TheTiller. Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club. April 2015 Year 63, Issue 4

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1 TheTiller Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club April 2015 Year 63, Issue 4

2 Commodore s Log Yet another great month for volunteerism! Our club boats have never been in better shape (at least since they were new, which was quite a while ago) and that is due to the hard work of Randy Frey. He's hauled the whalers and the RIB to Salinas Valley Marine to have all the outboards serviced and they all run great. He's also been busy on Race.com replacing anchors and getting the running lights up and running for Commodore Patrick Tregenza those nights when the wind shuts off and we might need to tow in a Shields or two. Also thanks to Steve Jackson for repainting the logo and burgee on.com. Nice job! This year s Summer Sailing Camp is coming together nicely under the watchful eye of Sharon Frey. She's put together curriculums, job descriptions, hiring practices and also spends just about every hour of the camp overseeing everything along with husband Randy. This year she's spearheaded getting the club affiliated with ASA (American Sailing Association) so that we can train our instructors right at our own club instead of sending them up to the Bay Area. Liz and Mark Chandler came up with the novel concept that not all kids want to race. It seems that most junior sailing programs are very race oriented, but that can turn some kids off of sailing in general, which is the last thing we want to do. Our goal should be creating lifelong sailors and the competitive aspects of racing aren't for everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing this concept implemented in our Summer Sailing Camp. Paul Stokes has finished the floor joist extensions and we had them inspected. Our permit is valid for another year but look for more progress being made on the ADA improvements well before that. I met with Architect Paul Davis this morning and he's moving forward with the general plan and we are planning on having drawings of the proposal at the club Birthday Party on Memorial Day. On that subject I'd like to talk about the roof. We're hearing from a lot of members about having the roof be accessible to members for parties and the like. The catch is the original building wasn't engineered to withstand that kind of weight. Also, the type of surface that will withstand foot traffic costs 4 times as much as a surface whose job is just to keep water out. At this point we can't afford it. Could it be done in the future? Maybe, but it's not a priority at this juncture. We do plan on having a small platform in the North East corner for finishing races by Race Committee. Again, thanks to all the volunteers that really make this club work! Fair Winds. Great Wine Selection at MPYC To: Jerry Stratton I wanted to send you this short to let you know how much we enjoy the wine selection at the club. Recently, we were at a Steak House in San Francisco and found our favorite wine on the list, Atalon Pauleen's Cuvee. What a surprise - it was listed for $79. At the club we can get a bottle of this wonderful Merlot blend for $25! Thank you for your wonderful wine selections and great value! Rak About the Cover Photo A great day on the water for One Design Spring 1 & 2. Photo by Chris Gatward. Page 2

3 Thursday, April 23 6:30PM - Jam Session Upcoming Events Thursday, May 7 Noon - Entertainment Committee Meeting Sunday, May 10 10AM to 1PM - Mother s Day Brunch Tuesday, May 12 6PM - Cruisers Potluck Saturday, May 16 - Sunday, May 17 Nautical Flea Market and visit to Elkhorn Yacht Club Moss Landing Monday, May 25 3PM - MPYC Birthday Party Regular Schedule Dinner is served every Wednesday and Friday evening at 6:00, bar open 5:30. Lunch is served every Thursday from 11:30AM until 1:30PM. The MPYC Board of Directors meets every third Thursday of the month at 7:00PM. Remember to check the online calendar for updates. House Rules Members of reciprocal yacht clubs are always welcome; please remember to register in the Club guestbook before using Club facilities. Other guests are encouraged, but must be welcomed to the club by a current member. Membership is easy, and applicants need not be boat owners. For further information on membership and house rules, call (831) or visit us on the Web at Spinnaker Cup Call for Volunteers Spinnaker Cup Weekend, May 22 and 23 On Friday, May 22, MPYC will be hosting the annual Spinnaker Cup Race in conjunction with San Francisco Yacht Club (SFYC). From its inception in 1998, this race has offered a challenging, thrilling and often fast 100-mile downhill run from San Francisco to Monterey. Each year, there are approximately boats entered, ranging in size from 24 to 70. The largest boats can sail under the Golden Gate Bridge at 1100 hours and finish the race in Monterey before dark. Others finish throughout the night and into the wee hours of Saturday morning. MPYC is responsible to finish boats at the finish line at the end of Wharf #2 and escort the boats to their slips, if prearranged with the harbor, or to the YC dock, if the boat is going to be hauled out by crane. Some boats may simply finish the race and head back north. We host a concierge desk inside the club to provide keys to the marina, lodging information and general assistance for the arriving sailors. On Saturday morning, the juniors provide a buffet breakfast. A trophy presentation is held as soon as possible on Saturday. It takes many volunteers to make this a successful event. I will be looking for volunteers to help at the finish line (race committee), at the concierge desk, and assist finishing boats to their slips, as well as, greeting all of the visiting crew and their guests. Look for Spinnaker Volunteer Sign-up Sheets in the club. This is a fun and significant event for the SFYC and MPYC, and your support is greatly appreciated. For more information, please contact Betsy Jeffers Page 3

4 Race by John Feeley (Race Chair) The sea - the truth must be confessed - has no generosity. Joseph Conrad Ahoy! Well we certainly have begun bearing down on the racing season. Since the last time I wrote, we have begun the Sunset Series and had great turnouts for the Lefler Race, the Fiasco Race, and the first Spring Series One Design Races. First a note on Joseph Conrad and his observation...he must have raced one time in our SPRING Wednesday series and experienced that season s surprises. After excellent starts by four fleets to inaugurate this year s Club Sunset Series on 25 March, the wind died, the seas increased and the Sun dove quickly towards the hills. As a result the race was abandoned for safety reasons. The following Wednesday, the Fiasco Race was also abandoned for safety reasons, but this time due to a strong breeze and rough seas. from the West and participants sailed a Reverse Start Handicap Race from G to Pinos to Cyprus and finished at F. Bustin Loose beat Seasaw by 1 minute-30 seconds to take the flag. ODR Spring 1 & 2 took place on 29 March. Wind was a moderate NW breeze. For Spring 1 & 2, Ecaroh took Santana-22 honors in both races. For Shields Spring 1 & 2, Stillwater scored bullets in both races. Congrats to everyone!!! continued page 5 David Brock, Becky Brock, and Garth Hobson aboard Barbara before the start of the Lefler Race. Photo by Ashley Hobson. I suspect the Sea took some pity on all our great sailors for Sunset Series 2 on 8 April. The Club had a great turn out; the wind from the WNW held at a moderate breeze; and we successfully inaugurated the Sunset Series. Stillwater took honors in the Shields Fleet; Bustin Loose won first in the A Fleet; Moore Please grabbed the B Fleet first place, and Ecaroh ran away with honors in the C Fleet. The sea has been more generous regarding the scheduled Sunday Races. The Lefler Race began in a gentle breeze Bustin Loose and Dr. Feelgood after rounding Cypress Pt. in the Lefler Race. Photo by Ashley Hobson. Sunset Series before the start. Photo by Jan Allen. Page 4

5 Race continued The Shields Fleet is involved in serious preparation for the Ocean Great Lakes Challenge (OGLC) to be held the long weekend of 1 May. This National Race will act as an important primer for next year s 2016 Shields Nationals hosted by MPYC. For those Club members interested (all Racers and Cruisers) Mr. Mike Gross, the PRO for the OGLC will hold a 2-hour class on Race Management for those RC members involved in the OGLC on Tuesday, 21 April at 6:00 PM. He has invited anyone in the Club to attend, if they are interested. As Race Chair, I highly recommend Club members consider participating. Question for next Month What are the restrictions to sailboats (Cruising or Racing) regarding free and restricted diving in the Monterey Bay Sanctuary? Answer to last month s questions: A. What does Corinthian mean and from where did it originate? From the 1932 Olympic Code: "Corinthianism in yachting is that attribute which represents participation in sport as distinct from gain and which also involves the acquirement of nautical experience through the love of the sport rather than through necessity or the hope of gain" Finally, I could use some help regarding scoring after races especially on Wednesdays. Anyone able to score results on our computer and/or learn how to do it, the Race Chair would greatly appreciate some help. Presently the Race Chair alone is ensuring all scoring in a timely manner so the fleets get immediate feedback. Thanks! Newport to Cabo Race by Brendan Bradley and Betsy Jeffers Santa Cruz 52 Lucky Duck, owned and skippered by MPYC member Dave MacEwen, took first place class honors (ORR Division III) and fifth place overall in the 2015 NHYC to Cabo San Lucas race. The race started Saturday March 21, 2015, and Lucky Duck finished in the early hours of Wednesday, March 25, 2015, with an elapsed time of 3:14:12:10. The crew also included MPYC member Robin Jeffers. The race featured near perfect sailing conditions, with downwind sailing in winds which were consistently in the mid-twenty knot range. Patrick Whitmarsh, another MPYC member, was aboard the Invisible Hand, a RP/63, winning 1st in class with an elapsed time of 2:18:28:53 Crew of Lucky Duck. The term has its origin in the ancient Isthmian Games held in Corinth on the year before and the year after the Olympic Games. Supposedly started to honor Poseidon, the god of the sea, by the mythical king Sisyphus in 523 BC, the games shared many characteristics of the Olympic Games, including a truce among states at war, free passage for athletes and spectators, and a strict code of amateurism for competitors. The new alternate definition of yachtsman as an amateur ( Corinthian ) developed in Britain in the midnineteenth century and caught on in America. New Corinthian yacht clubs had fleets of small boats, and the rules required that only Corinthian sailors who did all the work, had all the fun, and were paid not a nickel race them. Robin Jeffers at the helm. Page 5

6 Ocean Great Lakes Challenge Practice for Shields Nationals 2016 by Garth Hobson MPYC will be hosting the OGLC the first weekend of May. As defending champions, Pakhtun Shah s team gets to race on home waters. The quality of crews competing is very high with the first one to sign up from back east being the current National Champion, Com Crocker and team Rascal. Next to sign up, also from back east, was Bill Berry (National Champion 2008 and 2006) and team Syrinx. Also from out of town, will be a team from CSU Long Beach, skippered by Mossy Kennedy. Rounding out the fleet will be Ashley Hobson and team Stillwater. We are using this event as a prelude to next years Shields Nationals when we hope to have 20 Shields compete. Thank you to Jerry Stratton, for helping work toward that end by purchasing Shields number 257 Helen from back east to bring the number of local Shields up to fourteen. The crews from out of town will be getting used to our wonderful sailing conditions and hopefully take that news back home to encourage others to sign up for next year s event. More importantly, we will be conducting race committee under the management of Principle Race Officer, Mike Gross, and hope to emulate what will likely happen next year. On the water publicity events are planned, too. Most importantly, we will be housing all the competitors, so volunteers are needed to open their homes for that weekend. If anyone would like to volunteer please contact either Eric Anderson or Garth Hobson. Juniors by Thomas Melnick Logan Allen, Austin Book, Liam Chaffey, and Thomas Melnick have been racing CFJ s all over California from Orange County to Treasure Island in the Bay area. With the help of Charlotte Benbow and Ashley Hobson, the boys have had some great regattas. Placing 4th out of 30 entrants in the Golden Bear Regatta at Treasure Island was one of the highlights. The racing season has officially ended and Logan Allen, Austin Book and Liam Chaffey are graduating seniors at local high schools. Please let the word out that anyone from any high school (as long as they are a junior member of the club) can join next year s team. MPYC Crew List is here! by Scott Brubaker Are you organizing your racing season and looking for crew? Are you looking for a boat to crew on? Look no further than the MPYC website! Thanks to the technical skills of Louis Algaze and the insightful input from the MPYC board, we have a fully functional, free and instantaneous, Crew List! Located within the Participate function, you can now add a post as a crew member looking for a boat, or as a skipper looking for crew. Your posting will be instantaneously added to either the Available Crew list or the Boats Seeking Crew list. Both lists will be moderated and refreshed prior to the start of each racing season. A few quick notes: The more information readers have about you, the more successful your posting will be. Include your general availability and what type of experience you have out on the water. Skippers should inform readers about their boat and the positions/skills sought. People seeking to crew with little sailing experience have just as good a chance at getting on a boat as those with lots of time on the water, so don t hesitate to post. Eagerness to learn and a good attitude go a long way in tight quarters. Spread the word! If you know of anyone who s been itching for an opportunity to enjoy some yacht racing, send them to the website! www. mpyc.org Contact Scott Brubaker for questions or comments regarding the Crew List. Page 6

7 Ultimate Barstool Makeover Project by Sharron Frey (Chair Chair) With the help of several Lemon Peeptinis, a brilliant idea was 'hatched' at the Easter Bonnet Luncheon! AFTER? The Club has already ordered new barstools to replace the shabby old ones, and the new barstools should be here soon! This means that there are 10 less-than-gently-used old barstools to be disposed of. Instead of throwing the old barstools out, let's have a fun project and maybe make some money in the bargain! Here's what we'll do... For 10 days after the new barstools arrive (date TBD), members will have the opportunity to 'adopt' one of the old barstools. Just let Sharron Frey (Chair of the Barstool Makeover Project Committee) know you wish to adopt a chair. Tell her in person or by at yerfandyerfette@sbcglobal.net Chairs will be available for pickup on the 10th day. If more than 10 members wish to adopt a chair, a drawing will be held to determine the lucky adopters! Members who adopt a barstool will have SIX WEEKS to give that old barstool a complete makeover! Use your imagination! Shabby chic? Nautical theme? Summer of Love? Wild and Crazy? Make it a barstool that some lucky person will want to 'chair-ish' forever! After the six-week BEFORE makeover, the revitalized barstools will be displayed at the Club and members will have the opportunity to purchase these amazing works of functional art in a silent auction format. The silent auction will last for two weeks. At the end of the auction time, winners will be announced. All money collected will go to the 'Bar Chair Chair-i-tee Fund', which will be used to offset the cost of the new barstools! If you want to be part of the Barstool Makeover Project, contact Sharron ASAP to adopt your own special barstool to refurbish! You've only got six weeks to get the project done, so don't delay! Page 7

8 Cruising Club by Greg Cailliet (Cruising Club Chair) Our fourth 2015 Cruising Club potluck and meeting was Tuesday, April 14th with Ethel and Lucy (Kit and Sharonie) presenting "Cookin' Aboard." Also, many of our members recently attended the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show at Jack London Square in Oakland. Last month, we had a fabulous talk by John and Kara Pennington Greg and Di Cailliet at the Strictly Sail Boat Show. on their five-year, round-the-world cruising adventure aboard the S/V Orca. Thank you for that wonderful slide show, talk and discussion! know your thoughts. I have a friend and colleague, Kevin Bailey, who just published a book on The Western Flyer, the fishing vessel that John and Carol Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts took down to the Sea of Cortes. He has indicated he would be happy to present to our Club. So, I am working on a date for him. I have checked the latest 2015 MPYC racing and event schedule with our 2015 cruise schedule and we are pretty well set. The Del Monte Beach anchor-out cruise weekend was scheduled for the weekend of April, weather permitting. If that doesn't work, we will reschedule for the weekend of 8-10 May, Remember to sign chits for dues to support MPYC staff helping us during our potlucks. See you at the Club and look forward discussing our future 2015 events. Tom and Marianne Mangold will give their presentation on "Flotilla Cruising in Croatia" on May 12th. Looking forward to that! The remaining slots are unfilled, so we need to have a discussion of the remaining 2015 schedule, so let me MPYC was well represented at the Boat Show. Photo by Jan Allen. Page 8

9 Easter Bonnet Lunch Photos by Martisa Light and Jan Allen St. Patrick s Day Photos by Jan Allen The ladies of MPYC wore their flowery Easter Bonnets and enjoyed Lemon Peeptinis at the Easter Bonnet Lunch. Live Celtic music by Jackie Pierce and Friends. Left to right: Judy Fisher, Sharron Frey, Martisa Light, Kit Ruck and Ruth Reed (Sharron Frey s mother). New Members Night Photo by Jan Allen Members, new and old, learned some interesting things about each other playing Membership Bingo. The dining room was a sea of green. Left to right: New member Susanne Piccari, Patricia Nicewander, Linda McLennan and John Coleman. Terry McCleerey wearing a very special hat. Linda McLennan enjoying an Emerald Martini. Page 9

10 Living in Thailand by Bill Fleetwood In an earlier article I wrote that Sam and I spent the better part of two years on the island of Phuket, in Thailand. That was primarily because we gave our boat, Blue Banana, a major refit which took many months. It was also because Thailand is pretty nice with great anchorages and beaches, very friendly people, and it didn't cost much to live there. One inconvenience was that we were required to renew our visas every 4 weeks. We had to leave Thailand but could return as soon as we had checked into and out of some other country. That policy led to the development of quite a big Thai "visa run" industry. A day or two before our 4 week visa was up, we'd board a comfortable round trip visa run bus that would entail an all day adventure. Well, the first couple of times it may have seemed like an adventure, but it subsequently became a big pain and inconvenience. Our bus ride would take us north from Phuket to the river border between Thailand and Myanmar, (which, when I went to school, was known as Burma). The bus would stop at a Thai immigration office for exit stamps in our passports. The bus would then take us a few blocks to where we boarded a leaky small boat piloted by a young man who didn't look old enough to drive a car. He took us across the river to Myanmar, and during our 20 minute passage, his assistant, who looked even younger, collected our passports. We had been instructed to insert a US $5 bill into each passport for fees," to whom or for what was never explained nor questioned. Once tied to a rickety float in Myanmar, the lad with our passports disappeared and we were free to roam about the town for a few minutes. Once back on the little boat, which then coughed and chugged its way back to the Thai side of the river, our passports were returned, minus the $5 bills, but with new stamps showing we had entered and exited Myanmar. Our bus stopped at the Thai immigration office long enough for our passports to be stamped with an entry visa granting us another 4 weeks. The bus rides and associated nonsense always made for a long day, so we started devising other ways to renew our Thai visas. We often chose a leisurely 4 to 5 day island hopping sail from Thailand south to Langkawi, Malaysia, where we would stay a few weeks, which was easy to do, as they were most relaxed about when we arrived or left their shores. Once for our visa run, we flew to Kuala Lumpur, rented a car, and toured the lovely Cameron Highlands, lush with tea plantations. Another time we took a two day river trip from northern Thailand down the Mekong into Laos where we stayed a few more days. Then we flew to Hanoi in Vietnam and on to Cambodia. On one of our stopovers in Bangkok, between flights, we each had clothes made overnight. A skirt and jacket for Sam and a suit for me. And, we saw Thailand's King and Queen who waved to us (and a few thousand others lining the sidewalk) as they drove past in their gold Rolls Royce. Thailand's visa rules gave us good reasons to see more of Southeast Asia than we might have done otherwise. Readers who have driven into Mexico will recall cute We spent a couple of nights in a Thai jungle, north of children at the border selling Chiclets chewing gum. Phuket, where this monkey took a liking to Sam. Similar youngsters greeted us in Myanmar, but instead of gum, they were offering Viagra. Times change. continued page 11 Page 10

11 Thailand continued We found the Thais to be lovely, gentle people. We also loved their food, and as I said earlier, their prices. We lived in a small apartment within a marina complex for many months while Blue Banana was having her makeover, and ate out every night with other cruisers at one of the food stalls established primarily for boatyard workers. Dinner usually cost less than $1.00 and we took our own beer. Most provisioning in the 40 plus countries we visited was done at open air markets with food products purchased from families who grew, harvested, caught, or butchered what we bought. We did not take extreme precautions, just used common sense, and never had any serious health issues from food, bugs, water, or whatever. We sampled local food from corner carts and sidewalk vendors who, in hindsight, we might have thought twice about. We didn't always know what we were eating, and didn't like everything. It was all part of the adventure though and I'd do it again. Lighten Up Gets Slip on C-dock Bar, tattoo, and Thai massage. What else could anyone want? Friends back home often asked what we did about food as we cruised, and whether we ever became ill from bad food. Our first response was always that where there are people, there will be food. Just maybe not familiar foods. It would be hard to go hungry in Thailand. Good food was available everywhere. Chris Light preparing to celebrate! Page 11

12 MONTEREY PENINSULA YACHT CLUB Municipal Wharf #2 Monterey, CA (831) Return Service Requested PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID MONTEREY, CA PERMIT NO. 69 MPYC 2015 Officers and Directors Commodore: Patrick Tregenza Vice Commodore: David Duncan Rear Commodore: Betsy Jeffers Staff Commodore: David Blaskovich Recording Secretary: Sharon Halvorson Corresponding Secretary: Becky Brock Treasurer: Art Sutton Directors: Sharron Frey Tom Hoover Scott Brubaker Dino Pick The Tiller Editor: Linda McLennan Layout: Linda McLennan Distribution: Kit Ruck Printing: Office Max, Salinas, CA Contributors: Patrick Tregenza Betsy Jeffers Bill Fleetwood John Feeley Jan Allen Jerry Stratton Greg Cailliet Chris Gatward Garth Hobson Thomas Melnick Scott Brubaker Martisa Light Sharron Frey Brendan Bradley Ashley Hobson Editor s Note: Please send articles, photos, want ads, letters to the editor, notes and ideas, anytime to: tiller@mpyc.org. All articles subject to editing.