Tiburon skipper makes history in Australian offshore racing series

Tiburon resident Ron Epstein and his crew ride Bacchanal during a warm-up before the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in December. (bow caddy media)

While Tiburon resident Ron Epstein had been home since early January, his racing yacht Bacchanal was still somewhere on the Pacific, making her way home from Australia.

Epstein, 61, finally reunited with his boat on March 28, when the 39-foot JPK 11.80 arrived at the Corinthian Yacht Club carrying a story that has drawn international attention: a class victory in the storied Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and a historic championship in Australia’s most demanding offshore racing series, the Blue Water Pointscore.

Epstein and his crew are the first non-Australians ever to win the six-race series, and the first to do so aboard a boat under 40 feet since the 1990s.

“At least in our sailing community, this is a really big deal,” Epstein said.

Epstein was joined by two other Tiburon-area sailors: Corinthian Yacht Club Commodore Marcus Canestra, who served as trimmer, and Keiran Searle, an Australian-born Marin resident who served as the program’s boat captain and manager and oversaw Bacchanal’s build in 2024.

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