The T I L L E R. Racers on the Bay. How We Started. Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club August Year 59 Issue Seven. Photo by Greg Cailliet.

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1 The T I L L E R Year 59 Issue Seven Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club August 2009 Racers on the Bay Sarah Duncan remembers walking down from our house on Larkin St. to meet my dad at the Cerrito's location. The building was white with a giant red fish on the top, and was the first building on the right of Fisherman's Wharf. How We Started Photo by Greg Cailliet. Story and photos provided by Donna Womble In the beginning, the Monterey Peninsula YC did not have a club house. Fortunately, back around 1959, we had a member by the name of Sal Cerrito who owned a building on Fisherman's Wharf. Mr. Cerrito kindly offered the basement of his building for use by the membership of MPYC. The members, of which there were only 35 or so, cleaned up the place, brought in some drywall and paint, and made the place their own. They began to hold meetings, but it was an entirely Bring-Your-Own arrangement when it came to food and beverages. Along about 1964, a friendly City Mayor by the name of George Clemmens offered our group of sailing enthusiasts the opportunity to rent the property where our current clubhouse resides. The membership opted to accept this Golden Opportunity to gain a more permanent home. The only challenge remaining was how to make it work. MPYC would be responsible for erecting the building and paying rent to the City of Monterey for the site. You may ask, how did they pay for it? Per Article VII, Section 5 of our By-Laws, the Board of Directors approved that we incur a debt. A friendly banker agreed to cover a significant portion of the proposed building. Meanwhile, the membership continued to discuss their options for raising funds and reducing debt. stable members make personal loans to the MPYC building fund.

2 I am happy to report that as we move into August the club continues to buzz with activities. With the exception of the ice machine things seem to be ticking along nicely as we transition into the foggy damp Monterey summer. For this article I would like to mention a few things that happened last month as well as some of our upcoming events. Commodore (Cap n Ron) The big racing event for Baxter August will be the Laser Masters Championships hosted at the club on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of this month. The event should bring sailors from all over the West Coast and we ll certainly have plenty of competition. I have seen a few members dusting off their lasers and I would like to wish them the best of luck. As with all racing events we host, volunteers are always in short supply, so if you want a front row seat contact Garth Hobson who I am sure he will be happy to put you to work. Speaking of volunteers, I would like to announce this month s Volunteer of the Month. As you recall this is given to the member who, during the previous month, has gone out of the way to help out at the club. I am honored to give this award to Patti and Jimmy Womble for saving the day when the race committee boat had problems during our big July regatta. As it turned out the motor on Race.com gave up the ghost on Saturday afternoon. Lucky for us Patti and Jimmy were out on their fine craft Toot and towed the race committee back into the marina. After review of the failure it was Commodore s Log determined that there was no quick f i x a n d t h e W o m b l e s volunteered to tow Race.com all day on Sunday. Thanks Patti and Jimmy for making the regatta possible! On a similar topic I hope all of you either attended or a least have heard of how much fun our first Dance on David and Rear Commodore Sarah Duncan share a Dance on the Deck. Team Trinity takes 1st in C Fleet. MPYC House Band will be playing again on September 12th for the next Dance on the Deck. the Deck was. The dance coincided with the big July regatta and was well attended by racers and dancers alike. The dance was such a hit that we plan on repeating the same format in September for the Dolphin cup. So mark your calendar for a dinner and dance on Saturday September 12th. Don t miss the fun; see the u-tube link on the web site to see what you don t want to miss! Well that s about it for this month. Have fun, sail safely, and I ll see you at the club. High Sierra Regatta Highlights from Huntington Fleeboflam scores a 2nd in C Fleet How many sailors does it take pack a tent? Photos by Sarah Duncan. For complete race results go to the Fresno Yacht Club site at fresnoyachtclub.org. 2

3 by Jerry Stratton Our is two-thirds over, and crews are enjoying our BBQ fare after sailing. We are getting a great early crowd too, and our galley bottom line is becoming healthy. I trust that everyone is enjoying the great diversity that Chef Ray continues to create for us on the buffet line. August is a busy month with sailing events that include the Laser Masters Regatta. We also see Car Week August 8-16 and virtually every restaurant in town is packed. Don t let that bother you- come to the sanctuary of our great Club and enjoy wonderful fare. If you are hosting out-of-town guests bring them along! Uncorked 3 We are busy on the wine front too, with our third Winemaker s of the year that celebrated the wines of Ray Franscioni on August 1. On Friday, August 7, we will have a new member s night and Happy Hour wine tasting. I ve arranged for some wonderful wines from a new winery in Paso Robles, Villa San Juliette. Do not miss this tasting. You will really enjoy the wines- and have the opportunity to vote your preference for our wine of the month. For those of you, who plan ahead, be sure to reserve Saturday, September 19, for our final wine maker s dinner of the year. David Fleming, winemaker for Paraiso Springs will treat us to his awardwinning wines. You can read about our two national championship regattas and dancing on the deck elsewhere in the Tiller, but I must say that our staff did a great job of supporting all of the action that these events brought into the Club! Technology Corner - Updating User Profile by Louis Algaze, MPYC Webmaster The information you put into our Web site becomes the Club's Primary Member List and keeping your profile up to date makes it easier for the Club to send you important information and for your fellow members to contact you. Here is how: Logging In: After logging in, one of the items in the Member's only menu is titled "My Profile. Once you select this item you will see your public profile. Towards the top of the page there is an "Edit" button. If you hover your mouse over this button you will be given options to "Update your Profile, "Update your Image" or "Remove your Image. Update Your Profile: When updating your profile, feel free to include as much or as little information as you would like. Keep in mind, this is the Yacht Club's primary member's list. If you choose to remove your address we can not contact you by mail and you can no longer have correspondence mailed to you. The following provides highlights on editing your information. Contact Info Tab User Name: This is where you can change your login name. Address: If you no do not want announcements, remove your address and put it in Secondary below. Password : Change your login password here. Address and Telephone Numbers: Please keep them current. Send Tiller and Send Annual Roster: Uncheck these fields if you do NOT want paper copies of the Tiller and the Membership roster mailed to you. Scandalous Scores at Huntington by Debbie Morris This was a big victory for Gary Owens and his Express 27. Scandalous scored a hard-won 3rd in the PHRF "A" fleet amid brutal competition at the High Sierra Regatta. Dave Morris drove and is pictured left with Gary accepting the trophy. Picture URL: If you have a Flickr, Google or other image sharing account, you can put your URL here and a report generated listing anyone who is interested in sharing their pictures can be generated. Boat Information Tab: Input your boat information here. For propulsion put power or sail ). The Fleet box allows multi-selections. Hold down your shift key to select several fleets ( PHRF and one design). Forum Settings Tab: This gives you a few options on how to display forums. I will get into forums in a future . Administration Tab: This information is read-only to users. If you notice something that is incorrect you can contact the corresponding secretary for correction. Update Your Image: hen updating your image remember, your image file can be a maximum (width x height = size): 200x500 and no more than 100 KB. I you have an image that is larger and you are not sure how to resize it, feel free to send it to me (webmaster@mpyc.org) and I'd be happy to make it smaller and send it back to you. Remove Your Image: This will only appear if you have an image posted. If you select this your image will be removed with no warning, so be careful. NEXT Month: How to submit a calendar event or an article to the MPYC Web Site.

4 by Ray Ward Photos by Mary Lou Kelpe The racing schedule in July can sometimes be like the three little bears: too large, too small, or just right, depending on your point of view. Some folks have a minimum of racing, some race just enough, while some road warriors are all over the place, racing every weekend. The month began with One Design racing at the mid point of the Summer Series. The J-22's all came home and sailed three races, one a make-up. In very close racing, Trinity won the day with 1,3,1 finishes in a tie-breaker with Tekeela's 2,1,2. Fleeboflam rounded it out with 3,2,3. Maybe they should Race How it s done on a Wabbit. consider naming the boat with something starting with the letter "T. In the Santana 22 fleet, Commodore Baxter continues his domination with two bullets. For the rest of the Tuna's, it's all about second place now, and Santy Ano placed second both races, followed by Tickle with a 4 and a 3. The Shields had guest skipper Dick Clark, subbing for the vacationing Garth Hobson, steering Stillwater to a pair of first place finishes. Harriet and Medora fought it out for second, Harriet with 3,2 and Medora with 2,3. Next up was our huge Monterey Bay C h a m p i o n s h i p weekend, featuring Wylie Wabbits, LocaMotion crew - having too much fun! Santa Cruz 27's and M B a y P H R F Ch ampion ships, 4 SC 27 s get their turn. the Wabbits and SC27's both using the event as their Nationals. With nine Wabbits, 12 SC27's and seven PHRF boats racing, suffice it to say that it was a pretty busy, challenging and long weekend of racing. Kudos to Jerry Stratton for amazing PRO work, orchestrating all the on-the-water action flawlessly. Congratulations to Melinda Erkelens' "Jack" for winning the Wylie Wabbit Nationals, followed by Weckless and Bad Hare Day (I couldn't make that up if I tried). Also, congratulations to Rob Schuyler and family for a convincing win in the Santa Cruz 27 Nationals. Second and third places went to Jersey Girl and Sumo. All of the MBay yacht clubs were invited to the PHRF Championships. Unfortunately, MPYC boats were the only ones represented. Too bad, because we had two kick butt days of racing. Bustin' Loose won PHRF A, followed by Carnaval and Locamotion. In B fleet, Capt. Ron continues to impress with another regatta victory. Fleeboflam won a tiebreaker with Calphurnia for second place. Seldom Seen took home the turtle trophy. Next came road trip time. MPYC was well represented at Huntington Lake for the High Sierra Regatta. The following week Commodore Baxter and Vic Carder took Mizzen and Tickle to SF Bay for the Santana 22 Nationals. At press time I heard that Mizzen took 5th and Tickle came in 9th. Coming up in August, One Design on Aug. 2nd, Santanarama at Stillwater Cove on Aug. 8 & 9, the Laser Masters Nationals on Aug , and Jack and Jill race on Saturday, Aug. 29th. Race Calendar Change: The single handed buoy race will be on Saturday, October 3rd, replacing the VNA Regatta. Reminder for RC: One more reminder (again) for RC duties: The warning signal for a race should go up at 5 minutes prior to the posted start time. As an example, for a race scheduled to start at 6:00 pm, the sequence should begin at 5:55 pm, not 6:00 pm. Please talk to me if you are confused about this or any other aspect of RC duties.

5 Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club Calendar of Events August 2009 SUN MON TUE WED THR FRI SAT 1 Wine Maker's 2 One Design Summer 5 & 6 1 PM 9 Santanarama Cruiser's Pot Luck Jam Session 7 /Wine Tasting/New Member s 14 8 Santanarama 15 Laser Master Champs 16 Laser Master Champs Board Meets 7 PM September Jack and Jill Race 1 PM SUN MON TUE WED THR FRI SAT 1 2 Thursday Bunch Bridge, Bingo, etc. Call Anna at One Design Fall 1 & 2 1 PM 7 8 Cruiser's Pot Luck Dolphin Cup Dance on the Deck 8 PM 13 Dolphin Cup Winemaker's Visit our Web Site for additional Information on Upcoming Events at: MPYC.org

6 Cruising by Alan Nicewander Next Cruisers Meeting and Potluck Tuesday August 11, 6:00pm. At our July meeting and potluck, David Addleman presented a very informative and useful talk and demonstration on Basic Line-Splicing and Avoiding and Overcoming Winch Overrides. Thanks, again Dave! Three boats Hogwarts (Alan and Patricia Nicewander and Linda McLennan), Sea Siren (David and Judy Fisher, and Alec and Harriet Duarte) and Quintessence (Haf Jonsson and John Crisan) did the two-stop cruise to Moss Landing and Capitola on Friday afternoon, July 24 th. We had a very pleasant sail to Moss Landing with winds about 12 knots and a port tack the whole trip. The folks at the Elkhorn Yacht Club were very friendly and happy to see us plus, the free pizza, salad and desert were fantastic. The entertainment was provided by a jazz band with a flair for swing. On Saturday morning, about 11:00 am, we headed for Capitola; after an hour-or-so of motor sailing, the winds filled in, and we finished the trip in 11-knots of wind on a close reach. It was sunny and warm in Capitola; however, there was an unusual southerly swell that made sleeping aboard more than a little uncomfortable and made traveling from boat-to-boat a bit wet and difficult, but we managed. The sail back to Monterey on Sunday the 26 th, required full foulies because of the fog and chill; an hour of motor sailing was followed by a lovely beam reach into sunny Monterey (with knots of wind and frequent bursts of over 7 knots of boat speed). We all agreed that it was a great weekend, but no more cruises to Capitola during southerly swells. I would like the Cruisers Group to consider rescheduling the next cruise, which is planned for August 21, 22 and 23--to Santa Cruz, and then on to Ano Nuevo Island with a return sail to Monterey on Sunday the 23 rd. I have had a meeting called in D.C. and have to fly on the 23 rd. Also, a number of people have suggested that we simply go to Santa Cruz on a Friday (or a Saturday), obtain slips or end-ties, and enjoy the Boardwalk and restaurants for a relaxing, one-or-two evenings. This plan sounds good to me; let s talk about this cruise at our next meeting. Cruising Conversation I ve spent most of my money on women and boats and the rest I have just wasted! -- An anonymous Monterey Sailor at the Elkhorn YC bar. Bleeep! (The anchor-drag alarm goes off on Hogwarts.) Linda: What was that?! Alan: The drag alarm went off. Linda: Oh, no we ve been boarded by transvestites?! The Continuing Adventures of the Blue Banana by Janis Higginbotham Higher. Quick, head up. What s that guy doing? We re leeward boat. We have right-of-way. I ll have to tack and duck him, but I have three other boats over there in the way. No, this is not the Santanarama, or even the Ha Ha; it s just three American cruisers in a sea of European tourists, mostly on charter boats, attempting to navigate through heavy summertime traffic in the Adriatic. When Sam and Bill Fleetwood invited me to join them for another sailing adventure aboard the Blue Banana (Gulfstar 50), I jumped at the opportunity to meet them in Split, Croatia in mid-july. Getting there was not easy (obviously, cruisers cannot commit to a specific location on a specific day, so I traveled by plane, train, bus, ferry and car on my journey to and from), but it was certainly worth the effort. The Dalmatian Coast is as picturesque as anywhere I ve been reminiscent of a previous cruise off Tuscany, but with better-looking water. Jack Allen and Spomenka had prepared me for the beauty of Croatia s 1,000+ islands and clear blue water, but the surprise package was in the numbers: At any given time, we were sailing in view of 10 to 40 other boats. (Croatia boasts more than 20,000 moorings and is in the process of nearly doubling that number to handle the crowds.) Another surprise was the heat, with July s daytime temperatures in the mid 90s. 5 Sam, Bill and Janis at Krka National Park. We opted to anchor every night of my two-week sail with the Fleetwoods, an option that not only saved marina fees (reportedly one hundred dollars or more per night, compared to $25 or less for anchoring), but also afforded peaceful sleeps. The waters are mostly flat and the wind was non-existent after sunset. Continued on next page.

7 Story and photo by Jack Davies, Entertainment Chair ADVENTURE NIGHT DRAMA It was a dark and stormy night at our last Adventure Night on July 7th as Captain Jack Durham (brother of Candy Winterbotham) told his harrowing tale to a large group of fellow sailors. Jack, along with the captain and other crew, was on watch at 2:30 in the morning, in howling winds and high seas, aboard the Princess Tai Ping when it was struck by the Champion Express, a 600-foot-long tanker. The Princess was a 53-foot-long Chinese junk that was constructed based on ancient Chinese drawings. The goal of the voyage was to circumnavigate the Pacific Ocean to prove that it could be done in a wooden boat with cloth sails. The crew was within 27 nautical miles of their final destination in Taiwan when they were struck. Captain Jack described the ordeal and the eventual rescue of the entire crew of eleven people from different countries, including one sailor who had washed away during the night. When asked if he would ever make such an excursion again, Captain Jack boldly said, Of course! I had the honor of sailing with Captain Jack to watch the Wednesday night beer-can races. The following day he departed for Hawaii with a skipper named John in a 34-foot sailboat. A few days later, they were back on the dock in Monterey after a rudder bearing exploded, causing them to return for repairs. Captain Jack was back at the yacht club for dinner the following Wednesday night. Word has it that he finally flew back to One highlight of the trip was a sail up the Krka River, under two bridges, to a freshwater lake and the entrance to Krka National Park. Another was exploring the historic walled portions of Dubrovnik and Split. The number one highlight, however, was the company. Not only are Sam and Bill gracious hosts and excellent boat handlers, but their new sailing friends in Croatia made every day a party. Watching the charter boat people anchor provided additional evening entertainment. Several seemed bent on proving that the gravitational force of the earth was all they needed for a secure anchor. We watched more than a few of them drop the anchor straight to the bottom, and then cut the diesel and pour a beer (Croatian breweries, by the way, are good breweries). Not all of the rookie skippers were receptive to suggestions that they might want to let out about 60 more feet of chain before they called it a night. It was only after we had to fend them off our bow that they realized they had screwed up. And then there s this scenario: Just before I arrived, a German boat skipper anchored in a spot that Sam and Bill felt was way too close to the Banana. An hour or so later, suddenly, Bill noticed that the German boat was coming right at them. He waved and shouted to the crew: What are you The MPYC Social Scene 6 Honolulu! After the rescue, the Chinese said that he had good luck ( joss ) and I think we were very fortunate to have him spend some of it with us. The drama illustrates that we are part of a larger community of seafarers with much in common. Captain Jack recently wrote this footnote to the above, which I want to share with all of you: Jack Durham on En na Mara enjoying our beer-can races.. "We who venture outside the bay, outside the harbor to points unseen beyond the horizon have much in common. I hope my presentation conveyed the absolute beauty and grandeur of the first 67 days. The last 5 hours may have been most dramatic, but the first 4,800 miles of heaven was really the story. I enjoyed meeting with you and sailing with you. I'll keep MPYC posted as the story develops...especially if my photos in a Pelican box are found floating on some Japanese beach. Aloha, Jack" ON ANOTHER NOTE Our monthly jam sessions have turned into open rehearsals for the MPYC House Band. We'll be playing again on September 12th for the next Dance on the Deck. If you missed the last one, on July 11th, check out the video link on the MPYC website that shows everyone having a great time: Listen to the screams it was a crazy night! Blue Banana Continued DOING? STOP! STOP! You re going to hit us! The Germans, meanwhile, were calmly standing on their bow, with extra fenders, and pointing to the water under Sam and Bill. As it turned out, Blue Banana s anchor was dragging! Ooops. Sam and Bill are now sailing up to Venice where they will rendezvous with family and then sail south again along Croatia. The Blue Banana will live in Africa over the winter while Sam and Bill come home to the states, hopefully to find a housesitting gig for a couple of months. PS: If you re going to Croatia, please contact me for insights and contacts. Chartering a boat seems unnecessary; trains and ferries will get you to all the good spots. Note: Sam Fleetwood is a longtime member of MPYC, formerly the racing skipper of both Mercurys and Shields. When she met Bill Fleetwood in 1996, the two sailed off together, got married, and then launched their circumnavigation with the Baja Ha Ha in This most recent trip was my sixth adventure aboard Blue Banana, with others including Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Vanuatu, and Mexico.

8 Story by Jerry Stratton, Photo by Mary Lou Kelpe MPYC History (Continued from Front Page) It was decided that to offset the remaining construction costs, a small number of financiallystable members make personal loans to the MPYC building fund. As is clearly evident, the building was built, and the Clubhouse is where it Signing the first MPYC lease in October, Pictured (left to right) Monterey Mayor John stands today. All that was Nail, MPYC Commodore Jim Womble, City left was to pay off the Attorney Bill Marsh, MPYC Secretary Lock debt - the loans to the Von Bibbek. bank and the individuals. In a manner equitable to all members, the Club sold a significant number of Bond Notes to RC Kudos When we initially discussed the July race weekend it was to be a gala summer race weekend for our PHRF fleets. Then we entertained a request by the Wylie Wabbits to host their national championships at the same time. The Santa Cruz 27 fleet similarly asked that we include them for their national championships. We ended up with 28 boats in four fleets racing a total of 21 races over three days! All in all we put on a great show for the land lubbers along Cannery Row- as Patti Womble Aboard Toot. well as everyone on the water! the general membership. These Promissory Notes were only sold to members, not to the general public. As is proper, the members held ownership of their club. No one member was burdened by the cost of building an expensive structure, and each member was able to pay according to their ability to contribute. Over time these bonds were paid back to the bearers as the club began to grow and prosper. At the end of each fiscal year, the Board determined how many bonds had matured and how many bond-holders were to be reimbursed for their investment. To be fair, the individual bonds were drawn randomly from the remaining set of deeds. If you were a lucky, yours was returned to you promptly, since these bonds earned no interest. This was a nice, straightforward method to fund a large project. Perhaps as a membership, we may use this history as a lesson learned as we make plans for the future of MPYC. MPYC Membership is One Hot Ticket by Laurette Cherry, Corresponding Secretary I'm sure many of you have noticed a number of new faces at the Club recently. I invite you all to come by on Friday, August 7th starting at 5:30 on, for our New Members' Night and Wine Tasting. This is an important evening and a great opportunity for New Members to meet each other, as well as other members. It is also important for everyone to participate in tasting and judging wines that may be added to MPYC's already impressive wine list! Jerry Stratton will be presenting the wine selection and greatly appreciates our input. So come on down to the Club Friday evening and meet our new members, take in the unbeatable view, great company, wonderful wines and a tasty! On another note, I will be mailing out an update to the Membership Roster with information for newer members who were not included in the last printing. Also, if anyone has changes to their Roster information, please it to me at lcherry1@yahoo.com or call me at by August 20th. Hail and Farewell New Members Regular:Steve and Carla Rice Military: Tony and Tara Carr Resigned John Wujack This was however, not without some drama! As we completed the first day of racing and motored back into the safe haven of the harbor, Race.Com sounded an alert that ended use of its engine for the rest of the weekend! We literally became a race committee platform- or barge, and were towed out to the course and back in thanks to the graciousness of Jim and Patti Womble and their beautiful yacht TOOT! Jim and Patti also stood by at the weather mark for the entire weekend, moving it again and again to ensure a fair weather leg of JUST the right length! Many thanks to all who supported race committee over this weekend, serving in big seas on Friday, a nice and much calmer day on Saturday, and on Sunday when the ultimate champions stretched their legs and solidified their grasp of the silver! 7

9 Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club Municipal Wharf #2 Box 14 Monterey, CA (831) August 2009 PRSRT STD U. S. POSTAGE PAID MONTEREY, CA PERMIT NO. 69 The T I L L E R Members of reciprocal yacht clubs are required to register in the Club guestbook before using Club facilities. Guests are admitted only if accompanied by a member. MPYC members pay $785 initiation fees and dues of $785 per year. Military, Juniors, Crew, Nonresident and Intermediate memberships are also available. For further information call (831) or visit us on the Web at Editor: Patricia Nicewander Distribution: John Ruck Kit Ruck Printing: Office Max, Salinas, CA Contributors: Jack Davies Alan Nicewander Ray Ward Janis Higginbotham Jerry Stratton Sarah Duncan Donna Womble Editor s Note: Please send your articles, photos and ideas no later than the 25th of the month to be published to: newsletter@mpyc.org or mail them to the Tiller Editor at the address printed above. All materials subject to editing for style, content and length. Mary Lou Kelpe Debbie Morris Laurette Cherry Linda McClennan Ron Baxter Louis Algaze MPYC 2009 Officers and Directors: Commodore: Ron Baxter Vice commodore: Sarah Duncan Rear Commodore: Joe Headley Staff Commodore: John Ruck Recording Secretary: Meryle Sachs Corresponding Secretary: Laurette Cherry Treasurer: Debbie Morris Directors: Debbie Platt Louis Algaze Jenny Paduan Matt Seidenzahl 8