104 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM PHOTOGRAPHY OF SWIMMERS: COURTESY OF ROLAND WOOD (RC) Laser Racing with tiny toy boats making hairpin turns around beer-can markers. Many of these events are hosted by the on-site yacht club, The Club at Westpoint—which Mark also helped co-found. DINNER ON THE DOCKS Mark realized another part of his master plan this year: building a waterfront restaurant with a spacious second floor to house the yacht club. “I’ve been kissing so many frogs for years, trying to find the perfect person to build a restaurant here because I knew it’s got to be over the top,” Mark says. Finally, he found the right folks for the job. Chef Parke Ulrich and restaurateur MeeSun Boice had already taken San Francisco’s dining scene by storm with Mersea, EPIC Steak and Waterbar. “They were keen on it!” says Mark, who had previously raced with Parke aboard his yacht, the Hurrica V. On a sunny day, you might spot one of the more inventive types testing out wacky aquatic toys on the water. Recently, Mark witnessed a member casually cruising by on a wicker couch, its bulk lifted several feet out of the water by a hydrofoil. Westpoint also reserved 10% of the slips for “liveaboards.” “It adds a lot of life on the docks,” Mark says. “There’s security every 10th boat or so!” With someone always around, suspicious activity gets reported almost immediately. Also keeping the marina lively are rowing and youth sailing events, boat shows, movie nights and holiday boat decorating contests. Annually, it hosts the swimming portion of the Stanford University’s “Treeathalon” and co-hosts the Westpoint Regatta. There’s also Radio Controlled This hospitable harbor appealed to a variety of tenants and soon the marina filled with yachts and sailboats, kayaks and rowing racing shells. “We’ve got carpenters and lawyers and executives and maintenance gardeners,” Mark says. “It’s the whole gamut.” Tina White, Westpoint’s senior harbormaster, is leading the effort. “She’s basically running the show here,” Mark says. “She said, ‘I’m going to make this the friendliest harbor in the world!’” That means an ample, 1,000-footlong guest dock, an area that can be limited at many harbors, and several complimentary “party barges” (floating platforms with barbecues). “It needs to be better than your home,” Mark insists of the marina. BOTTOM (left): Competitors take to the water for the swimming portion of the Stanford “Treeathlon.”
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