TheTiller. Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club. May 2018 Year 66, Issue 5

Transcription

1 TheTiller Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club May 2018 Year 66, Issue 5

2 Commodore s Log The dedication and commitment of our members to our Club never ceases to amaze me. While the search for our new manager continues apace, Dan Green has selflessly stepped into the breach keeping our bar and galley functioning wonderfully. Right alongside him are Kit Ruck, arranging private events, Patricia Nicewander updating our Point of Sale system with new menus, Sharron Frey helping with front of house, and the list Commodore Dino Pick goes on. Long time members know this volunteerism is in our Club s DNA, but it should never go unnoticed or unthanked. So thank you to all who are shouldering a load during our manager search. Our Search Committee received over 40 applicants as of April 23rd. After resume screening and phone interviews, we were down to several potential candidates who were interviewed in early May and have been asked back for a follow-up interview in mid-may. By the time you read this we may have extended an offer to a candidate, or we may continue the search. Finding the person with the right skill set and fit for our Club is the most important decision we will make this year, so we will not rush it. You may have seen a new face behind the bar and serving in the Galley. Jessica Finn has hit the ground running. She is energetic and a wonderful addition to our team. She and her husband recently moved to the Monterey area. Her husband is learning Russian at the Defense Language Institute. Please welcome her. Our inaugural scotch tasting on April 23d was a resounding success. Three fantastic single malt highland scotches were served by our own Dan Green while bagpipes played on the deck. For those of us who are cigar aficionados, there was an opportunity to peruse a selection on the deck and listen to the bagpipes. Look for another scotch tasting this summer! Our Entertainment Committee continues to arrange fantastic event after fantastic event. Cinco de Mayo was a full house and the salsa competition was fierce. The Mother s Day Brunch was sold out for two seatings. Our new club house is a venue of choice for many of our members events, whether they be baby showers, reunions, or fundraisers for schools and charities. Our House Committee is working hard behind the scenes to keep our beautiful renovated club house functioning and clean. As you might imagine, as with any remodel or commissioning of a new facility, there are kinks to be worked out. The House Committee is selflessly getting it done. All of this while we support robust club operations without a manager. No small task. Thank you to Betsy Jeffers, David Duncan, Randy Frey, and the rest of the team. Finally, I look forward to celebrating our Club s birthday with all of you on May 28th! Respectfully, Dino Bar and Galley Report by Patricia Nicewander We successfully launched the new Dining Room Service in March and the Bear Flag Bar Service in April. The mission, now, is to fine-tune these new services and keep an even-keel until we turn things over to a new manager, hopefully next month. The B&G Committee appreciates your continued support in this effort as we all look forward to enjoying some fine Monterey weather this spring and summer. The Bear Flag Bar is open on weekends, and the deck is a one of the best spots in town to enjoy a cool beverage. About This Month s Cover Photo Art and Lal Sutton s Gitane at anchor during the Cruising Club anchor out event off Del Monte Beach. Photo by Tom Albright Page 2

3 Otter Cup Race and Cruise-in Elkhorn Yacht Club May 19 by John Herne, EYC Race Director The Otter Cup held each May on the same weekend as the EYC s world Famous Nautical Flea Market and MPYC Cruise-in. The Saturday race starts and ends right off the Moss Landing entrance with an enjoyable reach-reach course to Monterey Mile marker and back to Moss Landing. The Otter Cup is 24.1 NM and awards include event specific engraved trophies and embroidered hats for the first three finishers. Entry fee includes a plate for the Skipper at the post race dinner. Extra dinner plates are available for crew and friends at $15 each. Come enjoy our hospitality and enjoy the on-the-water patio and bar at the EYC! Enter on-line at: jibeset.net or contact the club office at: eyc@elkhornyc.org or call: Upcoming Social Events Saturday, May 19 - Sunday, May 20 Cruise to Moss Landing Thursday, May 24 5:00-8:00PM - Orchestra in the Schools Monday, May 28 3:00-8PM - MPYC Birthday Party Monday, June 4 6:00PM - Book Club Potluck One for the Money by Janet Evanovich Tuesday, June 12 6:00PM - Cruisers Club Potluck Thursday, June 14 6:00PM - Entertainment Committee Meeting Regular Schedule Dinner is served every Wednesday and Friday evening at 6:00PM, bar open 4:00PM Wednesday and 3:00PM Friday. Lunch is served every Thursday from 11:00AM until 2:00PM. Also, lunch buffet is available on Sunday race days after the races. Breakfast buffet is served on Sundays from 10:00AM - 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 Page 3

4 Race by Dave Clark, Race Committee Chairman MPYC Continues To Move Into The Modern World Of Racing With raceqs I hope that advancing to Regatta Network has not been too hard on our creatures of habit. Once more people get the hang of it, it will prove to be the right choice. Now we are ready to advance our technology even further with raceqs, a free very useful app I would like all of our Skippers (and crew) to load on their smart phones. Santana Fleet Captain Justin will be featuring raceqs for the July Santana 22 Nationals. Starting this month I will have our club television set up to show live streaming of ongoing races, as well as the ability to play back races that have occurred. Every boat logged on with the app or a GPS unit can participate. You can preset a start time and date for hands off activation. You can set limits of phone battery use as well as tracking time limits, plus more. You can view your performance of distance traveled vs course distance as well as peak and average speed. Please visit their web site at raceqs.com. There are some benefits for those not in the race. You can watch the race live from the bar, or the office if you re working late. The Honolulu Yacht Chub Race Chair told me, by keeping people engaged in the race from the bar or restaurant, keeps money coming to the club, rather than them going elsewhere. You can see how your team (that was over manned) is doing and point out how much better they would have done by bringing you. You can enjoy the race and stay dry and warm. It can be used in disputes, or to laugh at that one rounding that didn t go so well with playback. The sooner you load it and the sooner you log on to raceqs.com the sooner you ll love it. Page 4

5 Splicing Lesson Photos by Sharron Frey Junior coach Grant Howerton leads splicing lesson with Varsity Team. Page 5

6 Page 6

7 Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Photos by Martisa Light and Di Cailliet Page 7

8 Spinnaker Cup by Michael Polkabla, Rear Commodore Coming to MPYC May 26 th and 27th As many of you know, this year s Spinnaker Cup event will once again be the first leg of the three leg California Offshore Race Week (CORW) and will be hosted by and finished at MPYC!!! The event will start at San Francisco Yacht Club on Saturday, May 26 th and will finish between a fixed location on the Municipal Wharf and F Buoy. The CORW has become a model ocean race event on the west coast and draws the elite ocean racers of all classes to compete in this three-leg ocean race event. The event starts in San Francisco and ultimately ends in San Diego (with a stop over here at MPYC) sometime on Saturday evening (for the fastest of yachts) through Sunday (for those not as big or as speedy ). This will be a fantastic opportunity to Showcase our new Club to an elite group of yachtsmen and yachtswomen and to our yachting communities!!! The weekend event will bring competitors and guests to (and through) our Clubhouse all weekend, culminating with a reception and awards banquet on Sunday evening (the 27 th ). Planning is underway for some very special food and merchandise offerings presented by our fantastic volunteer group members here at MPYC. Learn About Coastal Rowing by Rick Rosenthal Have you noticed the three shiny hulls racked on K- dock and wondered what they are? No, they are not ocean rowing boats for the upcoming Great Pacific Race. They are coastal rowing boats and belong to member, Rick Rosenthal. Rick would like to share his passion for rowing with other club members with rowing experience, interested in learning to row, or just curious about coastal rowing. Rick will be at the bar Friday night, June 8th to talk with anyone interested about rowing and to arrange times for members to go out with him in one of his boats. If anyone would like to contact Rick directly about rowing, he can be reached at rick.rosenthal@yahoo.com. Planning and administrating the on and off the water duties continues and requires a team of volunteers helping with all facets of running this regatta and social events. As your MPYC Rear Commodore, I have been bringing this together and still need a few more volunteers to help with administration, scoring, concierge welcoming, safety, merchandise, harbor master coordination, etc. If you are available and would like to participate in this prestigious event, please contact me directly at our event website at spinnakercup@mpyc.org and/or my direct at mpolkabla@comcast.net. Once Again, a very BIG Thank You for your support in making this a premier event for the competitors, their guests, and for our Club!!! Page 8

9 Green Do-Gooder by Michael Polkabla, Rear Commodore Starting this month, I will be gathering and presenting a series of Green Do-Gooder ideas and recommendations on how we can be a more Environmentally Greener Yacht Club. Of course, these ideas also apply to how we can make decisions on our own, to make better choices with respect to the products we use, the waste we generate, and the practices in which we engage personally, at our fantastic Yacht Club, and within our communities. The goal is simple To make choices and to choose practices which result in less negative impact on our environment our Club s use of plastic ice bags that we have habitually been using now at our Club for years!!! Once we re all on board, we will remove the roll of plastic bags located next to the ice machine and eventually stop ordering the plastic bags entirely. This simple and small step (that we all can do) moves all of us in the right direction! Now for moving forward, I would like to receive ideas from our membership with respect to some simple things that we all can do to become a MPYC Green Do- Gooder where I will choose an idea each month to present in the Tiller. This might even qualify for a new Do-Gooder award if all goes well. me with your ideas and stories at mpolkabla@comcast.net. Good Sailing, Michael Polkabla So, to start off with this idea, MPYC has implemented a new program and has given you a choice to use reusable buckets to transfer ice (from our Club s ice machine next to the bar) to our boats for our use. These Green buckets are made from 100% recycled materials and are available for use (and re-use) by Club members whenever they are needed on an honor system. This is intended to eventually ELIMINATE our use of disposable plastic bags that we currently stock in the bar area storeroom. Don t get me started on the term disposable plastic, as we all learned during the Club s showing of the documentary A Plastic Ocean that we aired a few months back. Disposable to where you might ask??? As we have learned, a large percentage of plastic simply ends up in our oceans and does significant harm to our environment and ecosystems which we enjoy so much!!! FYI the MPYC staff has already been briefed and will encourage members to use these Green Buckets whenever possible. So here s the challenge Next time you pick up ice from the Club, simply use one of the green colored 100% recycled material buckets that are now stocked right next to the ice machine. Then when you are all done, just bring it back (after using and rinsing of course) for re-use by another member. Doing this simple (environmentally honorable) task will eliminate Page 9

10 Scotch Tasting at the Bear Flag Bar Photos by Sharron Frey A fantastic night of Scotch whiskey tasting was held at the Bear Flag Bar featuring world-class offerings to represent the Scottish Highlands region. Page 10

11 A Novice does the Singlehanded Long Distance Race by Jonathan Paul Photos by Juli Alexander The Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club sponsors a speciality race that challenges singlehanded sailors over a long, basically north-south course of 48.1 miles. The course runs from Monterey Mile buoy to MBARI M1 buoy (11.5 miles), thence to Santa Cruz Mile buoy (13.0 miles), and finally returns to MPYC-F buoy (23.6 miles). Most of my sailing experience has been as crew on Santana 22 Seabiscuit, where my partner, Linda McLennan acts as captain. I have aspired to do independent sailing and I periodically have taken the boat out for a single-handed turn around the bay. The long distance race seemed like a good way to get some quality tiller time. When I declared my interest in this race, my friends and even the Race Chair, expressed some concern for my safety, probably due to both my limited sailing experience and because of the small size and leisurely performance of the Santana design. The requirements for off-shore racing forced me to scurry around to obtain a harness, flairs, navigation lights, and to ensure that the VHF radio was fully charged. My own limits were established to skip the race if the forecasted winds were 20 knots or higher. crew arrived and set anchor. It seemed a bit silly to be going through the full start sequence for just one racer. But that is what we did, Seabiscuit in slow motion and Race.com, flags flying and horn sounding. At 10:00, with the final horn blast, I was off. First Leg: Mile to MBARI buoy This leg is a 312 degree true course which, with the forecasted westerly winds, would be on a port tack. I therefore had planned to run the start line on a port tack and head up at the starting gun. Unfortunately, I had miscalculated my slow motion ballet down the start line by about 20 seconds and to avoid T-boning Race.com, I had to make an embarrassing last minute gybe about thirty feet from the inquiring eyes of the race committee. I headed over the line on a starboard tack going in basically the wrong direction. But at least I was moving, however slowly. Once I had collected my wits, I turned onto a port tack and headed north. The Start The forecast for April 28 was as good as I could have hoped: light winds in the morning and knot winds in the afternoon. No showers or significant waves were forecasted. I had discussed with Race Chair Dave Clark start time options in light of the modest speed of the Santana design. I did not want to finish in the dark and was happy with the original start time of 8AM. Nobody else thought that time was a good idea. Ultimately the Santana fleet (only me) was given a separate 10AM start time while the rest of the fleet (one class A and one class B) was to depart at 11AM. I motored out out at 9:15 to Mile buoy where I wallowed around in a one knot zephyr waiting for Race.com to arrive. Sure enough, with plenty of time to spare Jerry Stratton and his full Jonathan Paul on Santana 22 Seabiscuit. Page 11

12 Singlehanded Long Distance Race continued manage much more than taking a swig of water being very busy. But if the truth be told, I was full of adrenaline and not at all hungry. With the wind at 1-2 knots I was slowly leaving Race.com and it s critical eyes behind. Gradually, the wind velocity picked up eventually to an estimated 5-6 knots and as it did, I was able to point higher. At 12:00, I made my first tack to gain some windward ground but I didn t like the illusion of heading back to Monterey, so I tacked back to port hoping for a possible further shift of the winds to the south (didn t happen). At 1:10PM I made another tack to port and rounded MBARI at 1:27PM. For at least an hour before and after rounding MBARI, I could see the other two boats in the race, Maverick and Encore, well to windward. Even with a start an hour later than mine, they were obviously well ahead. My guess is that they had somehow avoided the sluggish winds I had at my start, were obviously much faster boats, and could point higher and make MBARI without tacking. As it turned out, I didn t need the extra hour of the early start and because of it suffered an hour of very light winds. I had made the 11.5 miles to MBARI in 3 hours and 29 minutes at an average speed of 3.3 miles per hour. By the time I rounded the mark, the wind was blowing a respectable 10 knots. Second Leg: MBARI to Santa Cruz Mile Buoy Leaving MBARI buoy, I could bear off the wind a bit and track directly to the next mark. I was showing a consistent 6 MPH on the GPS. In fact, the winds continued to build to an estimated 15 knots or more as I approached Santa Cruz. I had left Monterey with a goodly supply of food and drink. Early on, when the winds were light, I ate one of my three sandwiches with a cup of coffee. But after MBARI, with the winds picking up, I needed all my hands and brain cells to keep sailing moderately straight. As it turned out, I arrived home with most of my provisions untouched except for one P&J sandwich, an apple and two carrots. After MBARI I could not David Potter on J-105 Encore. As the winds picked up, the boat would occasionally land heavily coming over a swell and kick up spray of water that would land in the cockpit. I slipped into my waterproofs to supplement the many layers of clothing I had on. It was fairly cold with the water temperatures in the low 50 s. The second leg of 13.0 statute miles was completed in 2 hours and 15 minutes making good a pace of 5.7 MPH. Page 12

13 Singlehanded Long Distance Race continued Third Leg: Santa Cruz to MPYC-F buoy. Approaching Santa Cruz I experienced the strongest winds so far, knots. The whitecaps were frothing all around me. I had to round the buoy to starboard which meant a gybe. I was concerned with the idea of gybing singlehanded in such a strong wind. A safer and more comfortable approach would have been to go beyond the buoy, tack, and come up on a heading to pass to the east of the buoy. Good idea but I didn t follow my own counsel. My gybe was safe but not pretty. I pulled the main all the way in and started my turn. Seabiscuit never turned so fast. After picking myself up from the cockpit floor, the jib was backwinded, but we were heading in the right direction. I released the main sheet and adjusted the jib and at 3:34 PM we were off on a dandy broad reach at 8-9 MPH back to Monterey 27 miles ahead. Conclusions On the final leg when I had a lot of time on my hands and a lack of mental anxiety with the end in sight, I had the opportunity to consider my reasons for undertaking this race. It certainly was not to satisfy any deep competitive spirit. My motivations were mostly to bolster nascent sailing skills in an environment that was mildly unforgiving and to do something noteworthy and This longest leg was the easiest. But the relatively strong winds and the swell parallel to my direction of travel meant that I could never ignore the tiller even for a few seconds. Seabiscuit had a strong weather helm under these conditions and would go off on its own if left unattended. The good news was the GPS was predicting an arrival at the finish before 7PM. Thus I did not have to worry about an arrival after sunset. Since an after dark arrival had been a possibility, I was relieved to note that a full moon would rise before sunset (good date selection). I had purchased red, green, and white emergency navigation lights should those be necessary. I figured Monterey harbor is well lighted to allow a safe arrival in the dark. I passed abeam of MBARI, unseen over the horizon, at 5:18PM. I slogged on finishing the leg in 3 hours and 27 minutes at an average speed 6.9 MPH. As we got closer, Point Piños, Lovers Point, the Aquarium, and Mile buoy all seemed like old friends that hadn t been seen in awhile. I rounded F buoy at 7:02PM, nine hours after starting. Jean du Preez on J-80 Maverick. challenging. I fantasized about the possibilities and satisfaction of some true blue water sailing. As I sat there I was reminded of the beauty of the ocean when it is acting kindly and of the harmony between sails, water and wind. I was reminded how much I have enjoyed sailing, an activity that I have done for only the last few years. The sweetest reward was to be greeted by my sailing partners Linda and Meryle who had come down to the dock to congratulate me on this adventure. Would I do this race again? Maybe. Page 13

14 Race Committee for the Singlehanded Long Distance Race... and Afterthoughts by Jerry Stratton Photos by Juli Alexander The crew of Helen enjoyed providing race committee for this race on April 28 th. We were hopeful that four boats would come out but ended up with three and one no show. After much discussion on start times during the week we agreed to start the Santana 22 Seabiscuit at 10AM while starting the rest of the fleet an hour later when more wind was expected. Yes, an amendment to the SI s was posted. We motored out to Mile Mark, the designated starting point for this race, invented by Gene Maly and Allan Patterson. If you need a reminder of Allan, you can view the trophy which remains in our trophy case. It s a part of his hand which he cast, and reflects accurately on Allan s demeanor. story appears above. David Potter in Encore was first to finish just after 4:57PM, followed closely by Jean du Preez in Maverick, about four minutes behind on corrected time. Seabiscuit called in projecting a 7PM arrival and much to our surprise, sailed across the finish line only a minute or two later than that! Congratulations to all competitors for a fulfilling day of sailing. A special shout out to Jonathan for climbing a steep hill in Seabiscuit! Afterthoughts We should sail this race near the Summer Solstice plus or minus a couple of weeks to ensure maximum daylight. All boats should start together and 11AM seems to be a good start time. From the safety standpoint, we should consider a tracking system. We could even have it show on the TV in the Clubhouse. Finally, we had a cruising class once upon a time, and to increase participation we should consider bringing that back. Helen salutes all three competitors and finishers! Seabiscuit was on station and searching for breeze which was about 2 KTS. After we set the line the breeze filled in to a whopping 4 KTS, enough to move Seabiscuit up the course after skipper Jonathan Paul properly started. RC leaned back to await David Potter in the J 105 Encore, Jean du Preez in his J 80 Maverick, and Daniel Emerson in his new speed machine. Unfortunately, Daniel s alarm clock must have failed him as he was a no show. While we waited, my crew Juli Alexander treated Luis Alvarez and me to a healthy breakfast aboard Race.Com as two kayakers fished nearby. Out came our gladiators as the 10:55AM Warning approached! The wind had filled nicely to about 7 KTS and we ran the regular sequence. Maverick was about a minute late at the start while Encore hit the line on time. We reluctantly returned to the YC amid otters, seagulls and a blindingly beautiful morning on the water. As the day progressed we received texts and calls from the competitors. All was good and the little Seabiscuit was making surprisingly good progress. Jonathan s Page 14

15 Strictly Sailing Boat Show Photos by Martisa Light Boats of all sizes. Bear Flag Bar Annex. Lucky tickets. BFF s. Gary Haas and Eric Stone. Page 15

16 MONTEREY PENINSULA YACHT CLUB Municipal Wharf #2 Monterey, CA (831) MPYC 2018 Officers and Directors Commodore: Dino Pick Vice Commodore: Sharron Frey Rear Commodore: Michael Polkabla Staff Commodore: Betsy Jeffers Recording Secretary: Mary Conway Corresponding Secretary: Martisa Light Treasurer: Jeff Kise Directors: Scott Brubaker Kate Conway Becky Brock Eric Anderson The Tiller Editor: Linda McLennan Layout: Linda McLennan Distribution: Becky Brock Printing: Copy King Contributors: Dino Pick Sharron Frey Martisa Light Di Cailliet Dave Clark Michael Polkabla Tom Albright Patricia Nicewander John Herne Rick Rosenthal Jonathan Paul Jerry Stratton Juli Alexander 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.