Feelin the Green! Rear Commodore (social)

Transcription

1 Volume 87, Number 04 April 2015 Feelin the Green! Rear Commodore (social) Like the little energizer bunny, the Social Committee just keeps on going and going. After the resounding success of both the Valentines and Oscars potluck, We thought we had expended all of our bullets and had nothing more to give. With St Patty s day dinner falling on Tuesday evening, it could conflict with Catalina Tuesdays. One of the Social Committee members, said why not ask KISS for a second seating?. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons! Sure enough KISS agreed to a second seating and Mary (chairperson for the event) agreed to a second seating. We got the word out to the Catalina fleet and sure enough, we had a second seating that had nearly as many attendants as the first seating. Mary and the rest of the social committee did an excellent job decorating and Kiss did an excellent job on the dinner. Result: Many happy satiated people leaving the club that night. Word is that there were 87 people served between first and second seating. The Potluck on March 22 was another great success, with over 40 people attending. The Club provided flank steak cooked on the BBQ and baked beans. The presentation was Bareboating 101. I spoke briefly about qualifying for bareboating and mooring ball technique. Chuck Hawley showed pictures from various bareboat charters and delved into the anchoring subject of which he is a renowned expert. Next were Joe and Susan Altmann using a very professional powerpoint presentation about their four year adventure sailing their vessel through Europe and through the Caribbean. They did an excellent job with the proper mixture of scenery pictures and talking about

2 the nitty gritty of taking on such an expedition. Looking around the room, there was no one dosing off with boredom. The next event for the social committee will be Easter Sunday. Stay tuned for the brunch and the Easter egg hunt. Bring the little ones for the fun. See you at the club and on the water. Barry L Keeler Rear Commodore Commodore s Report Tempus fugit! Or for those who don t speak Spanish, Time Flies! While things have been busy in this first quarter of 2015, they really took off in March, with lots more to come in April. Of course, having personally experienced now 27 years of Wednesday night sailing and BBQ s, it s hard to express how good it feels to be starting our cherished annual traditions again. The buzz in our Club on the first Wednesday was really something, and it seemed as though we were in mid-season form from the very first night. If you ve never been a Wednesday-nighter, or it s been awhile, you owe it to yourself to come on down, get a ride on a boat or a spot at the BBQ or both and enjoy the fun. A special shout-out to Rear Commodore Barry Keeler and Lisa for the outstanding job they and their posse are doing on the Social Committee. The St. Patrick s dinner was a complete sell-out (TWO seatings! The first seating was having such a good time, we didn t think they were going to leave ;-). Thank you to our great Social Committee! And as if that weren t all, the Friday night dinners seem to have really taken things to another level good food and good fun. Particularly from the bar crowd. You know who you are. Keep it up! But it hasn t quite all been fun and games (drat!). When you see all the things our Club does, just remind yourselves once in awhile that it all happens (with the exception of our paid stars, Greg, Jennifer and KISS catering) through volunteer effort. I m particularly grateful to my fellow flag officers, board members and committee chairs who give so much of their time and effort. Our board meetings have been lively and productive. We approved our 2015 operating budget in March, and will approve our capital spending and 5 Year budgets at the April meeting. I also want to thank Vice Commodore Chuck Murray and Hilda and the many volunteers who got up early on a Saturday morning to paint, scrub, dust, weed, prune, and BBQ for an excellent work day. The Club is sparkling and ready for Spring. Under the heading of doing good, our own Staff Commodore Dave Emberson is continuing to ably promote our Club s participation in the first annual Monterey Bay Leukemia Cup on May 3 rd. This will be a really great event, and I hope all of our racers will paticipate (and everyone else for the socializing to follow). I also want to thank Liz Kroft for continuing to work towards a second edition of last year s Cardboard Regatta sometime this Fall. It s a big and challenging task, but Liz reports a lot of potential sponsor interest, and is thinking through all the things that need to happen. She could use your help, so if you are interested, please get in touch. On the water, I d like to invite everyone to our Commodore s Regatta on April 11, at which we will also celebrate Opening Day of the yachting season. This will be a pursuit race (which basically means everyone finishes at roughly the same time so that no one misses the afterparty). I cannot promise that you ll win, but I can promise fun, food, trophies, more fun, more trophies, 2

3 rum drinks, and... well, fun. We may organize a blessing of the fleet that day too, but remember, it s no substitute for actually checking your boat from stem to stern after her long winter s rest! Those of you who roam will know there are many fine yacht clubs, though ours is distinguished by, among other things, our very warm and welcoming hospitality, as well as one of the world s great sailing venues. I am writing this as Erin and I are flying back from a few days on Oahu to celebrate our March birthdays. While there, we visited the Hawaii, Waikiki and Kaneohe Yacht Clubs, and all of them warmly welcomed us. Our burgee is on display in each of their clubhouses. It has long seemed to me that Santa Cruz and Hawaii have kind of a thing going. Those from one recognize much in common with those from the other, and I think it s best summed up as the Spirit of Aloha. It s a combination of welcome, acceptance and deep gratitude for the blessed places we call home. We share this spirt with our Island friends, and send them a huge Mahalo Nui Loa for their kind welcomes. Lastly, I d like to share with you something that will happen later in April: our first ever board retreat. As mentioned above, we get a lot done at our board meetings, and are grateful to our Planning & Development committee and to our Treasurer Lou Pambianco for keeping an eye on the long term health of our Club. And there is also never a shortage of member input on topics large and small. But it seemed we needed something more to help us continue on our good path. As a veteran of probably too many organizational offsites and face to faces, I know they can occasionally be a little deadly. But done with some planning and the proper spirit, they can bring new ideas to the fore, allow a deeper discussion of key issues, and enhance trust and camaraderie within an organization. In that spirit, we decided to hold such an event on April 25 among those who have given much to our Club, and try to step back and look at where we hope our Club will be this year and in years to come. This will not be a board meeting, and any definitive actions will require formal action at a regular board meeting. We also recognize that any changes must be deliberate and incremental. After all, if it ain t broke, don t fix it, and our Club is decidedly anything but broke - in any sense. But change is the one constant whether we want it or not, and we want to make sure we ve thought through how to stay ahead of the curve. So in the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, We want all of our members to know about this and understand what we are trying to accomplish. We will report more fully on this after our gathering, and seek your inputs, as always. But for now, let s enjoy this incredible Spring, whether on the water, in our clubhouse, or renewing friendships down by the hoist or in the yard. We look forward to seeing you all soon! Don Conant Commodore 3

4 Reservation Policy Vice Commodore The workday was outstanding. The weather was good. A significant number of projects were completed. While Don Conant, Greg Haws, Kelly Nesheim, and I toured the club to find projects that needed to be done, reviewed projects left from last year, etc, by far the biggest thank you must go to Kelly Nesheim. He organized the lists needed for volunteers to sign up as they arrived, had gone out and bought the supplies needed, answered questions, supervised and did several projects himself. Thank you Kelly! If we had to hire people to do what was accomplished, it would had cost thousands of dollars; for some projects you could not hire a qualified person. (We have members with great talents). Also our dues would have to be much higher. These great volunteers 3/1/2015 were: Don & Erin Conant, Kelly Nesheim, Chuck Murray, Barbara Booth, Tim & Margaret Martin, Dan & Nancy Larson, Rob & De Schuyler, Nancy Beekman, Joe Altmann, Steve Brenner, Hogie & Peggy Hoogensen, Carolyn Baie, Patti Humecke, Heidi Parker, Barry Keeler, Bob Barker, Joe Wagster, Steve Smardan, John Buchanan Jr., Gene Sofen, Cami Clemenson, Matthew Coale, Greg Haws, Rick Green, Tim Gilmore, Ashley Zaninovich. The project usually least enjoyed was the polishing for the trophies. But they sure needed it. It was nice to see the Corinthian members as well. We seemed to be in the ballpark for food, except too many donuts! Please send any comments to me, and I will past them on for next year s workday. Again thank you everyone. For those could not come it is a fun day and we hope to see you next year. SCYC has had a long-standing cancellation policy regarding Club events for which reservations are required. The reason for the policy is to protect the Club s financial commitment to our Galley operators and our fund raising events. The policy essentially states that a party, who makes a reservation, agrees to notify the Club within 48 hours of the event date if they cannot meet their obligation to attend. New Year s and Installation Dinner require 72 hours notice. If the party fails to notify the Club by such agreed-to time the party must pay for reservations made. In certain circumstances there may be a wait list and if we are able to fill your space you will not be charged. Out of courtesy to our food providers and Club fundraising events please call the Club office as soon as you know you or your guests will be unable to make it ( is not the preferred method for cancellations). It is very important to do it 48 hours in advance or your account will be charged. Thank you for your cooperation. Charles Murray Vice Commodore 4

5 Upcoming SCYC Events Calendar Easter Brunch / Egg Hunt April 5 Sail Expo / Cruisers Lunch April 10 Commodore s Regatta April 11 Santana 22 Team Racing April 12 Spring One Design #1 April 18 Cruising Committee / Potluck April 19 Junior End of Year Party April 25 Laser NorCal April 25, 26 Spring SCORE #1 April 26 Regatta Updates Homer Lighthall has just finished being PRO for the Midwinters. The winning boats have now qualified for the Champion of Champion Regatta that was held on March 29 th. A fleet Animal Matt Lezin & Craig French B fleet Pinata Jay Crum Jib & Main Sailing Pair-a-Dice Barry Keeler Double-Handed Lowly Worm Scott Nelson We have a very full 2015 racing schedule starting with the Commodores Regatta on April 11 th, Santana 22 Team Racing April 12 th, Spring One Design April 18, Spring Score April 26th, Laser NORCAL April 24 th & 25 th and our newest regatta, the Leukemia Cup on May 3 rd. Thanks to all our members who have and will be helping out this year with our very busy regatta schedule. We could use more members stepping up to help out. So, if you have some time to give, please contact Greg and you can earn your regatta hat and an invitation to our regatta party. Did you know that there are Tueday night races? Barry Keeler has been in charge of the Catalina races and he is seeing more and more boats out there every week. There are more than just Catalinas showing up, so if you aren t quite ready for Wed night racing you might check on the Tues races. We have challenged the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club to race for the Veeder Cup. The Stillwater Yacht Club has also challenged MYC this year. Bob Comstock will be in charge of the sail off to determine which yacht club will be the challenger. A special thank you to John Mizell who was in charge of the Wednesday night informational series. They were very well attended and covered a variety of topics. John is open to suggestions if you have topics that you would like to see added to our seminars for next year. Monterey Bay Leukemia Cup May 3 Mother s Day Brunch May 10 5

6 SCYC Members Racing Updates MEXICO Several SCYC members headed south on the Newport to Cabo race this month. Brent Rhune, on the STP65, Bad Pack (3rd), Paul Allen, on the Invisible Hand, an RP/63 (4 th ), Morgan Larson, on the SC70, Holua (9 th ), Dylan Watts on the Grand Illusion, an SC70 (10 th ), and Trevor Baylis, on a Gunboat 66, Extreme H20, (26 th ). They finished up on the 24 th and 25 th of this month, and it sounds like they had a fairly windy race! CALIFORNIA - Dwayne King was busy this past month racing the Islands Race from Long Beach to San Diego sailing west of Catalina and the San Clemente Islands. He was crewing on the J-111 Stampede, downwind trimming. His team took second in class of 9 boats, and 19th overall out of 50 boats. Later in the month found him back at the Dana Point YC, for their mid-winter series race 5, where he was crewing the pit on the J-124, Marisol. They were 3rd in a class of 8 boats. Chris Watts, Chris Deaver and Irish Mike were racing PHRF race in Monterey on the Henderson 30 Sea Saw this past month. In a light southerly-ish breeze with two races they finished with a 1 st and a 2nd. Chris Watts, Ian Klitza and Irish Mike were then back in Monterey shortly after, for the Liefer Race (to Cypress point and back). They were once again racing on Sea Saw, and they finished up 2 nd. If you have info on where club members are racing, please feel free to pass along details to Bucciel@aol.com By Ellen Kett Corinthian Racing Update Our Corinthian members have been busy racing in Santa Cruz Corinthians competed on many boats in SCYC s midwinter series, and some have been venturing further afield. On the last day of January, the annual Three Bridge Fiasco was held in San Francisco Bay and saw a record 365 boats registered. Challenging currents and an overall lack of wind made racing conditions difficult. Of the 365 boats to start, only 55 boats managed to finish the race before the 7:00PM time limit, including one all-corinthian SCYC crew, Tyler Karaszewski and Evan Diola, sailing Tyler s J/70 Spitfire. In March these Corinthians were back up in the bay at St. Francis YC s Spring One Design regatta. Evan Diola crewed on Stephen Bourdow s Mooregasm to finish in four races and win the Moore 24 class. Tyler Karaszewski raced with fellow Corinthian Seth Cohen on Spitfire to finish for fourth place overall in the J/70 class. Tyler Karaszewski 6

7 Clothing Committee Greetings fellow members! We are looking for volunteers to create a clothing committee that will assist with the setting up and sale of merchandise at some of the upcoming regattas. If you are available and interested in lending a hand, please contact Angela Madden at amadden71@yahoo.com. The upcoming dates are: April 25 & 26 - Laser NorCals / Spring Score #1 May 3 - Leukemia Cup May 16 & 17 - Moore Regatta Angela Madden Clothing Chairperson Cruising Committee Report The cruising group has a great event coming up. It is the second annual Pacific Sail Expo Lunch and is open to ALL SCYC members. Lunch will be Dutch treat at Scotts Restaurant at Jack London Square. Seating is at 11:30. Please contact Rick and Dorie Green if you are interested in attending (rick.dorie.green@gmail. com). Our other events are as follows: Note: Some events are new and many of them need someone to sign up to host. It would be great if many of you would be willing to sign up to help with some of these events. I think as a group we can really have a lot of fun this year. So please let Cami (camicorvin@aol. com) and me know if you are interested in hosting an event. Thanks Jason and Cami Pacific Sail Expo - Cruising Lunch Friday April 10th at 11:30-1:30 The idea here is for the folks who like to go to the Pacific Sail Expo in Oakland, we can all meet for lunch and brag about all the great stuff we just bought!!! Spring Dock Party Saturday May 9th Time & Dock TBD Nearly Full Moon Sail Sunday May 31st Shove off at 7:00 PM July 4th Events Santa Cruz - Raft Up Monterey - Cocktail Party Friday July 5:00. For the folks who sail to Monterey for the 4 th. Hopefully they can all get together and have a cocktail party. Full Moon Sail Friday July 31 st Begonia Festival - Onward Cruise Party Sunday Sept 6th Leave SC at 10:30 - Return to SC at 3:30 Host: Cami This event is NEW and is cool. The idea is that a bunch of us get on Onward and ride to Capitola and get a mooring an hour or so before the Begonia Festival starts. Then they hail the Capitola Boat and Bait to get a ride ashore and go and watch the Begonia Festival. After the festival, folks use the Capitola Boat and Bait dinghy to get back to Onward, have a bunch of drinks and snacks. Then Onward brings everyone back to the Harbor. The cool thing here is you can see the Begonia Festival without dealing with parking and much of the hassle of seeing the festival. 7

8 There s Something about Mary Art and Wine Festival Saturday Sep 13th. The idea here is that the boats that sail to Capitola for the Art and Wine festival can meet up either on shore or on someone s boat and enjoy the music, wine etc. Monterey Jazz Festival Saturday and Sunday Sept Host: Steve Smardan Pirate Raft up Sunday Oct 18th. Host: Cami Halloween Dock Party Saturday Oct 31. New Year s Day Brunch Friday January 1st Host: Jason 365 Things to do in Santa Cruz California EvEnts & LocaL HappEnings BRE# Get to Know Santa Cruz Like a Local Mike Schweyer What can we say about Mary McKinnon Tara? Everyone knows her because she has done so much for the SCYC. Mary has been and is a morale booster for our junior sailors at all levels. She loves the kids and they know it! She has been a pillar of the Pinto Lake program for many years. She started with the youth at SCYC when her son Patrick entered the program at about age 7. (Patrick is now a college sailor). (Paul Tara and Royce Fletcher had just taken over the Pinto Lake program). I first met Paul and Mary at Pinto Lake when our grandson David entered the program at age 8. Mary worked at Pinto Lake at many levels. She could be seen out on a coach/safety boat, scoring regattas, keeping track of awards, equipment, radios, planning the year end barbecue, etc. She knows all the kids and parents by name. She has kept track of them as they became scholastic and advanced sailors, and as they have gone beyond high school. Many have continued to sail. After a few years Mary was elected to be the SCYC Junior Board Chairperson (And this also means the SCYC junior program director). This includes many responsibilities. She has been the glue that keeps the programs functioning. The director has to be sure there are coxswains for all the junior boats. (About 18 El Toro s, 12 FJs, 3 12 whalers for Pinto Lake and sail camp, a RIB for Pinto Lake, and Red Ruby for the Scholastic sailors.) Volunteers are also needed to be in charge of the Pinto Lake Program (El Toro s), the Scholastic Program (FJs) and the Advanced Program. (They sail Lasers and 29ers). Other volunteers include being in charge of the West Marine Fun Regatta, Mini-Boat Regatta, Spaghetti Feed, Annual Fun Raising Raffle, treasure, secretary, publicity, communication (Including a directory of all the kids, parents, phone numbers and address), publicity, the junior part of the SCYC website, etc. For those concerned about SCYC finances she was instrumental, working with Jennifer to setup the accounting lines for the junior budget, working with the junior board, to setup each year s budget. (And being sure the program stayed within the budget). She is always quietly there and available to help, and answer questions about the program, or how it was done in the past. She is like the orchestra conductor of a large group of dedicated volunteers. Sail camp at Stockton is for Kids 8 years old through 8 th grade. The Richmond Yacht Club, Stockton Sail Club and Santa Cruz Yacht Club sponsor it. There are three directors, one appointed by each club. When her 8

9 Sunny Skies, Smiling Kids Epitomize El Toro Program husband Paul was the SCYC director, Mary also spent full time at the camp. She worked hand in hand with Paul. Their contribution was such that they received the camps highest award. She and Paul also received the Goodale award from SCYC for their immense contributions. (They do so much together is was hard to just write about Mary, but she deserves it) She has now also been selected to be on the Santa Cruz Sailing Foundation Board. (I suspect the first woman). Congratulations to a fabulous friend! We owe a great deal of gratitude to this kind of selfless dedication. Chuck & Hilda Murray Capped off by a day of adventure sailing in big boats on Monterey Bay, the SCYC El Toro program finished the season in typical fashion for this winter: under blue skies with light to moderate winds while 26 smiling and excited young sailors enjoyed quality time on the water. With the supervision of a skilled and patient staff of parent volunteers, 35 juniors aged 8-14 honed their El Toro sailing skills on Pinto Lake in Watsonville this winter. Skill levels ranged from brand new beginners with little to no sailing experience to our most competitive and dedicated traveling group who stopped by the lake in between regattas at Lake Merritt and the Richmond Yacht Club. Students sailed 16 days over the five month season with only one day cancelled due to rain. Eight guest coaches donated their time and enthusiasm to our program this year. These coaches included skilled and enthusiastic Scholastic sailors, professional coaches with experience in big competitive fleets, El Toro Gurus including two former El Toro North American champions, and even a reigning 505 world champion. They shared some of their most exciting sailing moments and their passion for the sport with our group before heading out onto the lake to lead the most advanced students in specialized coaching sessions. Parents and students all agree that time spent with these dedicated and talented sailors was a highlight for us all this season. The Pinto Lake Regatta series consists of 5 regattas held on every third Sunday throughout the season. Each race the students put their knowledge to the test as the coaches scrambled to set the courses in the shifty Pinto Lake conditions. Participation typically numbered in the mid 20 s and sailors were divided into two fleets (beginners and everyone else). Tight racing was the norm with 1 st through 3 rd place in the overall season results separated by only a hand full of points. The final day of the season was held at the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor and students were given the chance to experience sailing in salt water on keel boats, Lasers and CFJs. Chuck Hawley took a group of boys sailing on his beautiful Alerion 38. More junior sailors crewed for Barry Keeler on his Catalina 30. The bravest of all was Ross Clark who rocked 9

10 (Staff Commodore Chuck Hawley and crew aboard his Alerion 38 on the Monterey Bay) around the bay in his Santana 22 with middle school girls aboard. Trevor and Dana Foley graciously introduced the El Toro sailors to CFJs and Lasers as they toured them around the harbor to finish off the day. Given the combination of sunny skies, an excellent group of dedicated volunteers and an outstanding fleet of enthusiastic, excited and smiling young students, it s a safe bet that the SCYC El Toro program was a success. Registration for the season begins online April 1 st. Please consult the web page for details at Jim Jackson Director El Toro Program Scholastic Teams claim 3 of 6 NorCal Championship Awards I m happily stepping over mounds of unwashed clothes and salty sailing gear this dreary Monday morning. The SCYC Scholastic Sailing Team triumphantly returned from the San Francisco Yacht Club late last night, March 22nd. The NorCal season is now over and our SCYC Juniors have won 3 of the 6 Championship awards! More than half of our teams scored in the top ten of their fleet. And, as we said before, but can t help repeating, three SCYC junior teams claimed half of the six Championship awards! You ll find the results detailed below. 10 Here s the background; since September we ve been competing in a series of CFJ regatta s that took us all over the San Francisco Bay Area. A team of at least two sailors from the same High School is eligible to compete in the Championships if they have completed at least five of nine regattas in the NorCal series. Most of our sailors had competed in seven or eight of the regattas. It was still dark (not stormy), as we left the SCYC harbor Saturday morning with six parents towing loaded trailers toward Tiburon. The weather was spectacular as we passed under the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. SFYC efficiently managed to feed, register and launch 61 boats without chaos. SCYC parents were thrilled that Skip and Stacy Ely brought their very comfortable whaler that held at least eight people. While land-side viewing was diffcult to find, the whaler afforded parents spectacular viewing. Although the wind was elusive most of the season, thankfully this final regatta was not a float fest. The forecast was for moderate wind with a flood tide early, with the wind projected to fill later in the day. Richardson Bay was waiting with all its tricks. Puffs, wind direction changes and tides made an ever changing chess board for our young sailors. The second day the weather delivered on and off rain but cleared by afternoon. 10 knots down to 2 knots and back up again.

11 Sometimes our sailors had to search out an elusive puf coming up Richardson Bay. The SFYC race committee did an excellent job of keeping the race course very competitive. After racing Saturday, many of the sailors enjoyed relaxing in the hotel s hot tub and pool Saturday night. I ve got a great video of a dozen sailors relishing a cutthroat game of Marco Polo. The Scholastic team has one final regatta this season, it s the Stevenson Trophy Cup next weekend. We ve left our boats loaded in the yard, ready to head to Monterey early Saturday morning. Thankfully, we won t have to leave before dawn for this regatta. I ve postponed loading the washer long enough... We look forward to more good news to share after the Stevenson Cup Regatta. Andrea Miller & Linda Moore Scholastic Co-Directors Third Place Gold Fleet: Team PCS: Michael Pacholski with presenter and PCISA Board Member Forrest Gay (Not Shown: Duncan Robertson) Gold 36 qualifying teams 3rd PCS - Michael Pacholski/Duncan Robertson 9th- PCS - Julian Martinez-Prado/Talia Rozenbaum 14th- SCHS - Charlotte Lenz/Charlie Atkinson 21st-SCHS - Nicholas Lenz/Kyle Hunt 31st- Aptos HS - James Arnerich/TaiLi Harrill Silver 25 qualifying teams 1st Aptos HS -Trevor Foley/Spencer Carson 2nd Kirby - Olivia Beers/Josselyn Verutti/Ben Risley 7th Aptos HS Dana Foley/Morgan Miller 9th Monte Vista Kate Chandler/Amy Ely/Logan Anderson First Place Silver Fleet: Aptos High School: Trevor Foley and Spencer Carson Santa Cruz Sailing Foundation Founded in 1996 to support youth sailing in Santa Cruz, the Foundation has been instrumental in acquiring the sailboats and support craft for the Interscholastic Sailing program. Second Place Silver Fleet: Kirby: Josselyn Verutti, Olivia Beers and Ben Risley With this years sailing season upon us, we are seeking donations of boats and other assets to be used to fund this years projects. So if you would like to donate and obtain a tax deduction for your gift, please call Jim Ritchey (408) or Ric Diola (408) Federal TIN