SF Tech WeekSF Tech Week Thu Oct 8 2026 · 12–5 PM

The Dragon Lady, a white steel motor yacht, seen side on with her bow to the left, her mast and whip aerials against the sky. The Dragon Lady, a white steel motor yacht, seen side on with her bow to the left, her mast and whip aerials against the sky.

The Yacht

Under the Blue Angels. Once a year.

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The afternoon

On the Thursday of SF Tech Week the Dragon Lady is out on San Francisco Bay from noon until five. The Blue Angels fly over the bay that afternoon. She will be underneath them.

There is Starlink aboard, should anyone need to know how Tech Week is getting on ashore.

  1. Arrival

    Food and drinks while the bay fills up for the air show.

  2. By arrangement

    A few conversations, three or four people to each.

  3. Open boat

    Move between decks, stay where the conversation is good, and look up when the jets come over.

Introductions

Before the day there is a short call with Smoov about what you are trying to get done and who would be useful to meet. Where there is a strong match, the group and the time are sent beforehand.

No one is rotated on a timer or seated at random.

Aboard

Founders, enterprise technical leaders, and the people who decide what gets bought. The sponsors’ founders are aboard too.

Fifty seats. The boat sets the cap.

Looking aft from the Dragon Lady. Her wake runs back across the bay toward the Golden Gate Bridge, and the flag hangs on the stern staff. Looking aft from the Dragon Lady. Her wake runs back across the bay toward the Golden Gate Bridge, and the flag hangs on the stern staff.

The vessel

The Dragon Lady seen from off her bow, with a tower of the Bay Bridge and its cables behind her stern. The Dragon Lady seen from off her bow, with a tower of the Bay Bridge and its cables behind her stern.

“Make it bulletproof”

Carmen Warschaw, to her naval architects.

As her captain tells it, she was standing directly behind Senator Robert F. Kennedy the night he was assassinated in Los Angeles. Afterwards she asked for a vessel that could get away, and come back. Asked where to, she said “Hawaii.” The fuel capacity was tripled.

Warschaw was a power in California’s Democratic Party for half a century. President Kennedy once opened a speech in Los Angeles by thanking “Carmen.”

Her adversaries called her the Dragon Lady. She took the name and gave it to her yachts.

This one was built in steel in 1979. Through the 1980s her salon received presidential candidates, governors, senators and ambassadors. Deals were made there, and campaigns quietly plotted.

She has been around the world. Today she is based at South Beach Harbor under Captain Jerry A. Deal.

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Noon, Thursday

Date
Thursday, October 8, 2026
Time
12 to 5 PM
During
SF Tech Week 2026 and San Francisco Fleet Week
Boards
South Beach, San Francisco. The dock comes with the confirmation.
Entry
By invitation. Every request is read by a person, and seats are confirmed one at a time.
Request a seat (opens in a new tab)
San Francisco seen across the bay, from left to right: the Bay Bridge, the Salesforce Tower, the Ferry Building, Sutro Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid, Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. San Francisco seen across the bay, from left to right: the Bay Bridge, the Salesforce Tower, the Ferry Building, Sutro Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid, Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.