sou’wester • april 2005 • page 1

o lo lo lo lo l y m p i c cy m p i c cy m p i c cy m p i c cy m p i c c l a s s e s rl a s s e s rl a s s e s rl a s s e s rl a s s e s r eeeee ggggg aaaaa t t a 2 0 0 5t t a 2 0 0 5t t a 2 0 0 5t t a 2 0 0 5t t a 2 0 0 5a n d f i n n n o ra n d f i n n n o ra n d f i n n n o ra n d f i n n n o ra n d f i n n n o r t h a m e r i c a n ct h a m e r i c a n ct h a m e r i c a n ct h a m e r i c a n ct h a m e r i c a n c h a m p sh a m p sh a m p sh a m p sh a m p s by Rich Roberts

Photos by Rich RobertsPhoto boat - Chris Ericksen

Etchells World Qualifier ........................ April 9 - 10Alter Cup ............................................ April 13 - 17Membership Meeting ................................ April 18Spring Spruce up ...................................... April 23Opening Day ............................................. April 30Mother’s Day Brunch ................................... May 8Membership Meeting ................................. May 20Memorial Day Regatta ....................... May 28 - 29Men’s Day ................................................... June 5

s as as as as a vvvvv e t h e d ae t h e d ae t h e d ae t h e d ae t h e d a t et et et et e

Commodore’s Comments ............................ 2Manager’s Corner ........................................ 2Membership ................................................. 3From the Pages of History ........................... 4Junior Sailing ............................................... 5Driftwood ...................................................... 9Scuttlebutt .................................................... 9Hails From the Fleets ................................. 10

i n s i d ei n s i d ei n s i d ei n s i d ei n s i d e

Official Publication ofAlamitos Bay Yacht Club

Volume 78 • Number 4

April 2005

Hall Wins Finn NAs When Railey Flips at OCR

Kevin Hall, the U.S. Finn class representative at Athens last year, says he isn’t sure if he’ll campaign for the2008 Olympics in China, but he knows who one of his strongest rivals would be.

Zach Railey, a rookie from Clearwater, Fla. in one of the venerable Olympic classes, led Hall by a pointSunday going into the eighth and last race of the North AmericanChampionships, incorporated with Alamitos Bay Yacht Club’s annualOlympic Classes Regatta.

It appeared he would win it all as he led the fleet into the lastleeward gate, but he capsized in winds of 18 knots with gusts to 21and failed to finish. Even after discarding that misfortune andwinning half the races, he wound up a single point behind Hall.

Railey, 20, is the older brother of Paige Railey, 17, the topU.S. female youth sailor. In the 2004 U.S. Olympic Laser trials hewas fifth and already knew he wasn’t long for the class.

“It wasn’t in my genes,” said Railey, who is 6-4, 210 poundsand still growing. “My body outgrew the Laser, but it’s perfect for theFinn. I just started sailing it a couple of months ago.”

But he is already ranked second only to Hall on the USSailing Team for 2005.

“I’m really happy with how I’m doing so far,” he said.Railey’s spill left not only the North American title but the Llewellyn Bixby Trophy to Hall as winner of the

most competitive class—an honor Hall also received in 1995 for winning the Laser class. The trophy is one of theoriginal relay torches for the 1984 Games when the sailing was on these same waters.

Other class winners were ABYC’s Kevin Taugher among 37 Lasers, Keamia Rasa of the Royal Vancouver(B.C.) Yacht Club in Laser Radial—a new Olympic class for 2008, replacing the Europe dinghy—and Will Stout andcrew Darrell Hiatt of San Diego in the six-boat Star class, winning five of nine races with no finish worse thansecond.

Another surname famous in local Olympic lore excelled in Laser Radial. Lindsay Buchan, 23, granddaughterof Bill and daughter of Carl, both gold medalists in ’84, was second to Rasa. She is ranked fourth on the US SailingTeam 2005.

Hall, 35, won’t be sailing his Finn much more until after the 2007 America’s Cup. He is a member of theEmirates Team New Zealand team bidding to recover the Cup for the Kiwis.

“I’m just skipping class for a few days to do this,” Hall said. “It’s not [an Olympic] campaign yet, but I enjoysailing and racing, and after all the hard work it would be silly not to keep my head in it.”

Meanwhile, he and his wife Amanda are new adoptive parents of a son, Rainer, born New Year’s Eve to asurrogate mother. Hall is a survivor of testicular cancer.

“We’ll all be together once the America’s Cup campaign gets rolling,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that.”Complete results and photos are posted at http://www.abyc.org/High-resolution photos for print media are available upon request.Rich Roberts

Kevin Hall, the U.S. Olympic rep in the Finn class atAthens, leads old rival Darrell Peck. Hall beat ZachRailey by one point.

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c o m m o d o rc o m m o d o rc o m m o d o rc o m m o d o rc o m m o d o r e �e �e �e �e � s c o m m e n t ss c o m m e n t ss c o m m e n t ss c o m m e n t ss c o m m e n t s

We had a very good turnout for the Manning Regatta in early March. This is a regatta that we have traditionally held for SCYA and is one of the regattas that they use to support their worthwhile efforts for all of southern California yacht-

ing. It appeared to me and to several members that we were using our club and themembers to run a regatta that had little benefit for our own members. I asked JimMorford to pull the list of competitors just to see if the observations were correct and Iwas pleased to find out that a little over 1/3 of the racers were from ABYC. So when yousee a regatta like this keep in mind that we are not only helping the sailing community atlarge but we’re also giving our members a chance to race against a whole new group ofcompetitors. The regatta was very well-run as Barney and Steve Flam ran the outsidecourse and Mike Baumann ran the bay. The duty fleet this year was the C20s with MitchSchroeder, fleet captain, calling and gathering the C20 volunteers.

Be sure to join in on the fun at this year’s 79th Opening Day on Saturday, April30th. The format will be the same as previous years with the Club Championship Regatta in the morning. The ABYCFleets will be providing hospitality as well as showing off their boats. We will have some exciting new boats in thewater for your viewing pleasure. The ceremony will be at 1530 with dinner to be served at 1700. Please join us aswe ‘open the club’ for the 2005 sailing season.

There has been some buzz around the club that Elaine and I have passed over to the ‘dark side’ havingpurchased a power boat. Say it isn’t so. Well, we did! It was a compromise for the family, half of which does notenjoy sailing but will be using the power boat for family coastal cruising. I will still be sailing with my son Mike in theC20. The boat is a Pearson True North 38’ which is an east coast style lobster boat. They are being marketed tosailors who just don’t want to take the ‘sailing time nor effort’ in getting to Catalina. We purchased a 2002 in SouthCarolina and should have it on display during Opening Day.

See you at the club.Ron Wood

m a n am a n am a n am a n am a n a ggggg e r �e r �e r �e r �e r � s c o rs c o rs c o rs c o rs c o r n e rn e rn e rn e rn e r

One of the people I admire most in this world is my father, Captain Paul Brewer. He has salt water in his veins and tells a mighty mean dirty joke! The other thing I love about him and sailors in general is their giving spirit and willingness

to help where it is needed without being asked.Because of my love for my dad and my willingness to talk about him at the drop

of a hat, another retired Merchant Marine and I became instant buds when I came towork here. His name is Dave Behr, and as a member of the ol’ salt’s club he knew somuch about the things my dad had talked about for years that it seemed to form aconnection. Even if Dave had been a contractor or a plumber I would have to write abig thank you to him this month for all he does around here for the club. Dave contrib-utes both time and money to not only the junior program but the club’s general wellbeing. I find new rigging, ladders, shackles, I bolts, U bolts, you name it! If Dave sees

the need, Dave buys it and puts it where it needs to go. No fuss, no thanks needed, just done. We have manyDave’s here...their names might be Vern or George or Maggie, but they are the reason I love my job and this clubruns so smoothly. So a big thanks to each of you and a special thanks to Dave! We couldn’t be successful withoutyour help and support on a monthly basis.

Theresa LairdPS...This place was rockin’ on Friday night the 25th while we enjoyed the band 6875...join us again on the

29th of April for Happy Hour.

We are approaching that time of year when we need to put some elbow grease into our club. Opening day is notfar away and that means it’s Spring Spruce Up time again. We have a broad range of projects lined up and

need your help to execute them. This year Spring Spruce Up will b on Saturday, April 23rd and we would like to startworking early. Please plan to arrive as close to 8:00 AM aspossible.

We will provide donuts and coffee in the morning aswell as drinks and food during the lunch hour.

If you are planning to come down please contact meso I can organize work parties to focus on specific projects.

Kevin Ellis, Jr. Staff Commodore

s p r i n g s p rs p r i n g s p rs p r i n g s p rs p r i n g s p rs p r i n g s p r u c e u pu c e u pu c e u pu c e u pu c e u p

Sou�Wester DEADLINEFriday, April 20, 2005 is the deadline for

the May Sou�Wester.

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m e m b e rm e m b e rm e m b e rm e m b e rm e m b e r s h i ps h i ps h i ps h i ps h i p

The Board of Directors at its March 16th meeting approved the following matters:Charles and Alicia Stevens were approved for a Regular Membership.The following were approved for Posting for Regular Memberships:Steven Rustigan, Catherine Boomus, Karl and Susan Anderson, Charles Barry and Carole Simmons, and Bobby

and Cathy Frazier.Tyler Noesen and Nicholas Brulois were approved for Posting for Yachting Memberships. Alexander Vaught was

approved for Posting for a Junior Membership.Regular memberships are still going for half price. Isn’t it a beautiful time to go sailing with friends and invite

them to become ABYC members!!!The Membership Committee

t h e rt h e rt h e rt h e rt h e r e a l m a re a l m a re a l m a re a l m a re a l m a r ccccc h m a d n e s sh m a d n e s sh m a d n e s sh m a d n e s sh m a d n e s s

Last year The Starr family was visiting a friend in Dana Point. In the back yardthey spotted a dilapidated shell of a Sabot and fell in love with it. The owner wanted $100.00. The two young Starrs, Bridget and Dustin, said they would

both take $50.00 out of their saving accounts. The deal was made and a year ofrestoration began. The children with the help of their Dad, Mark, sanded,fiberglassed, sanded, stained and painted their craft red and launched it with thename “Sunburn.” Susan, their Mom, recorded each step of their progress with photoswhich became a beautiful booklet. The proud children attended our spring programthis year and are on their way to a great sailing life. We are proud and grateful thatthey chose to become members of ABYC.

New members Bridget and DustinStarr receive their burgee fromCommodore Ron Wood

Photo by George Honeycuttt

The 2005 Olympic Classes Regatta – or almost known as the regatta that almost wasn’t! Some events are easy toput together and don’t take much time and effort. Then there is OCR. As I soon found out, trying to plan for anOlympic size event with very few (and, I mean few!) pre-registered entries is not an easy task! But, in true Olympic

form the competitors came through at the last moment. Five days before the event we had 18 entries. By the time registra-tion closed we had 79!

Fortunately there seems to be a recipe to follow when it comes to planning for OCR. All you need is support boats,racing equipment, volunteers, sailors, a supportive club manager and yacht club staff, memento glasses, t-shirts, a parkinglot, a launch ramp and hoist, a really long dock, lots of food and a bar with a great view. Oh yeah, you also need a lot ofadministrative paperwork, a protest committee, a computer scoring wizard, sailing instructions, special flags, specialtrophies and people to help you find everything. You see, it’s not really that hard!

Competition Chairman Merle Asper soon found out that a lot of the work of OCR is just contacting all the rightpeople to get things done. He also found out that the volunteers were already looking forward to another year of OlympicClass sailing. But it does take time and energy sorting out the various positions and days that everyone is available. Onceall of these ingredients are added together you get a really great regatta that everyone enjoyed.

Now when it comes to the actual racing another strong performance has to take place out on the water and thatrequires experience and leadership to pull it off. We were happy to leave that job up to PRO Mark Townsend . Mark guidedthe race committee through three days of setting, moving and in some cases abandoning race courses. Along with Mark,we’d also like to thank the following volunteers by the work they performed:Patience-start boat: George Caddle, Jim Drury, Jon Lounsberry, Sharon Pearson, Vern Peterson, and Sandy Toscan.Sea Owl-finish boat: owners Jerry & Sally Dalley, Peter Bain, John & Jinx Ellis, Mike Ludt, Judy Mathias, Wayne &Shirley Smith and the other many Dalley friends that joined us.Mark-setting boats: Mike Baumann, Dave Ellis, Kevin Ellis, George Honeycutt, Jeff Ives, Tom & Daniel Mendenhall,Dave Meyers, Greg Montz, and Robin Townsend.Photo-boat & rescue: Chris EricksenComputer Scoring & medal engraving: Jim MorfordJudges Committee: Maggie Caddle & entouragePerpetual Trophy preparation: Carol KofahlRegistration & parking lot duty: Diane Bateman, Barbara Conn, Stacy Conn, Clif Mathias, John McNaughton, TomMendenhall, and Steve Moffett (Steve also gets a big kiss for supporting me throughout the entire event).

Again, thank you everyone for the great work! The sailors are still telling us how much they enjoyed the regatta andalways appreciate the professionalism that ABYC puts into hosting such large events. Thank you Merle for being a fantasticco-chairman and doing everything I told you too! (Next time, we’ll check for a gas tank before we leave the dock.)

Nicole Peoples-Moffett, 2005 OCR Chairwoman

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f rf rf rf rf r o m t h e p ao m t h e p ao m t h e p ao m t h e p ao m t h e p a ggggg e s o fe s o fe s o fe s o fe s o f h i s t o r h i s t o r h i s t o r h i s t o r h i s t o r yyyyy

After casting about for a suitable title for this feature, we really found nothing suitable. But we got a call from AnnExley, graciously giving us permission to use the title of the series that she so wonderfully wrote for more than a decade. It is a particularly apt title, too, as what we have to report in this column is truly out of the pages of history:

SOU’WESTER’s of 1975, 1985 and 1995.THIRTY YEARS AGO:

The headline in the April, 1975, SOU’WESTER, said, “Only Sanctioned Regional Selection Olympic Regatta to beHosted by ABYC.” According to an article by the three co-chairs—Paul Merrill, Jr., Sandy Toscan and Tick Weber—as asanctioned event and a money qualifier, “what was usually a pretty straightforward regatta has mushroomed beyond allexpectations. This year’s regatta will be three days and the Olympic rules require three separate race courses.” Invitedclasses included Soling, Flying Dutchman, Finn, Tornado, 470 and Tempest. While the event had three duty fleets (Lido’s,Cal 20’s and C-15’s) more help was needed. But everyone could come to the burger bash Saturday night—it’d cost $2.00.

The summer Junior program was on track. Eight weeks of instruction would cost $20.00 per kid, but the fee wouldbe billed in two installments. In addition to this, 1975 apparently was a year that the Naples Sabot Junior Nationals wouldcome to Alamitos Bay; plans were in hand to “eliminate the problems of sabotage and cheating as well as coaching boatson the course which have been apparent in recent Nationals.”

Doctor Michael Cahan and his wife Marjorie became new members, as did James and Kay Hetherington. TheCahan’s owned a Cal 20 and the Hetherington’s a Coronado 25; the Hetherington’s were members of CBYC. Dennis andDara Capp, Sabotiers both, also joined ABYC; both were previously junior members, and Dara’s parents are DaleBerkiheiser and Marty Bowman.

The yacht club will be open seven days a week from early May through late October, reverting to a five-dayschedule (closed Monday and Tuesday) thereafter…a number of suggestions from members of the Race Committee torevise ABYC’s sailing instructions were discussed by the board; chief among them was “the increased use of the 720Rule to eliminate protests”…”silver-tongued Chuck Babcock, the poor man’s Tom Conerly,” was to host the annual LidoFleet “Funny Trophy” Presentation…Alicia Dose made new, easier-to-read course and lap signs for the Inside RaceCommittee boat.TWENTY YEARS AGO:

Since 1985 was the year after the Sailing Olympics in Long Beach, the 1985 Olympic Classes Regatta wasrescheduled to June and was barely mentioned in the April, 1985, SOU’WESTER.

There was a lot of news from the fleets. The Lido’s sailed at the Turnbuckle Tightener Regatta March 9, and PaulAumann won the B fleet with three firsts. In second place, however, was “a guest skipper, a young fellow named SidExley. Apparently Sid was intrigued, as he is now looking for a boat to buy.” Russell Fox was top ABYC finisher at theTournament of Champions Regatta at Huntington Harbour, finishing third in Naples Sabots; other ABYC juniors sailingincluded Kevin Goyan, Scott Ramsey and Dana Riddick.

The Snipe fleet reported that Jerry Thompson was on the Southern Circuit and that Keith Dodson was selling hisNorth American-champion boat, having just gotten his new vessel, the “Old Gray Mare.” Winners in the Senior Sabot fleetincluded Bernice Weiss, Mac Mills, Bob Ware, Marilyn McMahon and Judy Mathias; Marty Bowman wants to organize agroup to practice for the Senior Nationals.

The biggest thing this month seems to have been a presentation at the March membership meeting wherein arepresentative of the Port of Long Beach presented their “2020 Plan” to increase the cargo-handling area of the Ports ofLong Beach and Los Angeles by 2,600 acres by filling in much of the area inside the Middle Breakwater. CommodoreDave Dorrans commented that he was “personally worried about the future of our sailing area” and encouraged anyoneelse concerned to write to their representatives.

Social events in the first three months of 1985 netted profits of $1,981 as compared to losses of $4,387 for acomparable period the year before…Tom Irvin became a new member; this Lido sailor was sponsored by Wayne andShirley Smith…silk-screened logo Tee-shirts were on sale at the ABYC Boatique: $5.00 each or two for $8.00…AdraKober and Fran Nason reported that there will be Yoga classes at the club on Thursday mornings at 9:00 am…Mel Hebertwas selling his nine-foot Boston Whaler inflatable complete with oars, pump, outboard bracket, carrying bag and analmost-new, four-horse Evinrude motor for $900.00.TEN YEARS AGO:

Allison Jolly was editor of the April, 1995, SOU’WESTER, and her own Olympic gold medal and a quote fromMalory’s “Idylls of the King” about the quest for the Grail graced the cover. While the Olympic Classes Regatta was over, itwas fresh in everyone’s minds.

Commodore John Weiss touched on a lot of issues in his Comments, including joining US SAILING through theyacht club, reminding folks to use their boats in the yard or lose the space and a change in the facility-use rules to permitmembers to hold business meetings at ABYC. Special mention was made of the great work done by Ted Flood, PaulMerrill and Merle Asper in getting 40 new memberships processed, and a new member’s reception was held in March towelcome them all in.

Barbara Beland O’Connor, daughter of Mickey and Eleanor Beland, was named principal of Oak Middle School inLos Alamitos…New members included Bill and Pamela Durant and their children, Dustin, Tyler and Danica; Bill andNancy Low and their children, Robbie and Betsy; and Dr. Jean Pierre Dufour and his wife Marie and their children James,Phillippe, Simon and Arnaud…Also, Merle and Kelly Asper converted to Regular members from Yachting.

Chris Ericksen, Club Historian

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m a n n i n g p h o t o s

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Hello again ABYC members and welcome to “The Bay Clogger”, your source for Junior Sailing updates!The Spring program has officially started with a huge bang. We wereextremely happy to have the biggest spring sabot program ever with 32

sabots sailors signed up! We added Michael Oliver to our Spring coaching lineup along with returning Graham Bell and Chris McNaboe.

A particularly exciting development in the Junior program recently is theaddition of Laser Radial clinics into the curriculum. We have currently 9 inter-ested juniors in learning how to competitively sail lasers. Many of them haveboats, but some are looking for a boat to charter for a few clinics to see if it isreally what they want and others are still looking for a laser to buy. If you have alaser you would like to charter, we would greatly appreciate it or if you have alaser you are trying to sell, please email jrprogram@abyc.org.E.E. Manning Series (ABYC)

One of the first regattas of the Spring season was the Manning seriesheld at ABYC. There was an awesome fleet of 44 boats that competed in thesabot fleet, all of which competed in the same start. It was outstanding practicefor the Junior Nationals which will be held here in August this year! Congratulations to Ryan McNaboe – 13th and hismother Jane McNaboe – 10th who finished very well in the regatta. Also, congrats to Jack Jorgenson – 22nd, SamanthaGebb – 27th, Laura Newton 30th, and AJ Robinson – 33rd (AJ and Laura were only able to make the first day and were inthe teens after the first day).Other Stuff

We have been rigorously working on fixing up the Junior Program charter sabots and we are still in need of help,sabot parts and sails. This goes for lasers too as we are currently fixing up some of those as well. If you have any infoor would like to help out the Junior program, please leave a message with the Junior Sailing office (562) 434-9955.

Thank you so much to the Junior Advisory Board who has worked extremely hard to make this program success-ful so far; Tom Newton, Doug Jorgenson, John Massey, Chas Merrill, Bob Kirstine, Marc Schryer, Jim Macleod, and SteveSchock. It has been an amazing Spring so far and there is sure to be much more exciting things to come!

Brad Schaupeter, ABYC Junior Director

Graham Bell and his class on the first clinic of the Spring

Rich Robertsphotos

Mitchell Schroeder -photo boat captain

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Photos by Barbara Gabriel and Stephanie Munn

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o l y m p i c c l a s s e s r e g a t t a p h o t o sRich Roberts photos

Chirs Ericksen - Photo boat captain

Hayley McLean of Royal Vancouver (B.C.) YC ledthe Laser Radials until teammate Keamia Rasa ranoff five straight firsts

ABYC’s Vann Wilson had the pin end at the Laser start

Star competitors ChuckDriscoll and crew JimOberg of San Diego areabout to lose it in 18-knotwinds

Ex-Laser sailor Zach Railey of Clearwater, Fla.led the Finn class until capsizing in the last race

This Finn encounter was difficult to sort out, butRobert Mendenhall of Rochester, N.Y. (in thewater behind his overturned boat) got the worstof it

Lindsay Buchan of Seattle, granddaughter of an Olympicgold medalist (Bill) and daughter of another (Carl), isranked No. 4 on the U.S. Sailing Team for 2005. Shefinished second

Zach Railey (right) leads 2004Olympian Kevin Hall (left) and

veteran Henry Sprague into thewindward mark

After two days of erratic conditionslike these, the committee boat livedup to its name when breezes gustingto 21 knots blew in Sunday

Mendenhall returned to the harborwith what sail he had left, changed

to a good one and came back outto race some more

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e a s t e r b r u n c hPhotos by George Honeycutt, Stephanie Munn and Greg Clinton

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Scuttlebutt has received little or nothing “newsy” that I can pass around lately. If you know anyone that has been ill,please let me know, so I can send them a card. Anyone who has gone on an interesting trip that our group wouldlike to know about, write me.

Would like to send best wishes to John and Margaret Ellis who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary inMarch.

On Saturday, March 26, 2005, CAMEO, a professional Auxillary of the Assistance League of Long beach pre-sented “An Afternoon in Tuscany” at the Long Beach Convention Center. There were hundreds of people in attendance.Among them were ABYC members Lori & Paul Merrill, Judy Mathias, Linda Landes, Adra & Norma Kober , BobbiePeterson, Mary Riddick, Betty Mills, Carolyn Bixby, Gary Solomon,M.D, Dr. Richard & Susan Bell, and Jeanne Nelson.

For the past 18 years, CAMEO has provided a unique mentoring program that helps advance the future of highschool students in the Long Beach Unified School District and Women’s and Men’s Program at Long Beach City College.

Jeanne Nelson

This term used to be an extra tot of rum for all hands on the old sailing ships. However, splicing took on a differentlook when Dave Behr presented the Club with 1,000 feet of braided line. Dave Meyer, our Port Captain, figuredout what lengths were needed for our marks in various depths of water. Fortunately about this time, Duncan

Harrison, a good friend of ABYC and professional splicer, volunteered. Forty-eight splices and two mornings later, ABYCis the proud owner of 24 beautifully spliced mark set lines. Thanks, Duncan.

George Caddle

s p l i c e t h e m a i n b rs p l i c e t h e m a i n b rs p l i c e t h e m a i n b rs p l i c e t h e m a i n b rs p l i c e t h e m a i n b r a c ea c ea c ea c ea c e

Men: Scratch this in your calendar!What: Stag Cruise 2005When: Friday September 30- Sunday October 2, 2005! I like to turn up on Thursday.Where: Corsair Yacht Club, Emerald Bay, Catalina Island.What to bring: Your closest friends and a bag of stuff to get you by.Your Assignment: Start talking it up now. Figure out your ride. There is plenty of time, don’t panic.Remember: This is a great way to celebrate a magnificent life. Don’t sell yourself short by not making it.

Respectfully yours,Merle Willis Asper III, Stag Cruise Official

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Dress for the occasion

ABYC burgee belts in two styles: Buckle or D ring

ABYC silk ties

“Gambler” style hats with broad brims for men

“Garden” style hats to shade ladies from the sun

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Mark your calendar for June 5th - Men’s Day 2005 - Presented by Kuritz/Townsend Productions - Details next month!

sou’wester • april 2005 • page 10

h a i l s f rh a i l s f rh a i l s f rh a i l s f rh a i l s f r o m t h e fo m t h e fo m t h e fo m t h e fo m t h e f l e e t sl e e t sl e e t sl e e t sl e e t s

Month to month the races have been very competitive and the February races were no different.

With some close racing for first place slots, the results wereas follows: 1) Bob Ware 2) Jane McNaboe 3) DianneGonzales. Lee Berlinger tied in scores with Dianne, but shehad smaller inside numbers. Don Hodges almost got thefirst in the third race. The next month, March, is the start ofthe championship Races which run through June. There willbe some unusual structure with the Chapped Cheek Racebeing a part of the first series. It should make for a veryinteresting St. Patrick Day Celebration.

It will certainly be better than the stormy Midwinterswhen none of our boats left the shore. There was somesailing at Balboa, but it did not involve our fleet. The E.E.Mannings were not much better for our fleet with all thetrophies going south. Robin Townsend did score a dailyfirst, and this would be a good time to congratulate her onher more satisfying win in the Boxing Regatta a few monthspast.

In March we must send last year’s champion, BobWare, or his designee to do battle in the mighty struggle forClub Champion. You’ll find out in the next edition who it willbe.

In the meantime, our Fleet Captain, Adra Kober,sends her greetings and an invitation to join us on the bayor for dinner at our monthly meetings.

Barbara Gabriel

KEEL BOAT FLEET ON WATCH

Get a subject of local interest; add anAlamitos Bay native who is an expertin his field and it’s no wonder that

more than 60 Keel Boaters really enjoyedRick Ware. Rick’s field of marine biology is

not only local but also worldwide and includes mitigating theeffects of dredging and building piers, etc. Thanks Rick, itwas a great evening.

New Keel Boat members receiving their flags wereJohn and Lorraine Perone, Al and Margel Seigrist, ScottAtwood and Stephanie Munn, along with Margaret Duhamelwho was introduced at the January meeting.

Upcoming events include the Spring Cruise toShoreline Yacht Club by car or by boat, April 2.

The Keel Boat meeting in May is off to a great startwith Al Seigrist who will speak on the Long BeachAquarium.

Jeanne Reid and Bob Chubb are planning anotherpicnic and Pine Block One Design Regatta for June 18. Ifyou do not have a boat, talk to Bob. He gave away the lasttwo boats at the March meeting, but if enough interest isshown, he would probably go back into production.

John and George

ABYC Laser racers took the two top spots at the SCYAMidwinter regatta for Lasers hosted by NewportHarbor Yacht Club on a stormy and breezy February

weekend. Carlos Roberts took first place with a string of

first and second place finishes, yielding first in two racesto Mike Pentecost who finished in second place overall.

Eleven Lasers turned out to race in this interest-ing venue which, due to the recent rains, featured waterthe color of a triple Grande Latte with a variety of flotsamand jetsam to contend with. As a matter of fact, as Isailed in from the last race, I noticed the water spray didnot even taste of salt. Congratulations to Carlos andMike!

ABYC hosted the SCYA E. E. Manning RegattaMarch 5-6. An encouraging turnout of Lasers launchedon Saturday in light breezes which never amounted tomore than marginal hiking conditions for even the lightestracers.

Saturday turned into the Chris and Bob Show withABYC’s own Chris Raab and Bob Falk dominating theraces with great starts, tactics and downwind speed.Luigi Donat-Pierre a frequent participant in ABYC racesfrom UCLA and Bryan Buffaloe from San Diego keptthings close the first day. A returning Laser racer, MikeEisenberg hailing from the Westlake Y.C. just needed a bitmore breeze and made an impression finishing third inthe last race of the first day.

Bob Falk, having demonstrated his Laser racingprowess on Saturday decided to give the rest of us achance and did not compete Sunday. Chris Raabwrapped up the series lead with a third place inSundays’s first race before heading in for an earlyshower. Bryan won both races on Sunday with Luigi andABYC’s Carlos Roberts each taking a second placefinish. Congratulations Chris on another dominatingperformance.

I received this report on the recent Laser Midwin-ters West Regatta from one of the competitors. It was afun and challenging race. I hope you enjoy the report. Inaddition, if you have not done so already, check out theScuttlebutt Photo Gallery to see a baby sea lion whohopped on board one of the ladies’ Laser Radials androde with her throughout the entire third day of theregatta, completing three races. Not much hiking on itspart as I guess it even took a bit of a snooze beforebeing delivered to some folks who where to see the littleguy made it back to his group.

Laser Midwinters West. If the title was notalready taken, a better name for the regatta would be,“Dances with Wolves”.

All sailors like to think their class is the mostcompetitive. The Laser class just may have the bestargument for that bragging right. In his first 2005 StarWorld Championship and second Star regatta, thereigning Laser Olympic Gold Medal winner and seventime Laser World Champion, Robert Scheidt finishedsixth. The US Laser Olympic representative, MarkMendelblat just won the 2005 Star Bacardi Cup in hissecond regatta.

Now, to qualify for the lead pack; sail full-time,contest at least two Olympic campaigns, achieve three orfour collegiate All American awards, sail a full schedule ofLaser regattas in Europe and, of course, win most of thebig time junior Championships. Most important accom-

sou’wester • april 2005 • page 11

plish all this before your 28th birthday. It also helps if you are6 foot+ tall, 175 lbs, quads of steel and can do your laundryon the ripples of your wash board abs.

All that being said, there are sailors who prove age isall in your mind. ABYC’s own Chris Raab is perhaps the bestexample. He is 47 years young, qualifying him in the LaserMasters category (45-54 years), smokes cigarettes up to thefive minute warning and finished 4th overall in the 70 boatMidwinters fleet. How is it possible? He was a lead packwolf when young and getting older has made him work harderat being smarter than the young guns. The basic tools ofsuccess are always there, good starts, unbelievable boathandling, hitting the shifts and never ever giving up. TigerWoods calls it grinding.

Anyone who knows Chris will vouch for his give it allon the playing field attitude. Chris is a grinder! One agegroup category younger than Chris is Laser ApprenticeMaster (35-44 years) Ned Jones who took third in the regatta.

So the moral of the story…gray-haired wolves with alife of racing experience and outstanding sailing skills cancompete in one of the most physically demanding boats longpast what the odds makers would say.

Back to the regatta. If you want to know what racinga Laser was like off Marina del Rey from a birds eye view.Get your washing machine going on heavy load and drop in atoy bathtub sailboat. The agitator will simulate the conditionsperfectly. The starts are even easier to visualize. With oneminute to go it looks like a typical day on the 405 in rush hourtraffic. Seventy boats just sitting there four feet apart side byside, luffing, and staring at each other, going nowhere. Withten seconds to go there is a crash or two and often a “SigAlert” goes up at the favored end with a massive raft-up ofboats. A minute after the start, the pile-up is cleared andeveryone is totally stressed-out but on their way. Strangely,almost no protests. The mild starting bumps are ignored, themajor fouls someone will do a quick 720 and get back at it.You are physically and mentally drained after one race.

Another notable performance by an ABYC memberwas Carlos Roberts who placed ninth. He is a senior at UCI,at the top of his game with a goal of getting one of thosetwelve North American World Championship Qualifying spots.There is no doubt in my mind he will get one!

Steven Smith, ABYC Laser Fleet Captain

h a i l s f rh a i l s f rh a i l s f rh a i l s f rh a i l s f r o m t h e fo m t h e fo m t h e fo m t h e fo m t h e f l e e t sl e e t sl e e t sl e e t sl e e t s

The serious racing forAlamitos Bay’sEtchells started in

March his month both inLong Beach and in San

Diego. And the REALLY serious racing is set for this month…The first weekend of the month, San Diego Yacht Club

hosted the Etchells Midwinter West Championship Regatta.There were 45 boats registered but four didn’t make it to theline; sadly, one of those was Doug Jorgensen’s, who sacrificedhis sailing to be with son Jack at Manning. But those who didsail included Tom Corkett, who finished in 16th place; Ed Feoand Steve Beck, who finished in 26th; and Greg Sims and DougMenezes, who finished in 36th place.

As the deadline for this article approached,SDYC was getting ready to host the Land’s End Na-tional Offshore One-Design Regatta on Fridaythrough Sunday, March 18-20—the same weekendas ABYC’s Olympic Classes Regatta. Better knownas the “San Diego NOOD,” the regatta won’t have aslarge an Etchells fleet as Midwinters West, but TomCorkett, Doug Jorgensen, Pat Kelly and the Sims/Menezes team are expected to be taking part. De-tails on this will doubtless be on the SDYC website,in case you can’t wait until next month for results.

For those of us who stayed home this month,there was the Chapped Cheek Regatta. Sailed inlovely late-winter conditions on Sunday, March 13,four Etchells turned out for the event. One boat wassailed by Steve and Nicole Moffett, with Greg Montzas crew; it was great to have the PARROT HEAD’sback out on the course.

Tim Carter and Chris Ericksen, sailing withChris Rulla and a brand new set of sails, won theregatta with two wins. Rob Rice, sailing with partnerEddie Ureño of BCYC and Ross Nemeroff, won thelast race; this team, a two-time winner of the ChappedCheek, eked out second place on a tiebreaker.

In third, tied on points, was Jeff Powell andDave Morse, sailing with a special guest: DougJorgensen. They won Race Two. And finishing upwas the Moffett/Moffett/Montz team; they sailed wellbut missed the first race owing to halyard problemsand couldn’t catch up. Here are the results:

OWNER SAIL NO. TOTALSCarter/Ericksen USA491 8Rice/Ureño USA90 10Powell USA531 10Moffett USA653 13

What promises to be the most importantregatta of the sailing year for ABYC’s Etchells willbe the Worlds Qualifier Regatta on Saturday andSunday, April 9 and 10. Six races are scheduledover the two days, sailed outside the breakwaterand using courses identical in layout to those to beseen at the 2005 Etchells Worlds in San FranciscoBay this September. The reason this will be such ahigh-level event is that it will determine the order inwhich the fleet will select the sailors that will go tothe Worlds: we’ll only have three or four placesallocated to our fleet in all probability, so thecompetition will be sharp.

As part of the regatta, we’ll be holding the2004 Fleet Championship Awards Dinner at ABYCon Saturday night. Not only will this be a chanceto celebrate the winners of the 2004 series, it’ll bea great chance to get together for a sit-down dinnerwith family and friends. Gordon Dudley hasworked with ABYC General Manager Theresa Lairdand has a good time planned. Tune in next monthfor a blow-by-blow report.

Chris Ericksen

sou’wester • april 2005 • page 12

Photo by Ronda Nuzum

StanleyPark -

Vancouver

Commodore Ron Wood

Vice Commodore Nicole Peoples Moffet

Rear Commodore Jim Bateman

Jr. Staff Commodore Kevin Ellis

Fleet Captain Glenn Selvin

Secretary Grant Hill

Directors

Volunteer Development Merle Asper

Special Projects Bard Heavens

Junior Program John Massey

2005OFFICERS & DIRECTORS

Treasurer George Kornhoff

Junion Rear Commodore Graham Bell

Fleet Surgeon Dr. Mick Shlens

Judge Advocate Tom Ramsey

Port Captain Paul Anctil/Dave Myers

Sou’Wester Editor Sharon Pearson

ABYC Phone (562) 434-9955

Fax (562) 434-2267

Homepage www.abyc.org

Email abyc@abyc.org

PRSRT STDU. S. Postage

PAIDLong Beach, CAPermit No. 685

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club7201 East Ocean BoulevardLong Beach, California 90803

JUNE 5th Elm Street Band 19th Gregg Young & the 2nd Street BandJULY 3rd Bad Boys 17th King Salmon 31st Ho Dads AUGUST 7th Windmill Big Band 21st Flight

Peninsula 2005 Summer Concert Schedule:

The Easter Bunny visits the club