NHYC Wins LEMWOD Regatta – Linda Elias Memorial Women’s One Design –

Now that I’m nearly off watch,preparing to leave the bridge, andtaking a slow and timely walk aroundthe deck, I thought I would share withyou the NHYC accomplishments for2008. I began the year with a missionof promoting an inviting and inclusivestyle of management, transparency inour approach, and improvedcommunications with you, ourmembers. My ultimate goal was foreveryone, members, guests, and staffto have fun on my watch! As yourCommodore, I for one had an absoluteblast working with so many dedicatedvolunteers, staff, and committedNewport Harbor Yacht Club members.

As in most years, our operatingbudget and capital budget includedannual improvements and projects tobe completed in 2008. In January, the

Board of Directors and various chairpeople attended a retreat to identify our2008 goals, objectives, and priorities. Weagreed that we are a sailing and yachtingclub and that we would focus on andsupport all of our programs. As a resultof that meeting, we launched the LongRange Facility Planning Committee with adefined direction under the leadership ofS/C Tim Collins and R/C Brad Avery. Afacet of that effort is the recentlydistributed Membership Survey.

On the sailing front, our Yacht RacingCouncil, chaired by Kevin Hawkins,recommended that the Yacht ClubChallenge be reincarnated as the NHYCInvitational Team Race. It was competitorand spectator friendly, chaired by GaleNye Pinckney. Continuing the season ourNon-Calm program had recordattendance at nearly 175 participants; thejuniors and high school NHYC sailorstraveled and brought home the trophies.The keel boat and ocean racing boatsrepresented the burgee all over the world.

I should add the Angler Fleetcontinues to grow and compete in varioustournaments. The NHYC cruising groupwent far and wide and continue to inspireus to set sail for some of those paradiseswe dream about.

In the first quarter of 2008, welaunched a new website. Jenn Lancasterhas our marketing communications in fullswing, and we welcome you to visit thesite frequently at www.NHYC.org.

Our outstation, Moonstone, hadseveral high priority projects slated forrepairs, including several emergency

repairs later in the year. Our mayor ofMoonstone Paul Marshall and a myriadof volunteers, including Jack Hamilton,should be congratulated for some majorheavy lifting this year. Jay Mix,Moonstone Cove Steward, celebrates histhirteenth year with NHYC, and hasexceeded his personal goals for 2008.

Our floating assets again receivedthe attention and care, including ourbeautiful flagship, Jim Webster. PortCaptain Gary Hill and DockmasterAnthony Palacios, and his staff, deservea congratulatory “well done”!

Our facility is aging gracefully withits own particular aches and pains. Wecontinue to keep her looking great, andmake the necessary repairs andimprovements. We completed anemergency repair to the east sea wall inthe winter. We again survived a fewextreme high tides. This year weimplemented a long awaited new phonesystem, refurbished the women’srestroom facility, and continued thediligent maintenance program at NHYC.

I thank you for your continuedsupport and use of your Yacht Club. Weset out to meet many of the growingneeds of our membership, and workedtoward higher standards and membersatisfaction. Our mission was to havefun and I thank you for a fabulous year.You have helped achieve our goals.

Warm regards,

Bruce R. D’EliscuCommodore

COMMODORE’S COLUMN

2Cover photo by Gale Pinckney

FFRROOMM

TTHHEE

EEDDIITTOORR

I wish to thank my dedicated committee for makingthese HOTW publications possible.

I also want to express my sincere gratitude to all themembers who have sent in articles, pictures, and ideas andfinally to the Club’s staff for all their help and support.

Let’s keep up the good work. THANK YOU!

LO N G RA N G E FA C I L I T Y

PL A N N I N G UP D AT E – FA L L 2008by John Drayton

NHYC’s facilities haveevolved continuouslythroughout our 90+ year history. During thistime, our parents and grandparents have eachleft their mark on the current facility’s design andstyle. Environmental factors and regulatorychanges have also played a hand in the currentconfiguration of the clubhouse. It is now ourgeneration’s turn to consider what changes areneeded to support future generations of NHYCmembers.

By now, all members should have returnedtheir Membership Survey Questionnaire that willbe used to chronicle our generation’s input onfuture club facilities. The Long Range FacilityPlanning Committee (LRFPC) thanks all membersfor their thoughtful contributions to this criticalplanning document. The results from thismembership survey will be the key tool forcommunicating membership preferences inappearance, layout, and other facility priorities.Survey results will be presented to the Board inJanuary 2009, and shared with the membershipshortly thereafter.

Prior to year end, our Board is expected toselect an architectural firm that will beresponsible for developing preliminary plans for anew clubhouse. The selected architect will havethe challenge of balancing our club’s traditionsand history with modern requirements and ourmembership’s collective interests and statedpreferences. Preliminary conceptual plans areexpected back in spring 2009, and a conceptualplan will be presented to the membership at theJune 2009 Semi-Annual Meeting. In addition toconceptual architectural plans, the Long Range

FACILITIES

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Facility Planning Committee isscheduled to provide members acomprehensive facility planningupdate that includes the nextphase of planning tasks to becompleted in 2009-2010, apreliminary temporary facilityconcept, and probable scheduledurations for the eventualclubhouse replacement.

Between now and the Semi-Annual meeting, there remains alot of work for the LRFPC,including getting the architectunder contract, developingaforementioned conceptual plansand budgets, completing furthercommittee interviews, andultimately dissemination of theevolving facility planning materials.

We continue to appreciate thesupport and input from ourmembership, and look forward toseeing the outcome of this process.

Even as we approach keymilestones in this planning effort, itbears repeating that we remain yearsaway from any major facility changes.Barring unforeseen catastrophicevents (fire, flood, earthquake), theearliest a major facility rebuild couldbe undertaken remains several yearsoff; and current turbulence in thecredit market could push these datesout further still. Neverthless, theplanning now taking place promisesto help shape our future facility.Please let the members of the LRFPCknow if you have any questions,comments, or suggestions.

photos courtesy of Newport Harbor Nautical Museum

NHYC Clubhouse, Opening Day 1928

MEMBERS OF THE

LONG RANGE FACILITY PLANNING COMMITTEE

S/C Tim Collins and R/C Brad Avery

S/C Seymour BeekJohn Calder

S/C John CottonJohn Drayton

Willard DunlapMarc FosterTerril Gloege

S/C Will Layman

Jeff LittellBob PartridgeGale PinckneyLarry SomersJohn WhitneyBob WintersAndy Zinn

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Aboard Ragtime, 700 miles west of Tahiti,Tonga 400 miles ahead.

The darkest hours, 2 AM to 5 AM.Boat is doing 10, 11, then 14, 15, 16knots, surging forward effortlessly in 18 to24 knots of wind. I marvel at the balanceand harmony a man, the designer, JohnSpencer, created in this boat - to be ableto drive at these speeds withease, twelve tons harnessing thewind, bounding through mogullyterrain so smoothly, the curves ofthe boat matching the shape ofthe swells, resisting not at all.

The night is cloudless. Thenearest source of manmadelighting is several hundred milesaway, and the moon has set, sothe darkness would be almostabsolute, but for the starsblanketing the sky, more starsthan a crystal night sky inColorado. More than I have everseen before; I've never beenanywhere this naturally darkbefore. So many stars it's almostas bright as moonlight as myeyes adjust.

Alone on deck, spinnakerset, I've turned off the lights andinstruments an hour ago so theonly light is starlight. I've neverdriven alone on deck for hourswith the spinnaker up. It'sdefinitely an edge moment, butit seems easy. I'm writing thisbit by bit by hand, scrawling onthe pad in the dark, optimisticthat I will be able to interpretenough later in the light. Forthree hours I drive alone, theboat rushing along while GreenDay, Elton John, the Doors,Carly, Cher, Linkin Park, BobDylan, Santana, Evanescence,and the Eagles roll off in myheadphones. The music fits thenight, ballads, distant, familiar,lively, passive, nothing abrupt. Acomfortable contact point withall that is behind ashore. Everysong reminds of a moment, aperson, a time, spurring mythoughts. All will remind me of

tonight in the future.Behind the music, the combined

rushing sound of the constantly rollingbow wave ahead and the tearing sternwaves behind which fall back when theboat surges, then rush forward as thesurfing subsides, the rhythm of the boat.It's so good I drive an extra hour to enjoy

the moments and buy those below morebunk time, or maybe I'm being selfishinhaling the experience alone, because itwould not be the same with company.It's like spending the night alone atopHalf Dome. Normally, I like company butthis is a time to contemplate in thesolitude.

The three below all continueto sleep unaware of thismoment. I wonder who is asleepback home, who I know is awakebecause of work, tension, orparenting. Is anyone aware weare out here or thinking of ustonight? Can they imagine howdifferent this place is at thismoment from where they are?

Here, the ocean is thevastest desert on earth. The seabottom is 19,000 feet or morebelow us, leaving nothing closeenough to the surface for biotato colonize. There is nothing, noother boats, no seaweed, nofish, nothing to sustain a personthrough even a few hourswithout the boat. The onlyflotsam in the last few days asolitary coconut, quickly leftbehind as it makes its journey tocolonize a new grove on adistant island.

Maybe the shifting sands ofthe Sahara would be as empty,as dark, as starlit, and asbeautiful, but the beautifulausterity here is heightened byless features and moreglimmering reflections. It'salmost a wet moonscape for thedarkness, the stars, and the hillyliquid terrain. I've just watchedthe movie In the Shadow of theMoon with a lot of commentaryby Michael Collins, the astronautwho stayed in the commandmodule circling while the firstApollo landing went on. Hespoke of the beauty, serenity,and enormous distance, alonebut not uncomfortable, and ofbeing lucky to be there. I canrelate.

RACING

Black Boat, Black Sails, Black Night, Black Diamond Speedby Chris Welsh

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We raced the CoastalClassic fromAuckland to Bay of

Isles yesterday/last night. Thecrew worked their butts off toget the boat from cruise/delivery mode to race statusin 48 hours.

The race is like theEnsenada Race in length andnumber of boats (250+), buta bit more serious. The finishis deep in the Bay of Isles, agorgeous vacation area 120miles north of Auckland.Think of Napa vineyardslocated on waterfront landlike Sausalito and Tiburon.

The day opened a bitwicked - 25 knots out of thenorth (on the nose), cloudy,rain off an on. The start linewas interesting – from onebluff on the north side ofAuckland harbor to one onthe south side, about a milewide. It was hectic as hell,with boats everywhere.

We were the scratchthe boat in PHRF, which wasa bit silly. They had rated us10% faster than two 50 footcanting keel boats and aTP52 converted to canting,and we gave even more tosome pretty big boats likeLion New Zealand. We werealso entered in the IRCdivision (PHRF is an arbitrarysystem especially when youare new in town where theyjust give you a rating numberbased on their gut feeling,and IRC is based onmeasuring the boat andcalculating its performancepotential).

We started with a reefand the #4 jib (our smallest)to give you an idea whatconditions were like. As wegot out into the ocean wewere following the threecanting boats and leadingthe rest. This continued allthe way up the coast in 20-35knot winds and blowing white

cap seas. Not Ragtime'sfavorite weather.

Along the way we got the#3 up. One boat got by uswhen we blew out a jib halyardand another when we blew outthe #4 jib after that.

We ended up with a stormjib (very small) up for severalhours. We had lightning andsome driving rain with 30+knots, but eventually, weworked our way back past themafter a number of hours in thenight. We finished at 4:15 AMafter suffering through a finalhour in the Bay of Isles inalmost dead calm when thebreeze abruptly shut down forthe last mile.

The crew worked hard andgot along well, five from CAand six from NZ, including thesailing reporter from the localTV news station. He wassupposed to be filming the tripbut for the most part it was toorough to get the camera out.We passed a ton of dramaticcoastline and lots of islands,much like the CA coast inMonterey or up by Eurekaexcept there are more islandshere. We went through a largegap off one point where thespire-like tip of the island has ahole through it big enough fora large boat to sail through,although we did not.

We got to the dock justbefore sunrise and enjoyed abreakfast of celebratory rumdrinks and the meager pickingson the boat. All very satisfied tobe there.

Very happy with the resultslater on as we were 1st Overallin IRC, and 3rd boat to finishbehind two of the canting keelboats – a great start forRagtime/Infidel's return to NZ.Trophies are later this AM.

After being up all night,we are looking forward togetting caught up on sleep, aday or two off boat duty, andthen getting home later in theweek.

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RACING

NHYC WI N S LEMWOD RE G AT TA

by Casey Hogan

The journey towards winning the Linda Elias MemorialWomen’s One Design Regatta began many months ago whenGale Nye Pinckney and Suzanne Spangler accepted thechallenge of getting more NHYC women out sailing. Fourteen ofus decided that jumping into a Catalina 37 sounded like a funway to spend the weekend. The crew consisted of CryssaAnderson, Erin Kennedy, Gale Pinckney, Coury McKinlay, SuzanneSpangler, Julie Chamberlain, Jennifer Porter, Crissy Maier, KerrieGarrett, and Casey Hogan with Michelle Drever and WhitneyLoufek on Saturday and Deon Macdonald and Anne Hatton onSunday.

We squeezed in one practice day two weeks before theevent. As many of you know, it is very easy to tangle every lineon a Catalina 37. For the final practice, we brought out oursecret weapons, JP Peschelt and Jon Pinckney to help us with ourboat handling and speed.

Ten teams from around Southern California and one fromPuerta Vallerta converged on Long Beach Yacht Club on October11. The regatta began with typical light breeze that built tofifteen knots by the end of the day. We sailed conservatively andavoided any big disasters in the first two races.

With increasing breeze, the race committee lengthened thecourse for the third race and gave us three laps to sail. Thelonger race favored us with Jennifer calling the shifts perfectly.We rounded the weather mark in a good position and startingpassing boats. About halfway down each downwind leg, Cryssawould start to get antsy about the looming take down. We gotrid of the spinnaker pole early with Crissy acting as our humanguyline. With building excitement, the entire team workedextremely hard to tack the jib and get that spinnaker up anddown. Our cheerleaders, the Garrett family, witnessed creativeand disastrous take downs from some of the other boats. Wewon that third race and finished the day tied for second place.

On Sunday, our team was tired but ready for the day.Predictably, the breeze filled in at noon, and we sailed three

more races in 8-12 knots.Sailing fast and playing theright side of the course was thewinning strategy. We finishedthe regatta with 3,1,1. Evenafter winning that final race, itdidn’t sink in that we had wonuntil a race committee boatdelivered some champagne.

This regatta was special forour team. Linda Elias was a

well-known sailor who had won this regatta several times andsailed in four Transpac races. After losing a battle with cancer, theLB/LA women’s sailing association dedicated the regatta to hermemory. Our main trimmer, Julie Chamberlain, sailed with LindaElias years ago. Our team won a sailing scholarship of $1000 tofund our future women’s sailing.

A big thank you to the Yacht Racing Council and the SkipperBoard for their financial support. Erin made delicious lunches forthe team each day. Gale and Suzanne organized a fabulous crew.

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RACING

TH E EA S T-WE S T

CH A L L E N G E CU P AT

HI LT O N HE A D YCby Bob Yates (with input from all of the other familieswho participated in the event.)

Five Harbor 20 Fleet members andtheir wives just returned from a uniquesailing experience at Hilton Head Island,South Carolina. The event was conceivedand hosted by members of the Harbor20, Fleet #3 of the South Carolina YachtClub, who also contributed the East-West Challenge Cup perpetual sailingtrophy. The purpose of the sailingcompetition is to promote good will andcamaraderie between members of thetwo Harbor 20 fleets on opposite sidesof the country.

Our participants, Tom and JaneSchock, George and Phyllis Drayton, Winand Carlita Fuller, Lee and HollieSutherland, and Bob and Ellie Yatesarrived at Savannah airport Fridayevening. We were immediately gatheredup by members of Fleet 3 and driven tothe beautiful SCYC club house for areception where we met all of the fleetmembers as well as the club’s staff,founder, and other local sailors. Afterthe reception we went to the homes ofour hosts. In our case it was Ned andSally Nielson who are a driving force inthe success of the fleet, and major hostsfor the event.

The next morning we wereintroduced to our nearly new Harbor20s. We quickly rigged and motoredinto the lock which isolates the harborfrom the high tides and current thatflows through the area. Once outside,we hoisted sails and moved quickly ontothe race course. It was a bit differentthan Balboa Bay – lots of tidal flow,heavy winds, waves, intermittent rain,and treacherous sandbars on the sides.Then they gave us six long races insuccession. Wow! Tom Schock seemedto be in his element and was the bigwinner of the day. The rest of us justsurvived, and the Hilton Head Fleet wasfar ahead in the standings. Still, we werevery proud of our wives who were ourprimary crews, and we hope that thewives of the SCYC sailors will join themin the future. As soon as we were off the

boat, we found ourselves in our host’shome, enjoying another party. Finally, itwas to bed to contemplate how to dobetter on day two.

Day two arrived. It was sunny andwarm with a nice sea breeze. I made itout early to tune up my boat, tighten theshrouds and adjust the jib hoist; andmost importantly, check out the tides.We all sailed better on the second dayand were pulling off several race winsand many high finishes. George andPhyllis Drayton had a sensational win inthe forth race and we felt that we wereon our way to a great team victory.

Suddenly, the racing was over andnow we were going in for the AwardsCeremony, which, of course, meantanother great party. The perpetualtrophy was awarded to the sailors fromHilton Head. Then it was time to toast

the victors. They, along withtheir wives who plannedmany of the gatherings, theYacht Club Staff, and fellowsailors were all sensationalhosts who provided us witha never to be forgottenweekend on Hilton HeadIsland. Thank you so verymuch.

On the airplane flyinghome, reality struck! Wehave to put on this regattanext year in Newport Beach.It is going to be a reallyhard act to follow.

Most importantly, it’sgood to know thatCorinthian sailing is still aliveand well. Lee and Hollie Sutherland’s airport transport!

photos by Carlita Fuller and Bob Yates

After a verysuccessful summer ofracing on the EastCoast, the STP 65Rosebud was shippedoff to Sardinia toparticipate in the MaxiWorld Championships inItaly. The regatta washeld on the Italian islandof Sardinia in luxuriousPorto Cervo. We allarrived a week inadvance of the regatta inorder to properlyprepare the yacht afterbeing shipped. We alsoperformed extensive sailtesting and practiced forthe upcoming event.

We raced in the Mini-Maxi Divisionwhich would exclude us from competingagainst the monstrous Wally boats, J-classyachts or the impressive 100’ canting-keelAlfa Romeo. Our division was by far themost competitive with 19 entries thatranged in size from 60 to 79 feet. Afterglancing at the entry list, it became evidentthat the racing would be exceptionally tightat the front of the fleet as a result of fiveboats being very similar in size andcapability. Aside from Team DYT/RosebudRacing, the second STP 65 out of the mold,Moneypenny, provided us with a greatbenchmark due to an equal IRC rating.Other competitors included Alegre, a Mills68 from England as well as the brand newAlfa Romeo 3, a Reichel/Pugh 68 sailing inits first regatta. The yacht was crewed bythe Ericson Team that was preparing fortheir upcoming bid in the Volvo OceanRace. The last of the top five entries wasthe IRC 66, Numbers, which was beingsailed by the Alinghi team. Between thesefive entries, the racing would certainlyprove to be highly competitive with littlemargin for error.

After extensive preparation andpractice, the five-day regatta finally gotunder way. Instead of the traditionalwindward leeward courses that we hadgrown accustomed to seeing while racing inRhode Island, the regatta is traditionally a

number of coastal races that weavethroughout the breathtakingsurroundings of Porto Cervo. One ofthese days would be devoted tostandard buoy racing.

The setting for the first day trulyshowed why Porto Cervo presents sucha premier sailing environment. Warmwinds of 12 to 15 knots carried usaround a 39 nautical mile course whichtook us through the local strait at CapoD’Orso. We then headed to the northand around the Barretinelli di Fuori

Islands before a longsouth-westerly stretcharound the outside ofthe islands that make upthe La Maddalenaarchipelago. After thecircumnavigation of thearchipelago, werounded a mark just offthe French island ofCorsica and returned toPorto Cervo for thefinish.

On this leg we wereinvolved in a match racewith Moneypenny andlearned quickly thatbroad reaching in 14 to17 knots was a betterscenario for them.

Although the STP 65s follow a “box-rule”during construction and whendetermining ratings, there are certainmodifications that are legal within theclass. In this case, the Moneypennydesigners included chines in the hullinstead of traditional rounded transomwhich Rosebud possesses. This allowedthem to be slightly faster in somereaching and off the wind conditions. Welearned throughout the regatta that theiradvantage was only apparent inside avery narrow wind velocity range.Numbers managed to separate from therest of the fleet and take the day’s victorywith Moneypenny coming in second andRosebud third.

The following day, we were greetedby a 2 hour postponement as we waitedfor a light thermal breeze to fill in. Wewere eventually sent on a 17 nautical milecourse, circling the Secca dei Monaci, asmall collection of rocky islands(pictured), and then returning to PortoCervo for the finish. The pressure finallyfilled as we covered the second half ofthe course and allowed us to move awayfrom light air sailing, a weakness of ours.We managed to take third on the day,finishing behind the Mills 68 Alegre andNumbers again.

The highlight of the regatta was ourthird day of racing. After two days of

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RACING

2008 MA X I WO R L D CH A M P I O N S H I P S

ON B O A R D T H E STP 65 RO S E B U Dby John Peschelt, Jr.

being at the mercy of the wind velocity, astrong gradient of pressure movedtoward Porto Cervo and made for somevery fast and exciting racing. The racecommittee opted for the windwardleeward day of the regatta for the Mini-Maxi Division, and set 2.5 nautical milelegs and specified that we would begoing twice around. The breeze wasconsistently 20 knots with gusts to 28,and was accompanied by a rapidlydeteriorating sea state. Our start was onthe average side, but we managed tominimize our losses by tacking away tothe right side of the course in the hopesof finding a clean lane. We managed toround the weather mark two boat lengthsbehind Numbers, and that is when wefinally found our stride. We managed toclose the gap on the leaders and sneakin below them to establish overlap. Withthem pinned, we quickly threw in a jibewhich Numbers countered with a jibe oftheir own. Their maneuver took moretime than they had hoped and we rolledover the top of them and into the lead.

We rounded the leeward mark with asmall lead as our competitor’s mechanicalspinnaker douse failed, putting their kitein the water which began to slow theirprogress. With serious issues mounting,the Numbers boys pulled a standardmatch racing move of cutting away theirkite halyard and letting their chase boatpick up the soaked spinnaker. As itturned out, the rule barring this type ofmaneuver was not as specific as we

9

would have hoped in the sailinginstructions, so the race was on again.After an intense tacking duel, wemanaged to round the weather markahead of Numbers and successfully setour A4 running kite. Using our jib as astaysail (no use trying to take it down inthirty knots), we planed our way to ouronly victory of the regatta and one of themost memorable and exciting races I haveparticipated in. Often times afterfinishing, our crew remains focused andprepares for the next race, but after a racelike this one, it was understandable thateveryone was cheering. This was trulyamazing yacht racing.

The second race of the daypresented us with a building breeze andanother great opportunity to capitalize onour experience as a team and ouradvantage that we had found in bigbreeze. Unfortunately, we missed a bigshift to the left that put us in fourtharound the weather mark and forced us tofight our way back from there. Wemanaged to get back to second justbefore the finish and climbed into secondoverall in our division. It was a fantasticday on the water.

With the help of our weather guru,Tom Addis, we figured that the fourth dayof the regatta would be the last. Asizeable area of high pressure was movingtowards Porto Cervo and would mostlikely park itself directly above us, makingracing on the fifth day highly unlikely.While unfortunate, considering we

seemed to finally be moving in the rightdirection against Numbers, we wereexcited for another day of beautifulcostal racing in a manageable 12 knotsof breeze. The race committee sent uson a 27 mile course around thesurrounding islands with littleexpectation of building pressure.Everything was setting up well until wemanaged to blow up our A2 spinnaker.This took us out of contention with theleaders on what turned out to be thelast day of the regatta and eliminatedany chance that we had at catchingNumbers in the regatta. It wasn’t howanyone ever wants to finish up a bigregatta, but we sailed well enough onthe last day to hold onto the runner’s upposition overall. The Alinghi team sailednearly mistake free and our hats are offto them as world champions. The Goetzbuilt Numbers can also be hailed asquite a weapon in yacht racing.

The competitiveness at the MaxiWorlds lived up to all of the hype thisyear with a number of very similar boatscoming together in the Mini MaxiDivision. I have again been so fortunateto be able to continue learning from myteammates as well as to experiencesome of the best racing our sport has tooffer. Rosebud will be heading back toFlorida to participate in Key West RaceWeek. After that, we will be racing in anumber of events on the Caribbeancircuit including the Pineapple Cup andthe Heineken Regatta in Antigua.

RACING

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the day. The next day’s forecast was fortemperatures about 50 degrees withwinds starting at 25 knots and increasingto 40 knots by the afternoon. Wedecided to head out for an early practiceand were going along at about 15 knotswith the kite up when the boat abruptlyparked on a sand bar! After getting thekite down and heading to the boatyardfor a keel inspection, we kept wonderingwhy we ran aground when we weresailing in the same spot the day beforewith no problems. The yard operatorexplained that, when major storms run inthe same direction as the ChesapeakeBay, the wind will blow more than threefeet of water out of the bay. With a littleminor keel repair, Monsoon was ready torace the next day.

The four-day 11-race regatta hadtwo days of a shifty 20-knot norther and50-degree temperatures, with the lasttwo days seeing five to 10 knots out ofthe south with temperatures about 60degrees. With 47 boats sailing in a widevariety of conditions, starting,consistency, and all around boat speedwould certainly be key factors. Speakingof starting, in our last Monsoon reportfrom the Sardinia Worlds, I wrote aboutthe Veloctek GPS computer that allowsyou to ping both ends of the line andthen get an exact display of distance tothe line. Well, we bought one and itcertainly helped, especially with the longlines. Most people were lined up luffingat about one minute before the start. Itwas most helpful when at 40 seconds theVeloctek tells you that you are still four

lengths away when you think you are onlytwo lengths away. The result is that you pullin a little earlier than the boats around youand have clean lanes off the line.

Team Monsoon sailed well all week andwas in fifth place for the majority of theregatta. We had a one point lead on bothDave Ullman and Morgan Reeser going in tothe last race, but unfortunately were passedby both and ended up seventh, still in frontof some major talent. Almost all of the boatsin the top ten were loaded with professional“rock stars”. In addition to world classskippers, the top boats crew lists were thewho’s who of tacticians, bowmen, trimmers,etc. Everyone knows and likes Bruce Ayresas a long-time Corinthian Melges 24 racer,and Team Monsoon received lots ofcompliments from several of the hotshots.They are aware that our underdog team isfar different from the top-tier professionalprograms because we can’t match theirtalent or commitment to winning as wespend by far the least amount of timesailing. We look forward to the next dance inKey West.

Final Results(Top 10 of 49; eleven races)

1. Terry Hutchinson 2. Gabrio Zandona 3. Flavio Favini 4. Dave Ullman 5. Chris Larson 6. Morgan Reeser 7. Bruce Ayres 8. Brian Porter 9. Alan Field10. Othmar Blumencron

DA N C I N G W I T H T H E STA R S

by Jon Pinckney

Yes, the stars were all out at the 2008Melges 24 North American Championshipsin Annapolis, Md., October 29th - Nov 1st,and team Monsoon was eager to “cut in”on the action. Many of the blogs weresaying this might be the deepest assemblyof talent for the Melges 24 fleet in the U.S.in quite some time. The US Melges 24Association press release said, “There is nomistaking the quality of the fleet which willassemble at the Eastport YC in Annapolis,MD, next week for the International 2008Melges 24 North American Championship.A glance at the entry list shows it to bestudded with Olympians, serial worldchampions, and America’s Cup veterans.With the 2009 Melges 24 WorldChampionship being hosted at the samevenue in twelve months time, many of thetop name teams from the U.S. and Europeare using the North AmericanChampionship to launch their Worldscampaigns.”

Team Monsoon had their work cut outfor them as we were splashing a brandnew boat. Not only did we need to figureout our new mast, and stretch out the newrig, but Bruce Ayres, Don Smith, and I hada new bowman, Sam Rogers, to acclimateto our program. Sam, a former employeeof Melges Boatworks, fit in well with ourteam and even taught us a few factorysecrets about setting up our new boat.The first day out practicing went well, andit was amazing to see how much ourshrouds and rake stretched by the end of

FI N N LI F E CO N T I N U E S F O R

NHYC ME M B E R S

by Peter Macdonald

It’s been a year since the trials have come and gone. Afterthe club hit the ball out of stadium on that event, everyone puttheir boat away and spent their time with family or hitting thegolf ball, at least till November! Many of us worked on gettingnew gear and new boats to help us dial in the boat speed.

Most of all the regular NHYC Finn sailors have beencontinuing down the Finn circuit here in California andinternationally. While we have not reported all of ouradventures, we are still out there sailing it solo and havinggood success on and off the race course. Club MembersRobert Kinney, Peter Connally, Brian Nickel, Phil Ramming,

Scott Mason, Chris Raab, Bill Bissell, and I have been veryactive not just in the California regattas but abroad as well. Wejust finished sailing three regattas and training in Long Beachover the last two months. Many of you read about PhilRamming's adventure at the Finn Master Worldchampionships in Holland this year where Phil finished 8th outof 281 boats and 2nd overall (Silver Medal) in the Grandmasters division! Phil, Scott, Robert, and I are getting ready tohead to San Francisco in October to sail in a number of eventsleading to the 2008 national Championships, where OlympicSilver Medalist, Zach Railey, will sail for the first time since theOlympics.

So, Finn life is still running strong at our club and we arecontinuing our efforts to sail these beasts wherever andwhenever we can!

11

SCHOCK REGATTA

HARBOR 20 CHAMPIONSHIPS

photos by Bob Yates

12

NON-CALM

HU G E CO N T I N G E N T

IN VA D E S SD!by Alexander Kirkland

Nineteen Sabots and fourLaser Radials descended uponMission Bay this past weekend tocompete in MBYC's JrCommodore's Regatta. It alsoserves as North Series #2 for theSabots. The Sabot fleet wasdeep and all the top players fromthe region were in attendance.Congrats go to Connor Kelter forwinning the A Fleet! He had anunstoppable Sunday in flukey,rainy breeze to take the title andsolidify his first place in the NorthSeries. Charlie Welsh had anamazing Saturday, with numeroustop 3 finishes to put him into 6thafter things wrapped up onSunday. It was a breakout regattafor him, showing himself and hiscompetitors that he can hangwith anyone. Lookout for him in2009 in the A Fleet! GreerWattson was also solid in the As,consistently sailing in the top 10,we just need her to hold onto allher top 5s! In the B Fleet, NHYCsaw strong performances fromWills Johnson and Claire Dahl,with some good races also fromCamden Daily, and SeanSegerblom among others. In theC1 Fleet, Ellery Sever sailed agreat Saturday in the solid breezeto chalk up numerous top 3finishes, ending on Sunday in avery respectable 3rd place. Inthe Laser Radial class NHYCfielded four sailors in a solid classtotaling 20 boats! This regattacounted as the San Diego AreaYacht Club’s Junior LaserChampionship. Top NHYC finisherwas Michael Madigan placingseventh in only his second regattain the Radial. All in all, it was afun event and all the kids enjoyedstaying at Paradise Point.

ZanderNHYC Non-Calm DirectorNHHS Sailing Team Coach

Non-Calms Jeff Ascheris, Brooks Clark, Emmy Dahl, Mac Mace, and Kayla Macomb were outin force raising money for the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation at the Morning lightMovie Premier. Disney donated t-shirts from the Morning Light movie that the Non-Calmssold to raise funds for the sailing foundation.

Sabot A – Conner Kelter 1st (right)

Sabot C-1 – Ellery Sever 3rd (middle)

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NON-CALM

7th respectively and all four boats directly behind me finishedtop five. So much for overtaking the lead boats, and any thoughtof capturing the top spot was pretty much gone. As the secondrace started my attention focused to maintaining my original 3rdplace overall Sunday starting spot. As the horn sounded for thesecond race I had positioned for a great start only to hear thedreaded OCS horn followed by my number, fortunately I had alane, was able to clear quickly and pull off a fourth place finish,just behind Kiernan but ahead of Georgie. As the last race wasto begin I had sunk behind Kiernan and Georgie, indeed lightingwould have to strike twice to pass them.

As the final race approached the tide had eased and wouldshortly turn in, the afternoon wind was shifting, and followingsuccessive pin resets the fleet had figured out the pin wasfavored, no secret there and everybody was fighting for positionas the horn sounded. We were all pretty much lined up front rowand everyone was bow out with good speed, I had a good start -top four, then On Course Side Horn, but no call. At this point Iremember thinking I don’t want to sail this race worrying I wasover, so I found a hole, jibed and cleared. The others didn’t. As Icrossed the finish line I was thinking good regatta, NHYC takesfirst and I had held my third.

As we hit the yard for de-rigging, the usual congratulations,and readying the boats for the trailer home, rumors began that afew top boats had been OCS at the start. You guessed it, betterlucky than good, Newport Harbor achieves first and fourth andlighting did strike twice…leaving me in first place.

Congratulations to all of the NHYC Sabot A fleet; KieranChung 4th, Charlie Welsh 2nd for the Sunday charity one-dayportion of the event and Carolyn Smith, Jimmy Madigan andGreer Wattson who all helped put together a strong showing forNHYC. And as always, a big thank you to our coaches!

ABYC FA L L IN V I TAT I O N A L

by Connor Kelter

The Alamitos Bay Yacht Club’s Fall Junior Invitational is thefirst leg of the annual four regatta North Series event and alsothe venue for next summer’s Sabot National JuniorChampionship. This helped produce a stacked 31 boat Sabot-Afleet for the event.

Saturday began as usual, arriving at the boatyard, greetingfriends, and setting up for the days racing. At the skippersmeeting, it was announced that there would be no throw outrace and that changes your perspective. I would have to restrainmy usually aggressive tactics which could backfire andinadvertently cause me to give away a race for which there is norecovery.

As the first boat across the finish line in the last race of dayone, I was feeling confident having compiled a four race total of13 points, just behind NHYC’s Kiernan Chung with 8 points andtop 10 Nationals finisher Georgie Ryan of SDYC at 7 points. Iremember thinking tomorrow I would need to sail a near perfectday to get past the formidable pair, and the usual pack of topfive finishers were just a few points behind me, leaving littleroom for error.

At race time on Sunday the second and final day of theregatta, the breeze was strong out of the west-southwest andthe tide was moving out quickly. The pin was favored at the firststart and I was fortunate enough to gain pin position but lostmy advantage when I missed the first opportunity to cross thefleet, then got picked off on my first tack and ended up gettingpinned to the left side and fighting the tide up a long lay linewith nowhere to go, eventually ending the first race in 13thplace while Georgie and Kiernan ahead of me finished 3rd and

Halloween Regatta Results Top 5 finishing NHYC Sailors:

CFJ's 1. Joe Tatchel2. Charlie Welsh/Camden Daily3. Chandler Daily/Brittney Welsh4. Greer Wattson/Connor Kelter5. Kelsey Christenson

Lasers 1. Andrew Mathers

Sabot A 2. Jimmy Madigan4. Griffin Hollbrook

Sabot B 1. Carter Scott

C1 1. Ellery Sever5. Wells Drayton

C2 5. Andrew Pearson

C3 1. Raleigh Garner3. Summer Christenson

14

SKIPPER PARTY

Casino Night 2008 was a great success! We had170 members and guests come out in HalloweenCostumes to enjoy the delicious creations of ChefPolly, gambling at the Casino Tables, and the"recession buster" free beer and wine provided byGeorge Smith and Young's Market.

Due to the extensive support of the NHYCmembership (and their guests), the silent auction andproxy bids brought in approximately $54,000 ingross revenues to support the Newport HarborSailing Foundation (NHSF).

The NHSF provides financial support to localyouth and amateur sailors who aspire to be the bestin the world. With your support, they providefunding that allows individual sailors and the localhigh school sailing teams to compete inchampionship regattas in the United States andaround the world.

This year's theme was Captain Hook's CostumeBall, and attendees were greeted with a clubhousethat had been transformed into a ghostly pirate ship,such as the Flying Dutchman. Just about everyguest dressed up in their best Halloween costume.There were some great pirate and wench outfits, butRob Meserve won the costume contest with hismorbid yet timely costume of a stock trader that hadhung himself.

Pictures of this year's Casino Night, courtesy ofAngel Eng at Opulenz Photography, can be viewedonline at http://www.opulenzphoto.com passwordyacht. All proceeds from the sale of photos will bedonated to the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation.

The success of each Casino Night is due to thegenerous donations made by the Newport HarborYacht Club membership. Most of the donated items,and all of the marquee items, are donated directly bymembers. This year we were fortunate to feature aweek's stay at the Connecticut lighthouse of Renaand Jason Pilalas, a four day private charter on TonyWattson's 78' Christine in Barra Navidad, Mexico,and five nights lodging in the architectural digestworthy Sun Valley home of Debi Bibb and DennisDurgan. The support of these and many othermembers are what make Casino Night such asuccess year after year.

The skipper members and the NewportHarbor Sailing Foundation would

like to thank all themembers that donateditems, proxy bid, orattended Casino Nightfor their support.

by Andrew Betz

15 photos by Pam Bacich

PA N A M A CA N A L A N D SA N

BL A S IS L A N D S O N AS TO Rby Jim Jordan

Marion and I had always dreamed oftaking a yacht through the PanamaCanal, so when Richard and LaniStraman called to see if we wereinterested in helping take Astor throughthe canal, we said, “Absolutely!”, wentto Passport Health to get our shots andmalaria pills, and made reservations.

Our mutual “Aussie” friends, Rossand Lynette MacDonald, flew into LAXfrom Sydney and joined us for the trip toPanama City on September 6. We metAstor at the Flamenco Marina, a verymodern, well protected facility with anumber of good restaurants ashore, anda great duty free store.

Richard hired a great agent, PeterStevens, who did all the paperwork,arranged for the pilot and four linehandlers. He made the administrativepart of the passage very simple.

After a minor accident picking upthe pilot (pilot boat bent a stanchion onAstor putting the pilot aboard) onSeptember 10, we entered the MiraFlores lock alone and were also alone inthe second lock. In the third lock, weside tied to a tug that was transiting.Then we sailed through a short cutacross Gatun Lake to the Atlantic sidewhere we locked through with a huge

16

CRUISING

Pippin. During a 55-knot squall on the firstmorning there, Lani and I hopped onto thedock to put on additional spring lines. Wehiked into the jungles around the marinawhere howler monkeys make a terribleblood curdling cry. Bruce drove us for anexcursion through more jungle to FortSherman which guarded the mouth of theChagres river. This was where Henry Morgancame through to sack Panama City of itsgold and riches.

Next stop was Isla Grande, which is aresort for Panamanians.Had a great crab lunch in arustic over-water café, andheaded for the San BlasIslands the next morning.

The San Blas (350+islands) are part of Panamaunder the control of theKuna Indians who are livingthere much as they havefor the past 500 years.The Island chain isprotected by a barrier reef,and there are reefsbetween the islands, socare is required in moving

freighter. During the transit, Lani did agreat job of feeding us and the linehandlers to keep our energy up. The pilottold us about crocodiles who follow theships through the canal to go from Atlanticto Pacific and back. We saw some on theshore.

We had expected a lot of turbulenceas the water filled the locks on the Pacificside, but the line handlers on Astor andthe sides of the lock made the transit quiteeasy. Weather held out for us as well; weonly had one light shower aswe went through Gatun Lake.

We exited the locks atColon, dropped off the linehandlers (with the tires Rossand I had wrapped as fendersin 100 degree heat with 95%humidity) and headed toShelter Bay Marina. This isanother very modern facilitywhere we were greeted by themarina manager Bruce and hiswife April (Americans) who liveon a 30 foot catamaran withtheir two teenage daughtersand their three-toed sloth

17

around to multiple beautiful anchoragesin sand bottom, a cruiser’s delight.Many times we were the only boat atanchor. Scuba diving is prohibited, butsnorkeling is absolutely fantastic withtons of reefs and ultra clear water.

Each day native women with theirchildren would paddle their dugoutcanoes to Astor to show the Mola’s theyhad made, beautiful hand stitchedmaterials with native designs. Theywould charge $1 for each day it took tomake the item, usually $25 to $40.Soon after, the native men would come

by with fresh lobsters, huge crabs, andfish for sale. We could not resist andbought 12 crabs and 18 lobster for $40,Richard cooked, Ross and I cleaned andcracked them all (took about 4 hours).Then we ate a marvelous crab/lobsterdinner, had crab omelets for breakfast,crab and lobster sandwiches for lunch,then lobster again for dinner. Neverthought we’d get tired of eating craband lobster, but by the third day Laniasked if we would like hamburgers fordinner. The reply from Ross was “aslong as we don’t have to clean them!”

Departing the San Blas we flewfrom a small strip on the island of ElPorvenir to Panama City in a twin Otterthinking that it would be a “direct

Indian village where we were taken bydugout canoe up to the headwaters ofthe Chagres river to a beautifulwaterfall, then went to their village fora native lunch of fresh caught fish,plantains, pineapple, and melons. Thenatives were dressed in brightlycolored beaded bras and skirts and didsome native dances for us followinglunch. It was amazing to see thetotally different lifestyles betweenDarien vs Kuna Indians in such a smallcountry. Carlos then took us to “oldtown” Panama City, which isundergoing a massive restorationprogram. We had paella in a beautifulsmall restaurant just across the streetfrom Noriega’s former palace, and thenvisited the Presidential palace and anative craft “flea market”.

Richard and Lani will be inCartagena, Colombia for a month, thenwill go to either Aruba or Jamaica,depending on the wind, and plan toremain in the Caribbean throughAntigua Race Week and possiblythrough next season as well.

The trip was beyond ourexpectations. Anyone planning totransit the canal should spend at leasta week cruising the San Blas Islands.

flight.” We learned that the twin Otter islike a “bus” between the islands. Natives,boxes of fish, mail, and a few touristswould get on and off at each island. Welanded at three islands before finallyheading for Panama City where we weremet by our guide, Carlos, for the day.Our tour started by visiting a Darien

18

CRUISING

CR U I S I N G CATA L I N A’S BA C K S I D Eby Tod White

Eight boats joined the Catalina Circumnavigation cruiseand everyone had a great time with a wide variety of activitiesand every kind of weather. Participants included Mola Molawith Mick and Pam Bacich and their guests from the St.FYCMike and Bobbe Brown aboard their new Fleming 65, Journey;Madcap with cruise chairman Bob and Pam Thompson; Twilightwith Toby and Darci Schriber and their guests Linda and BobKilpatrick; Naiad with Scott and Jane Calder; Encantada withRoger and Marilyn Riley; Kai Loke Lani with John and JoanMiller, and Seascape with Linda and Tod White.

September 25th was a choppy, wet ride to HowlandsLanding where we enjoyed the LAYC facility and bbq, well litwith the tiki torches discovered by the resourceful John Miller.The following day, Mola Mola, Journey, and Seascape went toSanta Barbara Island. Clear, blue skies changed rapidly to peasoup fog, which, thankfully, lifted a bit just as we approachedthe island. The SBI landing dock and ladder are once again inexcellent condition. We hiked the island in a brisk breeze thatwhipped the fog all about and gave us the feeling we werewalking on clouds.

We all met up again on Saturday in Cat Harbor where wejoined the Happy Hour at Banning House before heading forthe Harbor Reef restaurant where the opening day of lobsterseason was being celebrated—with lobsters flown in fromMaine! Go figure. Several of our cruisers tried to trap lobstersbut without success so perhaps importing from Maine indeedmade sense.

Sunday was a beautiful day. Fair winds and following seasmade for a good sail down Catalina’s backside to the east end.Most of us went in to Little Harbor just to look around. It’s one

of the prettiest; least used anchorages on the island. Wearrived in Avalon mid-afternoon, in time to catch the lastcouple of hours of the Blues Festival at Descanso Beach.Besides good music in a gorgeous setting, people watchingyielded every variety of Homo sapiens imaginable—all having agreat time, many on the grass dance floor. We had dinner atthe Buffalo Nickel, a mostly Mexican restaurant at PebblyBeach. Billy von KleinSmid recommended it and we’re glad hedid. Not fancy, not touristy, not expensive, but very tasty andright on the water. No wonder it’s a favorite of the locals.

We moved from Avalon to Moonstone on Monday andwere greeted by the quirkiest weather. The wind went fromcalm to anchor dragging gusts of 30 followed by three windshifts of 180 degrees, then as the sun set back to calm for therest of the night. Blame it on the weather, perhaps, but effortsto catch the elusive lobsters again failed. We had a fine feastashore followed by a spirited Bocce tournament supervised byRoger Riley, the commissioner of Moonstone Bocce. Alsospirited was the Riddle Competition. Early in the cruise eachboat was given 47 riddles intended for sixth graders. Samples:1) What gets wetter the more it dries? 2) The more there is, theless you see. “Darkness” is the schoolbook answer for thesecond, though we were all impressed by Eye Doc JohnMiller’s answer “Glaucoma”. The only thing distinguishing uscruisers from a group of silly sixth graders was the amount ofchampagne consumed. Moonstone was as beautiful and funas usual.

We all returned to Newport Tuesday and it couldn’t havebeen a nicer crossing. Winds that began at 25 soon weresteady 12-15 NW with gently following sea. Twilight’s beautifulspinnaker had her speeding along under a bright blue, sunnysky. Each passing boat slowed for photographs. The triphome was a perfect finish to a very fun cruise.

Become a “Shady Character” for the HolidaysConservancy supporters, and tree-lovers at large, will have a chance to become tree sponsors at the Haypress Picnic Groundson Catalina Island.

Purchasing a $500 sponsorship for a specific species of tree, would make a wonderful Holiday gift or to honor a loved one.While it’s not possible to donate a specific tree, donors will be able to pick a species of tree in a particular grove.

70 Torrey Pines, 90 Catalina Ironwoods, 55 Island Cherries, and 30 Island Oaks are among the 245 trees that are slatedfor the restoration of the Haypress picnic area. Planted in four distinct groves, the trees will replace about 130 pine treeskilled by a combination of a two-year drought, last year's May 10th fire, and a bark beetle infestation in and around theHaypress area.

Sponsors will receive a handsome certificate suitable for framing.

For more information, please contact Chuck Wright (562) 437-8555, ext 225

Catalina Island COnservancy

19

CRUISING

LO B S T E R HO O P NE T T I N G

CR U I S Eby Lez Betz

Halloween weekend found Sea Pearlleading the NHYC lobster cruise. Maria and Iwere joined on Sea Pearl by Chip Donnelly.Unfortunately only one boat from NHYCmade it and that was for only Sunday night,Island Girl skippered by Kevin Finn with crewmembers John Caravelli, Dan McNerney, andTim Kelley. We were also joined by friends ofours from Del Rey YC, Karl & Kjerski Durowon their Bayliner 39 Stella Maris.

As to the lobster hoop netting, we werelucky to get three legals on Friday night, twoon Saturday, and one on Sunday. We alsohad about eight or nine shorts, two hornedsharks, and one spider crab. The high pointof the weekend was the monster bug wecaught on Saturday night. The carapacemeasured 5.5 inches, and it weighed 5pounds. One of the largest caught in thecove in recent memory. Not that we can takemuch credit for it, you get what you get.

Even though we had the lowest turnoutin the history of NHYC cruises, I urge you toget over and try. The lobster season is openuntil March 18, 2009 and there are plenty ofgood weather weekends left.

Great Holiday Gift for Wine Lovers!

Wine Dinner Mauritson Family Winerywith proprietor/winemaker

Clay Mauritson

Tuesday Jan 20, 20086:30pm

Featuring wines fromDry Creek Valley and

Rockpile AVA’s

$100++Reservations required,

cancellation policy in effect

2008 FI S H I N G

SE A S O N WR A P-UP

A N D FA R E W E L L

T O A N

OL D FR I E N Dby Christopher Allen

2008 was a great yearfor local fishing with all buttwo First Fish Flags claimedby the NHYC Anglers Fleet.The Marlin bite was one ofthe best in years, with thequality of fishing rivaling thatof the lower Baja Peninsula.In addition, our JuniorAnglers made a goodshowing again this year withfive Flags claimed. To clarify,local waters are defined asthe waters from Pt.Conception to the 31stparallel. In addition to thetraditional local flags, theAnglers Fleet awards a set offlags called Award of MeritFlags for First Fish on avariety of game fish speciesthat are caught outside localwaters and are not foundlocally.

It is with sadness that Ireport the passing of one ofthe finest anglers in NHYCAnglers Fleet history. ThayerCrispin passed away inSeptember, but his memoryand achievements will liveon. Thayer distinguishedhimself with outstandingfishing prowess both locallyand internationally. Thefollowing is a farewell toThayer by Russ Behrens.

20

ANGLERS

A Farewell to my Good Friend andFishing Buddy, Thayer Crispin

Thayer passed away on September15, 2008 after an extended recoveryfrom surgery. He was a true friend ofthe Tuna Club and spent many hours inservice to the Club over the years. Hewas President in 1995. His dedication tofishing and good humor were hallmarksto his many friends.

I met Thayer in 1982 through GaryHill. I asked Gary who the fellow waswith the 28’ Bertram named Ahi Kai andthe “Mr. Magoo” yachting hat. Garyresponded, “You ought to meet him.He’s a ‘bitchin’ guy’. He’s down here atthe gas dock every morning for coffee.”Soon after that, Thayer and I becamefast friends and enjoyed our mutualinterests. He and I had a lot in common.We both independently named ourboats Ahi; we were both born on May19th; and we were avid fishermen,hunters, and woodworkers. Thayer’s sonBill was at the helm of the Ahi Kai whenThayer caught his button fish. My sonSteve was at the helm of the Ahi when Icaught my button fish.

At Thayer’s invitation, I wasfortunate to be able to join the TunaClub and Newport Harbor Yacht Club. Over the years, we spent a lot of time together fishing,hunting, and woodworking. Fishing the East End and Down the Ridge was Thayer’s favoritehaunt, no matter where the “bite” was. We spent many hours hunting for my elusive button fishand Thayer managed to catch a couple in the process. (We’d both drop back and he’d get bitfirst.)

My official fishing name was “Buster Brown”. Thayer took great delight in introducing andreferring to me as “Buster Brown” and would chortle in the process. I was also the “designatedhitter” on all our trips, which included all the cockpit jobs, checking and changing the lures,bartending (beer and Gordon’s gin), and manning the galley.

Thayer and I also spent a lot of time with our wives at Las Cruces in Baja. For many years,we fished in Thayer’s 18’ Panga Oso Negro (who would have guessed). He was always makingimprovements and additions to the Oso Negro in the winter in anticipation of taking them downin the spring for installation and trial. Down there, his favorite destination was Cerralvo for tuna,dorado, marlin, and bass. In the springtime, sierra were the target. We always returned to theresort by 1:00pm for refreshments (beer, margaritas, and gin), lunch with our wives, a nap beforedinner, beautiful sunsets, and stargazing. Can’t get any better than that! Thayer finally bought a25’ Super Panga, Oso Negro. He and I installed the hydraulic steering and enjoyed theenlarged fishing area. When I asked Thayer how fast the boat was (175 HP Yamaha), hisresponse was “fast enough to suck the gin out of your glass”.

Thayer was a devoted family man and enjoyed his son, Bill, and his wife, Sally, and hisdaughter, Vail, and all the grandkids. After Betty passed away in 1999, Thayer slowed downnoticeably. His family and grandkids provided the support and care that kept Thayer’s spirits up.

I will always remember our adventures and good times together. Farewell my friend. Seeyou on the “other side.”

- Russ “Buster Brown” Behren

Thayer Crispin with Marlin in Avalon. Son Billwas Captain.

ANGLERS

2008 FIRST FISH FLAGS/LOCAL WATERS*

SPECIES BOAT SKIPPER ANGLER DATEStriped Marlin - Released Cazador Chris Allen Nick Allen 8/9Striped Marlin - Taken Shadow “Old” Wink “Young” Wink 8/3Swordfish (AVAILABLE)Big Eye Tuna (AVAILABLE)Albacore Shadow “Old” Wink Pete Binaski 6/20Yellowtail Gordo John M Curci John M Curci 5/31White Sea Bass Halfmoon Packy Offield Packy Offield 3/13Yellowfin Tuna Gordo John M Curci John M Curci 8/9Bluefin Tuna Dos Gatos Matt Merickel Dave Kennett 6/21Dorado Shadow “Old” Wink “Old” Wink 8/1Halibut Que Bueno Randy Hause Randy Hause 4/11

*Local Waters-----between Point Conception and 31st parallel.

AWARD OF MERIT FLAGS/OUTSIDE**

SPECIES BOAT SKIPPER ANGLER DATE LOCATIONPacific Blue Marlin - RLSD Alegre Jeff Littlell Jeff Littlell 4/27 MexicoAtlantic Blue Marlin - RLSD (AVAILABLE)Black Marlin -RLSD (AVAILABLE)White Marlin - RLSD (AVAILABLE)Pacific Sailfish Anzuelo II Hector Bill Bennett 6/2 Pamas BayAtlantic Sailfsh Mstrs BF Sharky Packy Offield 5/11 CancunSpearfish (AVAILABLE)Wahoo (AVAILABLE)Yellowfin Tuna +100# (AVAILABLE)Big Eye Tuna +100# (AVAILABLE)Bluefin Tuna +100# (AVAILABLE)

**Anywhere outside of local waters

JUNIOR FLAGS/AWARDS***

SPECIES BOAT SKIPPER ANGLER DATEStriped Marlin Cazador Chris Allen Nick Allen 8/9Albacore Bastante Rod Neighbors Kellen Neighbors 8/9Albacore Bastante Rod Neighbors Trevor Neighbors 8/9Albacore Cazador Chris Allen Nick Allen 8/9Dorado Bastante Rod Neighbors Kelly Neighbors 8/5

***All of the Flags/Awards are available to “Junior Fleet Members,” as a separate category.

Bill Bennett presenting flags to:

Jeffrey Littell

Kellen Neighbors Bill Bennett recievesAward of Merit Flag

Jeffrey Littell, Joe Winkelmann, Joe WinkelmannJr., Bill Bennett and Nick Allen with their Flags

Trevor Neighbors

Chris Allen Joe Winkelmann Nick Allen Joe Winkelmann

22

CABO 2009

NHYC CABO RACE TEAMS

UP WITH CABO CHARITY

NHYC has a long tradition of racing to Cabo San Lucasand has developed strong ties within the Cabo community.In an effort to further strengthen these ties and to help acommunity in need, the 2009 Race will be a conduit tosupport the Casa Hogar Boys’ Orphanage.

Casa Hogar is a newly built 60-bed facility dedicated tocaring for boys from all over Cabo, ages 5-20. Presentlythere are 20 young boys who live at Casa Hogar. The maingoal of Casa Hogar is to the EDUCATE AND ELEVATE – tohelp these boys realize a better life.

Housing, feeding, clothing, and educating these specialyoung boys requires a great deal of financial support. CaboRace organizers are urging participants to support CasaHogar. All donations are tax deductible and greatlyappreciated no matter the amount. For more information, goto their website at www.casahogarcsl.org/.

RACE UPDATE

Created in 1971, the Cabo Race is an800-mile international regatta fromNewport Beach to Cabo San Lucas.

Most of this year’s early entrants areexperienced veterans, having competed mostrecently in the 2005 and 2007 versions of thisclassic bicentennial race.

The scrappy Santa Cruz 50 fleet is onceagain making a strong showing….includingRocket, Fortaleza, Horizon, and Adrenalin!Robert Lane will also be returning to competein Medicine Man, as will Jim Madden, who willbe driving the newest iteration of Stark RavingMad.

The Pennell brothers from San Diego willonce again be battling it out, with DennisPennell returning in his veteran Reichel/Pugh50, Blue Blazes….and Ernie Pennell bringing anew weapon to the course, the TP52 Cazador.

Buddy Richley’s Amante may be the oldestcompetitor in the entry list so far….Amantewon its class in the ’85 and ’87 editions of therace.

Newcomer to the NHYC Cabo Race, but arecognized veteran of distance racing, SueSenescu, will be sailing in the newlycommissioned Yippee Kai Yay. Senescu andher women’s sailing team “Nauti Chicas” havebeen active in several recent coastal distanceraces.

Adding to the list of competitors is TimBeatty and Stealth Chicken, Brad Duker’sHolua, and the “Johnson Boys” Magic!

Many sailors use the NHYC Cabo Race asa tune up for the Transpac Yacht Race, one ofthe world’s most storied regattas. Transpac istraditionally held three months after the run toCabo San Lucas.

MARCH 6 – 14

SAVE THE DATES

Javier Aguirre Lopez, Casa Hogar Administrator

23

FROM THE MANAGER

HOTWEditor

Anne NuttenCommittee

Chris AllenPam BacichDorothy BeekDonna BentsKristin & Robert BentsJane & Scott CalderJohn ClementJuli CookLyle DavisMichael di DonatoTim DoaneJennifer & John DraytonJayne HauseByron HendersonJeanette & Bowie HoughtonNed JonesJim JordanStephanie MartinNina A. NielsenHarriet PalletteSteve SchupakDennis ScholzBill von KleinSmidJudith WattsonChris WelshGeorge WestTod WhiteRobert Yates

ContributorsCommodore Bruce R. D’Eliscu,Thomas Gilbertson, CCM, Andrew Betz, Lez Betz, RussBehren, Casey Hogan, Jim Jordan, Connor Kelter, Alexander Kirkland, Peter Macdonald, John Peschelt, Jr,Jon Pinckney, Tod White

Layout and DesignVince Mattera Design

Newport Harbor Yacht Club720 West Bay Avenue • Balboa 92661

673-7730 Phone • 673-3972 Fax723-6878 Boatyard

nutd@juno.comWeb site: www.nhyc.org

CommodoreBruce R. D’Eliscu

Vice CommodoreWilliam H. Crispin

Rear CommodoreW. Bradley Avery

DirectorsBruce R. D’EliscuWilliam H. CrispinW. Bradley AveryMarc L. FosterJeffrey J. GordonJeffrey D. LittellEdwin A. MeserveRichard S. Robinson, Jr.Thomas E, Springer III

General ManagerThomas Gilbertson, CCM

The membership has been a keyingredient in the level of membersatisfaction. Members giving back hasmade it a pleasure for staff to be partof this process.

As we wind down 2008, we reflecton the directive from the Bridge,increase participation, and have fun.The results are in and the goal wasachieved.

Commodore D’Eliscu applied thevision of an inviting and inclusivemanagement style. The formulaworked. The 2008 Board of Directorsremained focused and energized tohelp deliver a successful year. ThePolicy and Planning Commissionremained supportive as the Clubcontinued on its track. The combined

effort of volunteers, elected officials,and former leaders make the Clubgreat.

The new administration is poisedto take the helm. Vice Commodore

Crispin has organized a solid groupof Committee Chairs and incomingBoard Members to lead the Club in2009. The goal from the Bridge thisyear will be to “Stay the Course”,maintain the traditions, enhance theexperience and add some fun to theschedule to help the members to enjoythe friendships and camaraderie of theNewport Harbor Yacht Club.

Plan to join us at the New Year’sEve Open House to share the spiritwith each other. In that this event is anew activity, your assistance is mostnecessary in making reservations tohelp staff prepare for the evening. Welook forward to seeing you there andthroughout 2009!

Thomas Gilbertson, CCMGeneral Manager

This issue of Hard on the Wind is theconcluding newsletter for 2008.The year seemed to fly by so

quickly. There have been considerableaccomplishments in the past twelve monthsand many are detailed in the Commodore’scolumn.

Perhaps an achievement which has lesspromotion is member satisfaction. Theconcept is simple, yet the ability to earnit is less so. Throughout the year wehave regularly enjoyed the support andcompliments on the efforts of allinvolved to deliver a fun filled year.

The incredible volunteer spiritpermeates Newport Harbor Yacht Club.Members give freely of their time andresources to truly make the membershipexperience exceptional. From the racecourse to the committee structure, to theBoard Room, NHYC stands far above manyother entities due to commitments madeon each members’ behalf. A few significantexamples in 2008 stand out. The vitality ofteam racing ignited the sailing interest inthe spring. The hard work generated by somany in activities like Club Work Day,Moonstone Work Weekend, Opening Day,Stag Cruise, and Commodore’s Cruiseexemplify the Committee spirit fromplanning to execution. The Skippermembers partnered with the NewportHarbor Sailing Foundation and exceededall expectations with a hugely successfulCasino Night. The Non-Calm program andtheir accomplishments were spectacular.

IN MEMORIAM

MR. JAMES MYERSON

November 10, 2008

Member since 1973

MR. WALTER W. HOFFMAN

November 13, 2008

Member since 1965

BIRTHS

Charlotte Anne CarmichaelSeptember 10, 2008

Proud Parents: Alan and Emily Carmichael

Paloma Marie ArrigoSeptember 17, 2008

Proud Parents: Mike and Kristen ArrigoProud Sisters: Alena and Isabella Arrigo

New Year’s EveOpen House

6:30-9:30 p.m.Hors D’oeuvres

Light music

$15.00 per person ++

Adults only

Reservations requiredwww.nhyc.org949-673-7730