October 2008 - club.scyc.org · October 2008 Fun at the West ... we hope you will come join the fun next year. Carolyn Degnan Commodore’s Report ... Callao, Peru (the port near

October 2008

Fun at the West Marine Fun RegattaAll of us involved with the Junior Sailing Pro-

gram would like to thank the SCYC members and stafffor their help and support in putting on another greatWest Marine Fun Regatta (WMFR). This was the 15th

annual WMFR to promote junior sailing and to benefitthe Junior Sailing Program. It was open to young sailorsaged 8 to 18.

We had 67 sailors – traveling from as far asStockton Sailing Club and Moro Bay Yacht Club. Theyoungest group raced their El Toros and Optis on acourse set out just beyond the Boardwalk between theyacht harbor and the wharf. The course for the oldergroup of 29ers, FJs, and Lasers was farther out fromthere.

Seven generous donors, West Marine (princi-pal sponsor), Gayle’s Bakery, PowerBar, GizdichRanch, Cal Giant, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, andKiwanis Club of Surf City, all contributed to make ittruly a “Fun” Regatta. Check out the happy facesonline. Start at www.scyc.org, click on the “Juniors”tab, then click on the yellow West Marine Fun Regattalink on the left. Our WMFR page has links to thephotos and results.

Keeping the regatta safe and running smoothlywas a force of 75 volunteers made up of West Marineassociates, SCYC members, parents of juniors, andfriends. I must spotlight Bret Gripenstraw, TimKelbert, Matthew Coale, Dave Kitchen, Ric

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OCTOBER 2008 SANTA CRUZ YACHT CLUB SPINNAKER SHEET

Diola, Joey Pasquali, Bill Lard, Carl Ruhne, SudieRuhne, Dave Wahle, John Buchanan, Jr, ShawnCarrig, Chuck Hawley, and Pat Diola for their help –even though they do not have children currently in theJunior Program. The WMFR usually falls on theweekend after the Windjammer; so save the date andwe hope you will come join the fun next year.

Carolyn Degnan

Commodore’s Report

This years date for the Annual GeneralMeeting will be Sunday November 2nd. Please comeand vote for the next year’s Board of Directors. Iwould like to thank Barbara Booth, RickDiola,Walter Olivieri and Mark Dini for serving onthis year’s nominating committee. Next year’s slatewill be posted at the SCYC.

The October Board meeting has been movedto 5:30 pm from 7:00 pm so we can all attend theMorning Light movie fundraiser for the Santa CruzSailing Foundation. See attached flyer.

Our defense of the Veeder Cup will be carriedout by Craig French and Matt Lezin on theirSydney 38 Animal. Race days are October 18th and19th. Match racing is great for spectators so come outand support our sailors.

Please come and bring some friends and enjoyFriday and Sunday dinners at the yacht club. I haveattended most of the Sunday dinners and the food hasbeen great. Kiss Catering, Sandy and Scott have beenworking very hard to provide us quality meals at areasonable cost so lets support them.

I would also like to thank club manager GregHaws and office manager Jennifer Whall for anexceptional job this year

Bret GripenstrawCommodore

(r. to l.) Patrick Tara (1st), Haydon Stapleton (3rd),Mackenzie Cook (2nd)

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Rear Commodore Report (Social)

The Windjammer. The SCYC welcomingcommittee stayed up all night waiting, and waiting, andwaiting, and waiting, for the sailors to start pouring in.Well, light winds prevailed, sailors didn’t pour in. Theydid trickle in, and each was welcomed, guided, andtaken care of by Kate Riley, and crew, Joan McVay,Mary Jane Slade, Agnes Doutre, and YvonneTrafton. Bridget Binko’s Clam Chowder hasbecome legendary. Example: one sailor who droppedout of the race and returned to S.F. got in his car anddrove to SCYC, walked in and wanted to know whereour famous Clam Chowder was. (True story.) Fact:demand was so great that Bridget was recalled tomake another batch. The last of the Clam Chowderwas served at 3:00 in the after noon with a day oldhamburger bun to a very appreciative sailor. (Truestory.) Bob Warfield and Ginny Delaney showed upat 8:00 A.M. and the all-nighters were very relieved!Bob and Ginny spent the rest of the day doing things

that made this event happen. Vance Landis and SteveSmardan handled the food tickets and selling Windjam-mer T-shirts. Team decorations: D.J. Timpany andHjordis Quitzau, great job with the flowers andballoons. Jim Skinner was responsible for thatfabulous BBQ Tri-Tip. Great job! Jim was the work-horse, did it all from food prep, to BBQ’n, to clean up.Jim spent 12 hours at the club. Paul Noddings BBQ’dthe chicken and turkey, an excellent addition. RickLinkemyer helped out at the BBQ after competing inthe Windjammer race. Ann Niemann spent 10 hoursin the kitchen and could not have done it withoutMaureen Hill and Bill Lard’s culinary skills. Bar-bara Booth did an amazing job presenting the appetiz-ers, then jumped in to help serve when it got crazy inthe kitchen. Michael Wood, your talents with a breadknife and a can of Whipping Cream are off the charts.The bottom line is, we got tons of “Thank you”, “Loveyour club”, “Best dinner”, etc, etc!!! Team Windjam-mer, you people are the best! Thank you. (True Story)

Sorry, the Potluck scheduled for September13th was canceled.

As a side note, Bud and Maureen Hillhosted Gary Wicks (from the FBYC in Toronto) on aWednesday night race. Gary loved Monterey Bay

(Yacht Club Peruano manager Jaime AckermannMenacho exchanging burgees with Rear Commodore

Steve Niemann)

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Annual GeneralMembership

MeetingSunday, November 2, 2008

@ 4:00 pmThe bar will be open before and after the

meeting. There will be food served follow-ing. Please come to cast your vote, hear a

brief “State of the Club” and enjoy thecompany of other members. This is a very

important part of your membership andyour attendance is appreciated.

sailing, as he departed he said he had to return toToronto to winterize his boat before it snowed and thelake froze. Don’t you just love Santa Cruz?

Lastly, Ann and I had an extraordinary trip toPeru, which included a trip to “Yacht Club Peruano” inCallao, Peru (the port near Lima). We met the man-ager of the club, Jaime Ackermann Menacho, andexchanged Burgees. (See picture) I was proud torepresent the SCYC in a foreign country.

I hope to see you at some SCYC activities inOctober. Don’t forget the Pirate Party on the 11th, andof course Halloween on the 31st – it’s on a Fridaynight! We’ll see you around the club.

Steve NiemannRear Commodore

SCYC Proposed2009 Slate of Officers

Commodore - Lena ParkerVice Commodore - Steve NiemannRear Commodore - Michael Wood

Treasurer - Tom WebsterSecretary - Tim Hawkins

Director - Charles MurrayDirector - Chris Doutre

Cruise to Capitola Art & Wine

The annual cruise to Capitola, by boat, bike &car, was a resounding success again this year! Thanksespecially to Pat Parmalee for the generous use of herproperty on the creek in the village for a very happyhour on Saturday! Coming down by boat were Bob Warfield &Ginny Delaney on Dreamer, Marc & Lyn Barshayon Aeolian, Ron Dillehay & Sheryl Guidera onEmeritus, Dave Rummens & Elizabeth Jolissaint onEasy Passage, and Reachable Star too brought SteveSmardan. The art was beautiful, the wine was deli-cious, and the music great. Members and friends whoalso stopped by to enjoy the happy hour included (and Iapologize if I miss anyone) Pat Parmalee (of course!),Kate Riley, Vern & Meredith Wallace, Peter &Alberta Young, Kim & Tom Fakmer, Dave & NancyDias, Steve & Ann Niemann, Vance Landis, PaulMcKellar, and I know there was more (but I didn’t getthe list in time!). See you next year!!!

Steve Smardan

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Upcoming SCYCEvents CalendarPirate Party Raft-Up

October 11

Fall SCORE #3October 12

Morning Light MovieOctober 16

Veeder Cup ChallengeOctober 18-19

Dock (X) PartyOctober 25

Fall One Design #3October 25

Last Wednesday Night BBQOctober 29

Mini-Boat RegattaNovember 1

The Life of the Party-Cruise toMonterey Jazz Festival

The stars of this year’s Jazz Festival weekendwere the Monterey Bay mammals. We saw a handfulof cavorting humpback whales on the way over, and ahuge passel of white-sided common dolphins on theway back. These dolphins have bellies so white, youcan see them flashing around in the water even whenthey are six feet deep under the boat. It’s like beingtorpedoed. They played in our bow waves for at leastan hour while we all gawked and squealed like schoolkids. And the sailing wasn’t bad either. On Friday,we motored for about an hour, then motor-sailed forabout an hour, and then close-reached for the last hourand a half. True North and Pacific Spirit were side-by-side in about 18 knots of breeze for the last hour orso reaching into the jaws at Monterey Harbor. Eowynand ‘Skate’s had left earlier, but we used our motor tocatch up to them and take their pictures. The SCYCturnout was excellent, as usual. Dave and NancyDias on Eowyn; Marc and Lyn Barshay on Aeolian;Ron Dillehay and Sheryl Guidera (MJF first-timers)on Emeritus; Steve Smardan, Joan McVay, and FabyPayan on Reachable Star Too; Vance Landis andTom Sullivan on Diver Down; Kate Riley, PeterSpicer, and DJ Timpany on ‘Skates’; Diana Lane,Nancy Beekman, Don Conant, Fred Lauber, and JeffThayer on Pacific Spirit for the trip over; they werejoined by Kathy Carney and Paul McKellar for thereturn leg; and Agnes and I were joined by KrisNorth and Ed Goldstein on True North; unfortu-nately, Donn Campion, aboard Jumpin Jack Flash,was unable to make the trip due to a missing backstay(don’t ask). About the music, we really enjoyed Ryan Shaw;he has an amazingly clear and powerful tenor voice

AGMNovember 2

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and he and his band have a very energetic R&B style.He did a great job on songs by Bob Marley, OtisRedding, and Janis Joplin, and he also included someexcellent compositions of his own, including thebreakthrough, “I Choose Me”. Also, although we didnot hear them ourselves, the French-Canadian group,La Tuque Bleue, received a glowing report fromseveral of the cruisers, even though the French lyricswere completely incomprehensible. The music musthave been phenomenal. Of course, as usual, we had afew non-ticket-holders: Kathy and Diana opted to takean afternoon Science Under Sail cruise on the DerekM. Baylis and check out the sea-stars and the kelp-dwellers (and enjoy sailing that amazing boat). The Sunday trip back was very similar to Fridayexcept that the west swell made it a little lumpy inspots. However, shortly after leaving MontereyHarbor, we spotted the Derek M. Baylis lurking in thekelp bed in front of the Aquarium; they were on aScience Under Sail cruise, barely moving, so we swungby and sailed in formation for a few minutes while wechatted across the water. Then we fell off and gotback on course for Santa Cruz Harbor. All in all, it

was another fantastic weekend cruising adventure.And the dates for next year’s festival are alreadypublished. So as soon as I find out what they are, youwill all receive an invitation for next year. Fair winds.

Chris Doutre

PIRATES, YE ALL COME!!!!

Come one, come all, ye cruisin’ or racin’ menand women of the sea!!! Join the raft-up of pirateboats on Saturday, October 11th in Cowell’s Cove

The doin’s begin at 1500 (3:00PM). A sign-upsheet for boats that will be in the raft-up is posted inthe hallway of SCYC. For anyone who cannot comeon their own boat, Onward needs to depart at 1400(2:00PM), so that she can set anchor for the raft-up. Please sign up for Onward on the sign -up sheet at theclub. Signups for Onward are limited to 10. We will provide chowder, some other food items,bowls and spoons, and of course the GROG. For thoseof you who were not with us last year, grog originally(pre 1650) was the dregs of the barrels of whiskey,beer, wine, and whatever that the boat captain couldget from the bars around the harbors. It was put intokegs and used at sea for the sailors. Then brandybecame the main alcohol with the dregs of the othersbecause brandy was cheap. After 1680 brandy wasreplaced with rum because it was cheaper. You will behappy to know that the SCYC pirates do not use“dregs”. Our grog (both kinds to sample) will be of thebest quality. Trond will return this year to sing his Pirate

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Chanteys. Bring your gold coins to tip him. If youhave instruments, bring them and join the singing.Costumes are encouraged but not mandatory (Argggh,ye may have to have an extra ration of grog). Bring adish to share, and whatever ye choose to add to therevelry.

TRUE PIRATE FACTS:* The Jolly Roger flag, with its black background andwhite skull and crossbones, was designed to be scaryand was much more so in its time than it is today. Itwas only flown by those sailing in the Spanish Main.* Pirates believed that wearing pierced earrings wouldimprove their eyesight.* They believed that whistling on a ship would causethe weather to turn stormy (as in “to whistle up astorm.”)* Although pirates have been around since the 15thcentury, most pirating happened between 1650 and1720.

PIRATE VOCABULARY: There may be a quiz atthe raft up!

Words:Avast, Clap of thunder, Pieces of eight, Six Pounders,Hornswaggle, Arrrrrrrrr (yes it has a meaning),Blaggards, Blighters, Sauce, Saber, Cutlass, Doubloon,Guinea, Sequin, CorsairPhrases:Shiver Me (My) Timbers; honest air; CryHavoc; Smart as paint; French leave; Have the windof; a Hempen Halter SO ME BUCKOS, JOIN US - THE JACK-O-COINS, THE JACK-O-CAPS, THE JACK-O-STAVES, THE JACK-O-SWORDS, AND ALL USJACK TARS ON OCT. 11, AND LET’S CEL-EBRATE THE SCYC PIRATES ONE AND ALL!!

Joan McVayKate Riley

October Dock Party

On Saturday, October 25th there will be dockparty in the upper harbor on “X” dock. DaveRummens and Elle Jolissaint will be our hosts onthe dock beside their sailboat Easy Passage.This is the last party of the 2008 cruising season, soyou don’t want to miss it. So grab your friends andfamily, bring something to share, and come on down tothe harbor to swap sailing stories and raise a glass toanother successful SCYC cruising season. The partystarts at 2 PM. All yacht club members are welcome,so we hope you will plan to stop by. The club willprovide some refreshments.

Nancy and Dave DiasCruise Chairs

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Mini-Boat Regatta: Notice to Race

Invitation to race for prizes and glory. Pro-ceeds will be donated to the Junior Sailing Program.

When: Saturday, November 1st, 20084:30 p.m. Registration/Start building boats6:30 p.m. Start Racing

Eligibility: All comers

Classes:Club-built: Boats built at the SCYC on the day of therace; boat building limited to official materials provided.Junior fleet restricted to ages 15 and under.Home-built: Boats built at home; no material limits.

Entry Fees:Club-built (Jr. Division) $ 3Club-built (Sr. Division) $10Home-built $20Team (with 5 club boats) $50

Awards:Trophies will be awarded in each class, the number oftrophies depending on the number of entries.

Sailing Instructions:The racing will be held on an artificial pond, 14 feet inlength and 4 feet wide. The water will be approxi-mately two inches deep. The wind source is a com-mon house fan mounted a few feet away from thehead of the pond. The wind will pass through adiffuser between the fan and the pond, to minimize thevortex created by the rotary action of the fan.

Design Rule: This event is first and foremost a yachtrace. Therefore, all boats must be wind-driven, theymust be entirely supported by water, and they mustfunction in a “right side up” condition. All “club-built”boats must be built at the SCYC between the hours of4:30 pm and the start of racing at 6:30 pm. They canonly be made with the materials provided. “Home-built” boats can be made at any other time, with norestrictions on materials. There is no limitation on thenumber of sails or hulls a single boat may have.

Legal boats must be able to pass through the“rule can” without deforming any hull or sail features.The rule can is a Town House brand (Safeway) 8-oz.can of fancy Hawaiian pineapple chunks. A boat willbe measured first by passing it through the can as if itwere to sail straight through the can. This is a mea-surement to control a combination of beam and mastheight. Greater mast height allows for more sail area,but at the expense of craft stability, or beam.

The second measurement calls for passing the“floating plane” squarely through the can. Thismeasurement effectively limits LOA. In passing aboat through the can for measurement, it is allowablefor the boat to touch the can, but not to the extent thatthere is any significant deformation of the boat, hersails, or her rigging. Boat (sail) features that deploythemselves through the action of the wind are notallowed.

During a race, a boat shape must remain trueto its measured shape. The regatta chairman orpersons designated by the regatta chairman are theonly legal boat measurers. The regatta chairman’s“rule can” is the only legal measurement can.

For more information call the SCYC office at(831) 425-0690 or e-mail peter (at) pillsbury (dot) com.

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Membership Report

Fall is upon us and we still are enjoying greatSanta Cruz weather and lots of activities at the club. Iam looking for your help, we need to grow our mem-bership and we need you to help with that process. Ichallenge our membership to identify one person whowould make a good addition to our family. We all knowsomeone and reality is, we need to increase our mem-bership to continue to host and manage the world-classevents our proud club is involved with. If you knowsomeone that used to be a member and for somereason left us, invite them back to talk with me tounderstand how easy it is to re-join the Club.

Pictured is new Regular member CharlieRice, when you see Charlie and Marcie around theclub, please extend a warm Santa Cruz Yacht Clubwelcome. We look forward to Charlie and his familybecoming involved and they will make a great addition.

(New member Charlie Rice, Marcie Rice not shown,with Commodore Bret Gripenstraw)

For all us Wednesday night racers, as you mayhave noticed at the club after sailing, the big screen isup showing action pictures taken that evening. I wantto thank Rick Linkemyer, Barbara Booth and otherskippers whom they sailed with for all your great shots.It’s awesome to see all the excitement happening onthe water. Keep your eye on the Calendar and look outfor email notifications for up coming events. Newmembers, I encourage you to come to your yachtclub’s galley for a Friday or Sunday night dinner, it’s agreat way to meet club members and enjoy some verygood food.

Again, please introduce possible new membersto me and I’ll take care of the rest, we need your help.Continued thanks, fair winds and we’ll see you aroundthe club.

Michael WoodMembership Chairman

Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association

The PICYA has formed a Regional AffairsCommittee whose main mission is to increase theeffectiveness of member clubs in addressing regionalpolitical/practical boating related issues in a collectiveeffort to preserve the safe and fun recreational use ofour waterways.

PICYA clubs are divided into five regionalareas in order to facilitate communication and allowclubs with similar situations to work together for theircommon interest. Each area has several members whoare appointed according to the area where they reside.This group serves PICYA and RBOC through meet-ings, development of phone trees, e-mail blasts andprovides communication among all the regions.

The South Bay Region consists of the follow-ing clubs: Bay Area Multi Hull Association, Peninsula

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YC, Coyote Point YC, San Jose Sailing Club, ElkhornYC, Santa Cruz YC, Half Moon Bay YC, Sequoia YC,Int’l Rotarians, Sierra Point YC, Los Gatos YC, SouthBay YC and Oyster Point YC.

Lorenzo Rota of the Santa Cruz YC andWalt Vance of the Ox Bow YC have been appointedto the committee to serve as liaisons to the South BayRegion clubs.

For more information about PICYA, visit theirwebsite at www.picya.org.

Friends of the Harbor Group (FOHG)

Santa Cruz Port District Commissionerelections will be part of the November 4th 2008 Presi-dential Election ballots for residents residing in the PortDistrict. As a service to residents, FOHG will onceagain be publishing the replies to the CandidatesQuestionnaire that was sent to all port district commis-sioner candidates. Each candidate was presented withquestions ranging from their qualifications to how theywould improve harbor operations. The candidate’sresponses will be posted on the FOHG website,www.fohg.org, on October 6th.

Keep up-to-date on the Candidate Question-naire and other important harbor issues by signing upfor the free Friends of the Harbor Group email news-letter. You can quickly sign up by going towww.fohg.org and clicking on the button titled “Sub-scribe to Our Newsletter”. All email addresses arekept strictly confidential and never shared with 3rd

parties. Thanks for your support!For more information about Friends of the

Harbor Group, visit their website at www.fohg.org.

Lorenzo RotaPICYA & FOHG

RBOC Update

In my last couple of articles I wrote about theproposed EPA Regulation which would force all recre-ational boaters to have an additional permit, and the sagaof the Mussel Sniffing Dogs searching for the Quaggaand Zebra Mussels. I also told the Board I would briefthem on the issues in the California Delta.

EPA PermitRecreational boaters prevailed. There will be no

EPA permit needed. It was signed into law by GeorgeBush.

Mussel Sniffing DogsThose Eastern Europe trained dogs are still on

patrol at the California Agriculture Inspection Stationssniffing for unwanted mussels. I am somewhat disap-pointed with them because the mussels are still spreadinginto California fresh water systems.

The SCYC Junior Program will be impacted bythe mussels at Pinto Lake, as well as all other trailerablesailboats that are taken from one fresh waterway to an-other for racing and recreation. Inspections or certifica-tions will be required every time the boat goes into water.

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California DeltaThere are numerous issues in the California Delta

that impact recreational boating. Remember the Periph-eral Canal? IT’S BACK!

RBOC has developed a policy statement for theDelta that pretty much applies to all navigable water-ways:

Recreational Boaters of California (RBOC)will advocate to protect the rights of recreational boat-ers to assure access for continued navigation by rec-reational boats on the waters of the California Deltawhere ever any “control structure” is planned forplacement across a navigable Delta waterway. RBOCwill seek assurances that as any changes are con-templated which further alter Delta navigable wa-terways that alternatives are identified and imple-mented to the satisfaction of RBOC that will best pre-serve and sustain recreational boat passages at eachlocation. RBOC will seek to have operable boat locksinstalled as an integral design component to mitigatefor the placement of any control structure across anynavigable Delta waterway. All control structures andboat locks or other alternatives satisfactory to RBOCfor recreational boat passages are to be installed,maintained and operated without cost or expense torecreational boaters.

The bottom line is that RBOC wants to protectthe depth of the waterways in the Delta.

Doug HipsleyRBOC

El Toro Program

Nine SCYC Juniors raced their El Toros in thisyear’s West Marine Fun Regatta, September 6, 7. Sixfinished in the top three in their divisions. The balanceof the 22 boat fleet, the largest in this year’s regatta,consisted of 5 boats from Stockton SC and 8 fromRichmond YC. Almost perfect conditions greeted thecompetitors, who raced in the lee of the Santa CruzWharf. The racing was tight, with not only the regattabut the El Toro Junior Season Championship, a fiveregatta series which started in April, on the line. Thefinal winner of both the regatta and the series was notdecided until the last race.

West Marine Fun Regatta Results:

Advanced1st. Patrick Tara (SCYC)2nd. Mackenzie Cook (SCYC)3rd. John Marlett SCYC

Intermediate1st. Christina Gasparich (SCYC)2nd. Megan Langer (SCYC)3rd. Lauren Wood (SCYC)

Final Junior Season Championship Results1st. Patrick Tara (SCYC)2nd. Mackenzie Cook (SCYC)3rd. Haydon Stapleton (RYC)

On another note, SCYC’s El Toro Program atPinto Lake is revving up for another year. Over 30skippers are enrolled with the first day at the lakescheduled for October 12.

Paul TaraPinto Lake Program Director

Back in the Old Days…

Back in the old days, the October 1967 SCYCNews Bulletin reported that Santa Cruz was, “fastbecoming the “Mecca” of radical sail yachting, much inthe spirit of the Intrepid Australians and NewZealanders. Based here is 505 Fleet 11, the loneInternational Sailing Canoe on the West Coast, atrapeze rigged Thistle, and as seen in the Veeder Cupcompetition, one of the first racing keelboats fitted withtrapezes. (The Columbia Sabre yacht Maria, with threetraps, going to weather on the rough days.)”

The same article goes on to say, “How aboutthat three man pyramid coming in after their victory inthe last race (of the 1967 Grace Veeder Cup)!!!”

The Veeder Cup, as it is known today, is racedonce a year to determine sailing supremacy on theMonterey Bay. In 1967, the Grace Veeder Cup, as itwas referred to then, was raced out of Santa CruzHarbor in Columbia Sabres.

It was August of 1967 and Santa Cruz YachtClub sailed a boat named Maria (pronounced Mariah),owned by Alan Simpkins. The Monterey PeninsulaYacht Club raced the, Wistari, skippered by GeorgeCrittendon. SCYC won the best-of-five series threeraces to one.

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The Columbia Sabre is a pencil-thin 32 footermanufactured in Southern California by Dick Valdez.From the same mold came two boats—the Sabre andthe open cockpit Columbia 5.5 meter. The Sabre is justover 32 feet long, 22 feet at the waterline, with a 4 footdraft and weighs 5200 pounds. With a 6’3” beam andnearly 10 feet of combined overhang, these boats mustgo to weather like a freight train!

Jim Edwards was the skipper chosen todefend the 1967 Veeder Cup for SCYC. His crewconsisted of four teenagers—Bob Simpkins (18), BillSimpkins (16), Jack Halterman (16) and Gary Blair(18). It is interesting to note that SCYC had not yetformed an official Junior Yacht Club.

Forty one years ago, the races were held onAugust 19th and 20th off Santa Cruz. The Maria andher all-teenage crew out-sailed the MPYC entry andwon the match race series. The Santa Cruz Sentinelreported that in race four, “The Maria just plain sailedaway from its opponent. The mustard-colored craftfinished five minutes ahead of the Wistari, skippered byGeorge Crittendon. It was a decisive victory in theseries.” This is from the Santa Cruz newspaper whichmay have been a bit biased towards the “home team.”

The Monterey newspaper that year might havereported something like, “Controversial Trapeze Rig

Wins Veeder Cup for Santa Cruz Sailboat”. The storyas I understand it is that trapezes were not allowed norwere they dis-allowed on keelboats in 1967—there wasno rule. Our team used trapezes well as they wereagile juniors with trapeze experience. MPYC tried toreplicate the process and rigged trapeze lines late in thegame, but they used safety harnesses instead of trapezeharnesses and that was not as effective for them.

(Author’s Opinion: Nothing I can find inprint indicates that the trapeze angle createdanything but mild or passing controversy and I’msure that MPYC went home as good sports with noill feelings about losing the cup that year.)

The racing weekend included some good sailingin standard northwest winds that blew over 20 knots attimes. There was also some excitement on Maria as inrace #3 they lost Bill Simpkins overboard.

Forty-One years later, according to Bill, “Wehad rounded the weather mark. I think it was fartherout than the current placement. Brother Bob wastaking a heavier chute to the bow. It was easily blowingover 20 knots and we had a big lead so there was norush and we didn’t want to blow the 3/4 out. Bob slipped and the chute (in the turtle) wentover to leeward. Back in the cockpit I saw it float by.

Jim Edwards takes the victory plunge at the handsof his all-teenage crew after they won the Veeder

Cup in 1967. Throwing him in the water are, GaryBlair, Jack Halterman, Bill Simpkins and Bob

Simpkins while David Vandenberg (far left)watches. (Georges McCormick photo)

Attention:The October SCYC Board Meet-ing scheduled for Thursday, Octo-

ber 16th at 7:00pm has beenchanged to 5:30pm. This is due

to the Morning Light moviefundraiser scheduled for the sameevening at 7:00pm. We apologizefor any inconvienence and hopeyou will join us at the Del MarTheatre to see the premier of

Morning Light the movie. Moredetails of the event available on

page 14.

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I remember grabbing it with both hands, and in about 2seconds, I was out of the boat.

I was playing water polo and swimming in highschool (16 at the time) so it didn’t seem like a big deal.I do remember that it was an unreal sight, coming to thesurface and seeing the boat taking off on a swell awayfrom me. It didn’t take more than a minute and they hadthe boat turned around and I felt four pairs of handsgrabbing the spinnaker and me, throwing us into thebottom of the cockpit and taking off again toward theleeward mark.

We were so far ahead that the other boat wasstill behind us.”

Note: This month the 2008 Veeder Cupwill be sailed on October 18 & 19 on Sydney 38’s.SCYC is defending the cup on Animal. This year’sevent is a 5-race series.

The following piece was written up in theOctober 1967 SCYC News Bulletin; “THE MOSTBEAUTIFUL (SHIP) in the harbor—a Columbia 50—has arrived. Guess who? Our good friends andmembers, the Simpkins, Alan, Phyllis, Diane, Bob,Bill…a full crew and a great crew for a fine ship. Wewish you a lot of enjoyment on your new boat. Alan isone of our very active Directors of our club. Bob andBill are also Junior members.”

The piece is, of course, referring to Xantippewhich was brand new out-of-the-box back then. The

Simpkins brothers were lucky juniors to have a brandnew 50 footer in the family!

(Editors Aside: I just got off the phone withPaul Tara and he told me that the name Xantippewas given to the boat after it arrived here. Doesanyone know what Xantippe means and how theSimpkins’ Columbia 50 got the name?? I willsponsor a free beverage of your choice at the clubfor the first five people to provide me with theircorrect answer.)

Speaking of SCYC Juniors and Paul Tara… Ifound an interesting piece written for the same OctoberNews Bulletin—it is too precious not to include here. Itgoes; “In the newly inaugurated Moss Landing 505Race, Santa Cruz again gained the upper hand. Juniormember, Paul Tara, sailing his new Apocalypse,recovered from a rather ignominious first leg to sail upto and past Palo Alto’s famous Pacific Coast, Nationaland North American 505 champion, Dennis Surtees.Paul stunned Surtees and early second place leader,Derk Vyn by sailing through both fellows’ lee withspinnaker up and crewman Gary Blair on the trapeze.Later computations indicated that Paul’s speed on the15 mile reach from the (SC) Mile Buoy to MossLanding was roughly 16% higher than Surtees. Tomor-row the World, Pablo!!!!”

Thank you Rainy Bassano for sending me thatnews clipping last month from Latitude 38. Ourmembership, and especially Lorenzo Rota, will enjoythe shot which I will try to include in a future edition ofBack in the Old Days…

Niels KislingHistorian/Director

The skipper and crew of the Maria that successfullydefended the Veeder Cup three races to one in thebest-of-five series. Pictured from the left are; BobSimpkins, Bill Simpkins, Jim Edwards, Gary Blairand Jack Halterman. (Georges McCormick photo)

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October 2008 - club.scyc.org · October 2008 Fun at the West ... we hope you will come join the fun next year. Carolyn Degnan Commodore’s Report ... Callao, Peru (the port near