Inc. in Gloucester, VA whereas the spars were built by
Blackstock Lumber in Seattle, WA. The price, as of 1 August 1971 for a
complete boat with sails was $490.00. An optional Jotz sail was $88.00.
Aluminum spars were sanctioned in 1974 by the El Toro Association and were
manufactured immediately thereafter by HAPCO.
HAPCO split in 1975, the El Toro portion of the company was carried forward
by one of the three partners, Jim Ayres. 1975 saw the sanctioning of
self-rescue El Toros and Ayres & Co., Inc. set about manufacturing self
rescue boats. The second OPEC oil crisis in 1979, precipitated the sale of
ACI to Joe Boyer. Joe continued manufacturing El Toros off and on until his
untimely death in 1984. The overall number of boats produced by HAPCO, ACI
and Boyer Boats was approximately 600. Additional El Toros came into the
area, in small numbers. Seven to eight Cavallero Toros and a few off breeds.
Added to all these fiberglass boats were some great additions of wood boats,
notably the Tom and Carol Jones built boats.
ACTIVITIES
The El Toro started with a slow bang in 1968 with its very first regatta. By
1973 it was a sanctioned class of CBYRA. The first Cherry Blossom regatta
(sailed on the Washington Tidal Basin) occurred in 1973, as did the first
Amityville, NY Bullshot regatta. Three Ayres sailors took the top three
trophies in New York. (13 year old Jacie took first!) We are hoping this provides sufficient incentive for the Amityville NY sailors to visit DC for revenge at the annual Cherry Blossom regattas.
During the next 27 years the El Toro has been sailed in many of the one design regattas
raced in the CBYRA area. Currently the fleet races in 6 - 8 regattas a year,
depending on weather and other outside causes (the 1999 Cherry Blossom regatta could not be sailed on the tidal basin because key roads were closed in the District because of a NATO meeting) .
The El Toro National Championships have been sailed in our area 4 times,
1972, 1976, 1978 and 1984. We have had two El Toro National champions, Chris
Mason - Junior-1973 and John Potter - Senior - 1978.
