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June Meeting: Sailing Around the World Scared

By Mike Ferring on May 21, 2013 in Events, Meetings

Camille Gannon

For the June monthly meeting, come hear the fascinating story of a woman who overcomes her fears to go ocean sailing.

The meeting is at 7 pm, Tuesday, June 11, at the Caddy Shack @ Rolling Hills, 1415 North Mill Avenue, Tempe. Visitors are welcome.

Camille Gannon wrote a book about her exploits and the blurb of the book begins this way: Camille Gannon cannot swim. In fact, she suffers from a gut-wrenching fear of drowning. At the peak of her professional career, her husband, Peter, reveals his lifelong dream of circumnavigating the world on a sailboat, with Camille as first mate.

So begins a nearly two-year saga where Camille must suppress her fears and dreams and find the will to accept a life of isolation and her own inadequacies as a sailor. Living within the confines of a 44-foot sailboat, experiencing the awesome power of nature on the open sea, and enduring the intrusion of crew members along the way, she struggles to support Peter as they island-hop across the South Pacific. While landfalls and shore leaves are fascinating adventures, cruising is not all blue lagoons, sunsets, and tailwinds. Yet Camille’s anxiety slowly evolves into confidence in her abilities as a sailor, a wife, and a woman.

The book is called Woman Overboard and she promises it will resonate with all women faced with the choice of enabling the passion of a beloved mate when doing so means personal sacrifice and confrontation with their fears. The memoir is a warm-hearted glimpse into the life of a cruising couple as they discover the true meaning of bon voyage.

Register Now for Heat Stroke Series

By Mike Ferring on May 21, 2013 in Events, Racing Updates

Rob Gibbs and son Colin on TTL. Photo: Mike Ferring

The next AYC racing series is about to begin: the annual Heat Stroke series at Tempe Town Lake.

You can register by hitting the button on the racing page.

This low-key summer racing series can be a lot of fun since you might as well be on the water when it’s 106 degrees outside, right? Bring your water canon to cool competitors.

Fun Night at Commodore’s Party

By Mike Ferring on May 19, 2013 in Events, Social Events

Maryellen Ferring shows off the bubbly gift of thanks for Mike and Maryellen’s work as Commodore. Photos: Mike Ferring and Chris Smith

A night of many awards, excellent food, and good times. It was the 2013 Commodore’s Party and 95 people turned out to celebrate the end of an AYC year.

New Commodore Cindy Pillote handed Maryellen and me a fancy bottle of bubbly and a framed Commodore’s flag as a thank you, and the 2013-2014 Board of Directors took office. Here’s some of what I had to say during presentations.

Honorary Life Membership: The club’s highest lifetime honor, currently held by Joyce Seales, Tom Ohlin, Al and Sandy Lehman, and Mike Yarnell and Tia Renshaw. Now we add one more to that distinguished list. Someone who has been a an AYC stalwart for decades, a C22 sailor, 14.2 fleet captain, the center of the ASF high school sailing program, the guy who’s always there to do what needs to be done: George Tingom.

Keepers of the Flame: One year ago, things looked pretty grim for three parts of AYC that have long been strong. The flame was about to go out. Today those flames are really bright and getting brighter.

One was the annual Kinnikinick summer campout in the woods near Mormon Lake. Steve Nahkala loved that gathering and put the arm on a bunch of us, put fuel on the flame of Kinnikinick, and that bonfire is burning brightly. He’ll do it again this year and he asks that you plan to be there August 9-11.

The Laser fleet was dropping in size to a few hearty souls when George Sheller decided to go to work to build the fleet. He recruited, he put on a clinic, he staged casual Wednesday night racing, and the Laser fleet this year is at 10 boats.

Three-to-four years ago, the Catalina 22 fleet was our biggest, with numbers in the teens. Heading into last fall, it looked like the number would be (ouch) two. That’s when Steve and Christina Campo went to work. A clinic, a party, a newsletter, tuning tricks, and a million volts of Christina applied to the right places: Now there are 8 boats for Saturdays (and most of the fleet was at the party).

Maryellen hands Bruce Andress a “Heavy Lifting” trophy.

Heavy Lifting Awards: As always, we ask the board of directors to do most of the heavy lifting in the club, but it’s a huge help when people who aren’t on the board jump in.

Steve Brown helped a lot at Tempe Town Lake as Lake Captain.

And Bruce Andress did lots of heavy lifting at Lake Pleasant as Lake Captain, where lots of gear needs loads of maintenance.

For years, we’ve been rushing to the AYC website on Mondays to check our race scores where Dave Christensen has been decoding the chicken scratches and reading the chicken bones of the RC scores and turning them into numbers.

When you’ve come of the monthly meetings, you’ve been met at the door by Lori Reger, who’s been an enormous help to membership, assembling new member kits, following up with guests. And she’s been at TTL on Sunday afternoons to meet people who want to adopt a boat as she handled that program.

The US Sailing Sportsmanship award, AYC’s MVP award, went to Rob Gibbs (left).

US Sailing Sportsmanship Award: Each year we give an award to someone who has been an AYC Most Valuable Player. The award is called the US Sailing Sportsmanship Award and it’s awarded to someone who’s done great things for our club.

This year it went to a person who’s done it all. He was on the board as membership director. He’s raced every year at both lakes. He’s taught Start Sailing Right for something like 10 years for ASF. He’ll be on the ASF board this next year. He’s run the ship’s store. He handled the online registration system. He managed the website. Last year he put on an introduction to sailing day at TTL to give rides to people who wanted to sail. He’s been a big advocate of powerboat training and has trained nearly all our certified powerboat operators… and will be out tomorrow morning to certify some more. Almost as a lark, he applied for a grant with US Sailing to be used to buy a powerboat… and got $10,000 that we used to buy a boat. Rob Gibbs is our 2013 recipient.

A critical part of AYC is attracting new people into the club and into leadership positions. If you’ve joined in the last year or if you’re joined just within the last few weeks as Mark and Mary Howell or Victor Felice or JM and Mary Kiel did, welcome and thank you.

Board of Directors Accomplishments

One year ago the Board targeted membership growth as a top goal for the year. Membership in the club had dropped into the 190s. Today it’s over 220 and rising.

The strong membership effort was led by directors Brenda Shears and Thom Dickerson, with a lot of help from Lori Reger. Wendy Larsen set up the mentor program to pair a current member with each new member to help new folks get oriented and active.

All board members did excellent work this year. For instance, Emory Heisler revamped the Birthday Regatta to become easier and less expensive to present. Peter Lehrach started and managed the adopt-a-highway program that put our name on signs along Carefree Highway near Lake Pleasant. Bob Whyte arranged the space and the dinner for the party. He kept the string of amazing meeting speakers going, with AYC members such as Dave and Wendy and Phil Freedman and Bill Hutchinson as well as some other familiar names such as Dave Perry, Andrew Campbell, and Annie Gardner. Greg Woodcock was always on top of issues, whether it was a boat problem or a race document that needed tweaking.

Cindy Pillote is Commodore for the coming year.

Here’s the 2013-2014 Board:
Emory Heisler, Sr Staff Commodore
Mike Ferring, Jr Staff Commodore
Lori Reger, Secretary
Tony Chapman, Treasurer
Thom Dickerson – second year Membership Director
Andrea Love – Membership Director
Greg Woodcock – Fleet Captain
Ralph Vatalaro – Cruising Captain
Christina Campo – Rear Commodore
Peter Leharach – Vice Commodore
Cindy Pillote – Commodore

The party drew 95 to socialize and commemorate the accomplishments of the year.

John Mayall and George Tingom presented the ASF Heavy Lifting trophy to Phil Freedman.

Emma Davis picks up a juniors trophy.

Isabel Love receives the Wayne Jason Tucker Outstanding Junior award.

Martin Lorch and son Cedric heft the Club Championship trophy. It’s been a good year for Cedric, winning the High School Championship and two Blunder Buckets!

Christina Campo and Tony Chapman congratulate Emory Heisler.

John Riddell and Mike Parker exchange lies before dinner.

Rear Commodore Bob Whyte arranged for the great space and the amazingly good buffet dinner.

Resa Coats and Bill Hutchinson schmoozing before dinner.

Startling Finish to AYC Championship Regatta

By Mike Ferring on May 5, 2013 in Events, Racing Updates

Seven fleet champions faced off in C14s at Tempe Town Lake for the 2013 Club Championship. Photos: Mike Ferring

Seven fleet champions faced off in C14s at Tempe Town Lake for the 2013 Club Championship. Photos and Words: Mike Ferring

It was almost like an act of god.

Trey Harlow and crew Mike Hester went into the seventh and final race of the championship regatta ahead by one point and holding the tie breaker. They would be tough to beat. Martin Lorch and son Cedric would need to finish two places ahead to take Martin’s fourth club championship.

As usual, the wind had been mostly light and fluky on Tempe Town Lake, but ripples from the west suggested a nice, moderate air finale for the fleet champs in their Capri 14.2s.

The course: a simple windward-leeward. As the seven competitors swept downwind to the leeward mark, Trey and Mike held a small lead and the tactical inside rounding position. All it would take would be a smooth rounding and they could cover Martin all the way to the finish—and the championship.

The rounding went fine. Trey trimmed for the upwind finish, Martin chasing from a couple of boat lengths back.

And then it happened. On port tack, Trey’s boat suddenly skidded off to the right, as if the centerboard weren’t down—but it was—and he couldn’t hold the boat on the beat.

Martin looked around, amazed. “What happened?” he asked Cedric. “What happened?”

Trey still doesn’t know. When they tacked to starboard, the boat tracked true.
Back on port, it slid. And as it slid, so did the hopes of a second championship in a row. At the race finish, Martin and Cedric were in first place and Trey and Mike were at the back of the pack.

See the final results at the bottom of the page. Lots of volunteers made the day work, led by Fleet Captain Greg Woodcock, including the 14.2 fleet, JM Kiel, Mike Ferring, Diana Simpson, Dick Krebill, Steve Brown, Decker Williams, Cindy Pillote, Greg Fine, and Andrea Love.

Trey Harlow approaches the leeward mark with inside position for the rounding. Photos: Mike Ferring

Trey Harlow approaches the leeward mark with inside position for the critical final rounding in race seven. Photos: Mike Ferring

Martin Lorch drops into line behind Trey to round second.

Trey and Mike Hester trim in for the upwind finish only to find they can’t hold port tack close-hauled.

There were certain distractions.

Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total
Lorch	2	3	3	2	1	3	1	15
Harlow	3	1	1	4	3	1	7	20
Tingom	6	6	2	1	4	5	3	27
Sheller	1	2	5	6	2	6	6	28
Jackson	4	4	6	5	6	2	2	29
Davis	5	5	4	3	5	4	4	30
Anderson	7	7	7	7	7	7	5	47

Party Time: Commodore’s Celebration Saturday, May 18

By Mike Ferring on May 2, 2013 in CP, Events, Social Events

Chef Dionot

Reservations are now closed for this big event, with almost 90 people signed up. If you failed to register in time and would like to go, contact Mike Ferring to see if we can squeeze you in.
Mike and Maryellen Ferring invite you to the year’s big party, the Commodore’s Celebration.
When: Saturday evening, May 18, with wine and beer beginning at 6pm, dinner at 7pm, and awards about 7:30
Where: 9382 E Bahia Dr, Scottsdale
What: Wine tasting, gourmet dinner (see menu below) and much mingling with your sailing buddies
How Much: $49 for adults, $19 for children; cash bar
Why: Honor winners and workers and to bring on the new AYC Board of Directors
Dress Code: Informal
Who: Kids and guests welcome

Intriguing idea: Take a big space in North Scottsdale, sprinkle in some boats and collector cars, add true gourmet food… and make it stirring.

Rear Commodore Bob Whyte has engaged executive chef Pascal Dionot to prepare the dinner, which Chef Dionot says will include flavors of both classic European items and the Sonoran desert.

Last year’s party. Photo: Mike Ferring

Chef Dionot was first trained in France, Germany and Spain before heading to the U.S. His background includes Executive Chef positions at several notable Washington, D.C. fine dining restaurants, including the historic Hay-Adams Hotel, the Georgetown Club, and Restaurant 2941 in Northern Virginia. Pascal went on to develop and teach the professional culinary program at l’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Maryland for 18 years before relocating to Scottsdale where he founded Classic Cooking Academy in 2006.

Expected Buffet Menu
Mixed Greens Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Carmelized Pecans, and Blue Cheese, Grilled Vegetables, Rolls and Butter
Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes with Jicama Slaw or Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine on Sweet, Creamy Polenta
Desserts include Chocolate Mesquite Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream, Assorted Fruit Tarts plus a Coffee Station
Also: There will be a vegetarian option

Wine Tasting Event at 6pm will be hosted by Phoenix Wine of Scottsdale

Here’s a list of people who have registered to attend the Commodore’s Celebration

Some of the classic cars that will share our space.

The cars:
1964 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible
2005 Panoz Esperante
2007 Eagle Roadster (street legal, open wheel)
1957 Corvette resto-mod with a ZO6 engine
1982 Delorean
1969 Lotus Elan
Tesla roadster

Tempe Town Lake Scores

By davechristensen on April 29, 2013 in Racing Updates

Congratulations to the winners of the Tempe Town Lake racing series. The fleet champs are the same for both spring and the combined fall-spring: it’s Matt Davis in Buccs; George Tingom in C14, Dmitri Lusnikov in Laser, and Clay Poulson in Portsmouth.

The results for the last weekend of the Spring Series are posted on the results page or by clicking here. The combined scores for the fall and spring can be found here.

Gorgeous Day for Tall Cactus

By Mike Ferring on April 28, 2013 in Cruising News, Events, Sailing News

The sun and the wind cooperated for the Tall Cactus Regatta Saturday (4/27), as organizer Mike Parker sent boats this way and that before we stumbled over the confused wind of Humbug, scrambling the results.

Tall Cactus brought out Scott McClintock and the Rio Hondo 40 with Emory Heisler at the helm. Photo: Mike Parker

Boats left the start line near Pleasant Harbor Marina in order of PHRF rating, slower boats followed by faster ones and non-spins sent on a shorter course than the spins—just the kind of fun design that suits a for-fun regatta like this one.

The spins headed to the Coles Bay marker, trying to make out which floating white post was the one with the right words on it. Chuck Sears decided on a “no wake” for rounding, and then we all charged off for Castle Creek, around Balance Rock and Horse and then to the chaos of Humbug, to pick our way through the warm-weather revelers, trying to adjust to wind that’s this way and then that way, stopping and then big-puffing.

Greg Jackson on his Viper and Court Roberts on his Melges 24 decided to risk spinnakers after the first twisty blow forced everybody to pull them down NOW. It worked and Greg barely finished ahead of Court at the finish, joining Chuck Sears who had already arrived. Bob Worrall onboard Spirit, his C22, was the first non-spin across, chased by various other C22s.

Mike Parker stoked up the fire for an evening on the beach and a proper end to a fun day on the water.

Here’s a link to pictures that Mike took.

Watch the Club Championship Races Saturday

By Mike Ferring on April 25, 2013 in Events

It’s the highlight of the racing year when the fleet champions from all the active AYC fleets duke it out in one-design boats. This Saturday (5/4), starting about 11 am at Tempe Town Lake, they’ll go at it in C14s. And you can watch from the comfort of the grassy knoll.

Bring a chair, non-alcoholic beverages (TTL rules) and a pot luck dish and join the spectators as 8 fleet champs fight the fluky winds of TTL for your entertainment.

Cheer on this year’s competitors: TTL champs George Tingom (C14), Matt Davis (Buccaneer), George Sheller (Laser) [competing since he's a member and winner Dmitri Lushnikov is not] and Lake Pleasant champs Greg Jackson (Sportboat), Norm Anderson (PHRF Spin), Martin Lorch (Santana 20) Steve Campo (Catalina 22) and Trey Harlow (Thistle and defending AYC Champ).

The fleet champs will compete in C14s on Tempe Town Lake.

Thanks to Fleet Captain Greg Woodcock for setting up the event and sorting through the rules and thanks to the C14 fleet and ASF for providing the boats.

Interested in the race documents? Here they are.

While AYC Races, LPSC Kicks Back with Lobster

By Mike Ferring on April 22, 2013 in Cruising News

What do you get when a great idea is paired up with hard work and a dedicated volunteer group? A fantastic Lake Pleasant Sailing Club (LPSC) weekend at Lake Pleasant!

Roland Cleveland and his group of volunteers put on a great LPSC inaugural event the weekend of April 18-21. Even a last-minute change of venue didn’t throw a wrench in the works. By Friday night, the campers were circled, the sailboats were secure, the campfire was lit and the marshmallows were melting.

Saturday morning brought more sailboats, campers, kayaks, etc. Around noon, 10 LPSC sailboats gathered near Scorpion Bay to begin a game of Follow the Leader around the lake. Led by Deedy and Doug Payne on Island Time, the crews showed off their best tacking and gybing maneuvers. The event ended when 15+ mph winds forced the crews to quickly lower their sails and seek a safe anchorage.

Dinner was quite the affair as the grills were fired up, the water was set to boil, and the side dishes began to appear on the tables. Hamburgers, hotdogs, and even lobster filled the plates of hungry sailors and campers alike.

Sunday morning dawned sunny and cool, as some members took to the water in boats and kayaks for an end of the weekend cruise. Others chose to pack up and head home to prepare for the work week. As the chairs were folded and the gear stowed, everyone agreed this event is sure to become a yearly tradition.

—Rhonda Brewer, LPSC

Lake Pleasant Results

By davechristensen on April 21, 2013 in Racing Updates

The scores for this weekend’s racing can be found on the results page. Or for the Thistle Regional click here. For the Spring Series click here. For the combined Fall 12 & Spring 13 Series click here

Perfect Conditions for High School Championship

By Mike Ferring on April 21, 2013 in Education News, Racing Updates, Sailing News

Cedric Lorch and the V for Victory! Photos: Phil Freedman

Cedric Lorch signals V for Victory! Photos: Gerald Byrnes

After the first race of the 2013 Arizona State High School Sailing Championship, after hearing the yells from the winning boat, it was apparent whose names would be etched on the championship aulde mug trophy.

Cedric Lorch (son of multi-year AYC club champion Martin Lorch) from Valley Lutheran HS and Mitchell Wenger from Connolly Middle School took home the hardware. But of the seven boats racing, the team of Graydon Sharp and Peter Blake kept the heat on with steady finishes and took second, just four points behind.

Race committee chairman, high school sailing coach, and instructor George Tingom said that this year’s event was by far the best for the championship and thinks next year’s could be even stronger.

“We have a fantastic core of volunteers that will make this event a strong foundation for high school sailing in Arizona,” he says. “We’re hopeful of fielding a bigger turnout of between ten to fourteen boats culminating with a barbeque.”

This year’s champions vow to be back for a repeat.

—Words by Philip Freedman

Rounding the mark at the 2013 High School Championship Regatta.

Final
(Corrected Results with Throw-outs)

1^st Place 6 Points – (Cedric Lorch / Mitchell Wenger)

2^nd Place 10 Points – (Graydon Sharp / Peter Blake)

3^rd Place 15 Points (Bharath Tata / Jake Xu)

4^th Place 19 Points (Luke Marino / Lliya Panfilinco)

5^th Place 22 Points (Madison Cordova / Isabella Hutchinson)

6^th Place 22 Points (Alec Arthur / Daniel Moore)

7^th Place 30 Points (Wilson Davis / Austin / Lannitti)

Wing-on-wing downwind at the Championship Regatta.

Competitors surround organizer George Tingom. Champ Cedric Lorch holds the hardware.

Competitors surround organizer George Tingom. Champs Cedric Lorch and Mitchell Wenger hold the hardware.

Tall Cactus Regatta Sails Saturday, April 27

By Mike Ferring on April 20, 2013 in Cruising News, Events

Here’s a list of people entered so far.

We call it the Tall Cactus Regatta, an easy-breezy tour of Lake Pleasant from the north launch area at Pleasant Harbor, meandering though coves and around islands, ending up in the upper end of Humbug Cove.

Once you arrive, set your anchor, and wrap up a well deserved siesta, the smell of an outback BBQ will be drifting over the anchorage, followed shortly by the club runabout motoring by to collect you for food, a bit of competition for the bean pot, and Mike Parker’s special secret rum punch.

This may be the year we get a Catalina 22 into First to Finish. Almost had it last year.

Details:

Saturday, April 27, 9am skippers meeting. 11am start. The starting sequence will be based on PHRF rating of your boat, with the highest numbers leaving first.

Three courses: Spin, non-spin, and dinghy will be published on the web, available by email, and at Lake Pleasant before the race.

Cost: $25 per entry. Each entry comes with one dinner. Each additional dinner is $10. Kids under 16 eat free.

Menu: Salmon burger, Pork Ribs, Chicken, Top Sirloin Steak, Salad, Rolls, Desert, Kid Food, and Drinks.

Entry and dinner purchases will be available at www.arizonayachtclub.org and you can enter just the race (and not order dinners) at the Skippers Meeting.

—Mike Parker, Cruising Captain

Lake Pleasant Vista. Photo: Mike Ferring

Tempe Town Lake Scores

By davechristensen on April 15, 2013 in Racing Updates

The results of racing at Tempe Town Lake this past weekend are posted on the results page or by clicking here.

Lake Pleasant Race Scores

By davechristensen on April 8, 2013 in Racing Updates

The results from Lake Pleasant Racing are posted on the Results page or by clicking here.

March 27-28 Lake Pleasant Racing

By davechristensen on March 24, 2013 in Racing Updates

The scores for the weekend of racing at Lake Pleasant can be found on the results page or by clicking here.

Taking America’s Cup to the Max

By Mike Ferring on March 19, 2013 in CP, Events, Meetings, Sailing News

The cup is coming but what got us there?

For the April monthly meeting, Philip Freedman offers his view of America’s Cup 34 and what it takes to compete for the sport’s oldest trophy. The meeting is at 7 pm, Tuesday, April 9, at the Caddy Shack @ Rolling Hills, 1415 North Mill Avenue, Tempe. Visitors are welcome.

A meteor has hit the America’s Cup and the dinosaurs have disappeared. The oldest sports trophy has become of age. In one of the biggest sport upgrades in history, the America’s Cup has roared into the 21st century and you better use a fast shutter speed to take a shot. This summer in San Francisco Bay, the 34^th America’s Cup will be defended against three countries wanting to take it out of the U.S. An estimated 600,000 will watch the competition from the banks of San Francisco Bay. Never before has the America’s Cup been sailed in a bay rather than in the ocean where few could see.

These are not just sailboats, but 72-foot-long catamarans with 13-story hard-wing masts that go twice the spend of the wind and rise out of the water onto small foils. Their crew of 11 not only wears heart monitors, life jackets and helmets, but will take physical requirements to the limits.

So come spend a fun evening and hear how college, youth sailing and the twelve meters got us to where we are today. Phil warns: This will be fun.

Phil Freedman is an AYC member and longtime sailor who fielded the entry Betsy Ross for the 1990 America’s Cup challenge.

Week 6 TTL Results.

By davechristensen on March 18, 2013 in Racing Updates

Week 6 of racing at TTL scores posted on the results page or by clicking here.

The Sailing Life of Andrew Campbell

By Mike Ferring on March 13, 2013 in CP, Meetings, Member Interest

Andrew Campbell sailing a Star on the US Sailing Team.

Olympian and 10-time national champion Andrew Campbell looks at the big sailing picture. Boil it down to something like this: explore and enjoy. Sure, there’s a lot we can learn about wind shifts and boat handling and that kind of thing, but a lot of the advice he offered the AYC monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 12 was bigger than that.

Here were his bullet points:

Clear air (get in it)
Practice like you mean it
Even when it’s uncomfortable
Sail weird boats
Sail with old friends
Make new friends (he got to meet President George W. Bush)
Sail against the best
Study and learn every chance you get
Sail with lots of people
Sail with kids (You never know what will inspire them)
Sail in new places

The big point is that you learn through these broad experiences, picking up something about sailing or just about life itself. Or you just have a good time with friends.

Whoa. Is this the the message from a cutthroat, world-class sailor? From a calm, focused one, it is.

Andrew is a 10-time national champion at the youth, high school, collegiate levels. Racing in the Laser and Star class, he competed on the Olympic Class World Cup level during 10 years on the US Sailing Team. He won the 2007 Pan Am Games, represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and was ranked #4 in the World in the Star class in 2011. Now Andrew’s professional sailing and coaching experience has set him up to expand into big boats and match racing as well as writing for sailing publications.