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Your Commodore’s Party!

By on May 19, 2019 in Commodore's Corner, Events, Social Events

The Commodore’s Party is so named because the Commodore puts it on, but it is about you…the membership of the club. More than most, our club is our members. It is the friendships we build and the memories we make. The Commodore’s Party is a celebration of what makes our club as great as it is…YOU!

Isabella Hutchinson, last year’s High School Champion relinquishes the perpetual trophy to her brother Reese, this year’s Champion.

After everyone toweled off and changed after enjoying the pool, the program started with awards given by the Arizona Sailing Foundation. Mike Parker, the Sailing Foundation President awarded the following:

  • Heavy Lifting Award – Larry Green
  • High School Championship Trophy – Reese Hutchinson
  • Wane Jason Tucker Outstanding Junior Award – William Steenken
  • Jerry Linderman Most Improved Junior Award – Ethan Wei

Colin Gibbs earned the top spot for the Junior Racing Fleet and got is name on the first Perpetual Trophy for the AYC Junior Champion

Then the AYC Racing Awards followed. For the first time, there was a full fledged Junior Racing Fleet at Tempe Town Lake. The club has been gifted a perpetual trophy to award to the “AYC Junior Champion.” This year that Champion was Colin Gibbs.

And the most coveted racing trophy in the club, the AYC Club Champion Trophy, was awarded to Joel Hurley who won the Laser Fleet at TTL, the Santana 20 Fleet at Lake Pleasant, and then the Championship Race (also on Lasers but at Lake Pleasant) to earn his name’s spot on the Cup.

Joel Hurley wins the Club Championship Trophy. Next year Joel is volunteering to head up the Opti classes at Tempe Town Lake.

Every year we get to honor one individual for their excellence in supporting and promoting the sport of sailing in our club. That honor is the AYC US Sailing Sportsmanship Award. This year’s winner, Emory Heisler, is a long time Club Member, past Commodore, US Sailing and ASA Instructor and all around great sailor.

Emory Heisler accepting the AYC US Sailing Sportsmanship Award

Dave Haggart gets the Blunder Bucket!

And finally, after 3 heated rounds of debate over who should be given the least coveted honor in our club the Blunder Bucket, this Spring’s Honor goes to Dave Haggart who tried to launch his truck along with is 14.2 at Tempe Town Lake, only to save it from the depths with the help of his son and a group of bystanders.

The last order of business was to thank this year’s Board of Directors and install the newcomers to the group. It’s been a great year and for those who are leaving their posts, the club thanks you very much for your service.

The members of the 2019-2020 Board of Directors:

  • Commodore: Rob Gibbs
  • Vice Commodore: Marc Danner
  • Rear Commodore: Deb Heisler
  • Racing Fleet Captain: Scott Richards
  • Cruising Fleet Captain: Heather McClain
  • Sr. Membership Director: Skip Kempff
  • Jr. Membership Director: Dave Henning
  • Sr. Staff Commodore: Mike Ferring
  • Jr. Staff Commodore: Bill Hutchinson
  • Secretary: Paul Wojcztak
  • Treasurer: Tony Chapman

Thank you for making your club one of the best in the country and we’ll see you on the water!

 

Catalina Flotilla – 19 July

By on May 13, 2019 in Cruising News, Sailing News

Avalon Harbor

The Second Annual Officially Unofficial Flotilla to Catalina Island will be July 19th this year. Last year we had some great fun meeting up with some of the more traveled of our membership in Descanso Bay before being given a great spot in Avalon Harbor. Some of the best wind I’ve EVER had going to and from Catalina to Long Beach.

The closest location to depart from is Long Beach but the other options that are a single day would be Marina Del Rae, Huntington Beach, or even Dana Point. For those more adventurous, the trip from San Diego is an overnight sail. You can trailer your boat over and launch in several different locations in any of those harbors, but if you are so inclined to charter, there are several different places to charter from but here are some of the more popular and known ones: Marina Sailing, Harbor Yacht Club, and Sail Newport Beach.

For those who haven’t ever taken to the ocean, the sail to Catalina Island is a GREAT way to get a feel for what it’s like to sail in open water. It is truly one of the easiest sails to begin your blue water sailing resume with. For those who are blue water veterans, it is a great weekend getaway from the Arizona heat and a welcome return to friendly waters.

A flotilla is a very loose thing…so if you are going to be on the island for any reason during that time you should let us know! If you are sailing over, we can look out for one another and schedule a call in to ensure everyone is all good.

If you think you are going or if you might go but would like more information please take a moment to fill our this form and we’ll get all your questions answered!

Flotilla Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Avalon, Catalina Island, California

 

Commodore’s Party – Bring the Family!

By on May 12, 2019 in Commodore's Corner, Social Events

Click Here to Sign Up for the Party

We’ll be at the OHasis Pool…the quieter pool at the Valley Ho

This year we’re having a POOL PARTY! We’ve worked with the Hotel Valley Ho to get our party guests pool access prior to the festivities! We’ll also have Yard Games – Cornhole, Giant Jenga, and Washers – for everyone as well.

You will have the Pool and Games available to you as early as 3pm. Our bar opens at 4:30, but there are several places on the property where you can get beverages and snacks before that.

The fun will continue into the evening when we start our traditional Dinner Party and Awards Ceremony. Our program starts with the ASF and other Junior Awards. Once all of those are given out we’ll have a G-rated movie for the kids on the patio if they don’t want to sit around with the adults.

Happy Hour and Reception will start at 4:30 (when the bar opens) and our Dinner will start around 6 and the program will start during dinner.

Dinner menu is:

Southwestern Caesar Salad
Fajita Station – Carne Asada or Grilled + Marinated Chicken Breast
Cheese Enchiladas
Vegetarian Mexican Rice and Vegetarian Refried beans
Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips with Salsa, Guacamole Black Beans, Diced Tomatoes
Dessert – Undecided as of yet…but it will be yummy!

Adults are $50/person
Kids are $15/person

SIGN UP NOW!

Dress for dinner is “It’s Hot But It’s a Nice Party” casual…

The areas we will be using are highlighted here – the OHasis Pool & Palm Court and the Sands Restaurant. We encourage anyone who is planning on have a “really good time” to also book a room for the night.

Another view of the pool area.

May Meeting – Pretty as a Picture

By on May 9, 2019 in Events, Meetings, Sailing News

We had so many photos from the Tall Cactus and so many people asking for them we’re doing a GIVEAWAY at the May Monthly Meeting of a gift card to Canvas Prints so you can take whatever photo you’ve seen on the website or floating around Facebook and turn it into something real!

Our Tall Cactus Photographer, Krisitin Lisson and our very own unofficial Club Photographer, Mike Ferring have agreed to, at no charge, give the winner any photo they want at full resolution so you can make it a keepsake forever.

We’ll have a slideshow of the full set of photos from Tall Cactus running at the meeting so come and enjoy seeing yourself and your friends on the water!

Oh, and the By-Laws require me to also mention that we are doing the official BoD Election Ballot Counting at the meeting as well. No spoilers, but there are some clear winners emerging!

Joel Hurley Wins Club Championship

By on May 5, 2019 in Racing Updates, Sailing News

2019 AYC Club Champion Joel Hurley. Photo: Mike Ferring

Consistency did it. In six races, Joel Hurley scored no lower than third, turning 3-2-2-2-1-2 into the 2019 Club Championship.

Mike Hester kept it close right to the end, with three firsts and a second, but was dragged down by a first-race sixth place and fourth-race fourth. All the scores are shown below.

The game was played Saturday, May 4, in Lasers at Lake Pleasant. Five fleet champions and reigning Club Champ Scott Richards turned out for the event. In fact, the field included four former Club Champions (Hester, Haggart, Richards and Kempff). Three other fleet champions declined the invitation, saying they weren’t ready to race in a Laser.

Conditions were generally good for the regatta, with light to moderate wind and mild temperatures. This annual race-off to determine a Club Champion is contested in one-design boats and this time the Laser fleet provided the boats and most of the race committee (Bernard, Hasty, Newland, Sheller, Younger, Zornik). Mike Parker was PRO and Fleet Captain George Sheller was the organizer. LP Lake Captain David Newland provided his personal powerboat as the mark/safety boat. Maryellen Ferring brought the post-race eats.

 

Here are shots of the action by Mike Ferring:

Tall Cactus Brings Out the Best in AYC

By on April 29, 2019 in Commodore's Corner, Events

I wanted to thank everyone who came out to our last big fun day at Lake Pleasant last weekend. I really enjoyed seeing everyone on the water having a good time. But more than that, it really highlighted what the AYC is. Friends and families that love sailing and love our club. As I finished each boat, EVERYONE had a smile on their face. We had families sailing together. We had husbands and wives sailing together. We had good ‘ole boys sailing together. The event was was run by 3 families. There were Sea Scouts and Scout Leaders. There was an 11 year old on a Laser racing his Dad on a Laser!

This club really has something for everyone. Fun family events, great social opportunities, some pretty serious racing in some very competitive fleets, and at the heart of it all, there is YOU. This club is nothing without its members. Members who bring their family and friends out to spend time together on the water. Thank you for letting me be a part of something so special.

Sincerely,

Rob Gibbs
Commodore

Here’s a video from Court Roberts

Photo Credit to Kristin Lisson (The Gal on the Photo Boat!)

Tall Cactus – Great End to the Lake Pleasant Season!

By on April 28, 2019 in Events, Racing Updates, Social Events

Brunch at PHM

The day started with a brunch and some pre-race socializing at Pleasant Harbor. Everyone was excited or nervous about what was shaping up to be a downwind start. There was reasonably good wind all day.

The youngest skipper was Myles Danner on his Laser 4.7 rig! A regular in the Open Bic at Tempe Town Lake, he and his dad, Vice Commodore Marc Danner, were both out on Lasers. Myles does what he always does…smiled all the way around the race course!

We had a photo boat out and our guest photographer, Kristin Lisson, has over 3000 photos she is curating, so check back to see that slideshow when it is ready!

We had LPSC and TSC members come out and it was good fun all day long for everyone. Line honors was claimed by Dave Newland on Mike & Maryellen Ferring’s J70 (they were out racing some classic cars this weekend and were generous enough to lend their boat to their regular crew Dave!)

Full race results are posted here.

Myles Danner, Youngest Skipper on his Laser 4.7

A Downwind Start

 

 

 

 

Here Come the Champions

By on April 19, 2019 in Racing Updates

As this is written, there’s one more Sunday of racing at Tempe Town Lake, but you can be pretty sure who some of the fleet champs will be at both lakes. Scores have now been posted for the last weekend at Lake Pleasant, so we know who won there.

Congratulations to Spring winners: Skip Kempff, Thistle; Paul Liszewski, PHRF Spin; Mike Ferring, PHRF Sport Boat; Joel Hurley, Santana 20; Steve Grothe, Catalina 22; Fred Rahn, Multi.

At TTL, Dave Haggart will likely take C14 and Joel Hurley Laser. Portsmouth is still undecided, but going into the final weekend, Clay Poulson has it pretty much locked up. Colin Gibbs is leading the Junior Fleet at TTL, but isn’t eligible for the Club Championship.

Some of those same names are expected to race in the Club Championship in Lasers at Lake Pleasant on Saturday, May 4. Here’s the expected line-up: Joel Hurley, Santana 20 and Laser; Dave Haggart, C14; Clay Poulson, Portsmouth; Bob Worrall, C22; Mike Hester, Sport Boat; Skip Kempff, Thistle; Scott Richards, reigning champ. Paul Liszewski (Spin) and Fred Rahn (Multi) have indicated they don’t wish to race in Lasers and will not compete.

Here are the TTL results.

Here are some shots from Mike Ferring:

2019-2020 Season Calendar – Winter is Coming!

By on April 18, 2019 in Events, Member Interest, Racing Updates

Hi everyone…

We’re really excited about the 2019-2020 racing calendar! We have maintained the traditional Fall and Spring racing series, but have added 4 Saturdays across December and January at Lake Pleasant. We’re calling it “The Winter Series.” By default, it does not count towards the Championship, but your fleet can choose it by submitting Fleet Rules that define how you are choosing your Champion.

Why did we do this? MORE SAILING! Use this as an opportunity to try out a different fleet or boat; try out new crew; bring some kids along; work on your boat handling skills with your crew; See if you can try that one tactic that you thought was to risky to try in a race that counted for the Championship. GO HAVE FUN SAILING!

If you have questions please see your Fleet Captain, or you can always email or call me: Commodore@ArizonaYachtClub.org.

April’s Meeting – Full of Questions!

By on April 12, 2019 in Meetings, Membership, Social Events

We hosted what seems to be an Annual Trivia Challenge for the April meeting – complete with cash prizes for the winners! Teams were grouped by table and the trivia was put together by your Rear Commodore Joshua McClain with the help of his wife and Cruising Fleet Captain Heather McClain. Questions ranged from questions about the Olympics to questions about our own club. For the full PDF of the questions, Click Here.

The Ultimate Winners of the Competition, dubbed “Tom’s Table”

The “Little Table” of New Member Nelson Passos and Bob LaBine

“The Bar Team” – Runners up…

The “Big Table” had some heavy hitters but couldn’t quite eek out “Team Bar”

Sign Up for Tall Cactus Fun Regatta

By on April 9, 2019 in Cruising News, Member Interest, Sailing News, Social Events

Start with a social gathering at Spinnaker Point from 10-noon, launch your boat, start at 2pm, dash around a couple islands and various marks and finish.

That’s this year’s Tall Cactus Regatta, our fun pretty-much-end-of-the-season regatta, Saturday, April 27. Register now on the Racing page, where you’ll also find the chart and the documents.

Principal Race Officer Rob Gibbs has answered one important question before you ask: Yes, you do have to sail around Horse and Balance Rock islands in addition to the drop marks at those locations.

A chunk of the Tall Cactus race chart showing the route around the northern islands of Lake Pleasant.

LP Was Feeling Calm

By on April 7, 2019 in Racing Updates, Sailing News

So calm that on Saturday (3/30), “racing” became a drifting test. For example, the one time the C22 fleet started, it smashed through the fleet’s two-hour maximum time limit and the race needed to be abandoned (the breeze that tricked the RC from not shortening disappeared as quickly as it came).

On Sunday, the morning breeze looked good. Until it didn’t. But a few races went off.

Here are the scores.

Joel Hurley and Grant Younger winning the Santana 20 fleet. Drone photo: Mike Ferring

Extremely close downwind finish for C22 that ultimately didn’t score: the race went on too long. Photo: Mike Ferring

Sport Boat race committee. Drone photo: Mike Ferring

 

The Mystery of the Missing Bean Pot!

By on April 4, 2019 in Racing Updates

Have you seen the Bean Pot Trophy?

This elusive trophy is needed for the Tall Cactus Regatta! This is the only known photograph of this legendary trophy.

As the story goes, it was given between our club and the Tuscon Sailing Club originally as part of the great “Tall Cactus Regatta.” If you have seen it, please contact Commodore@ArizonaYachtClub.org right away!

TTL Racing March 24

By on March 27, 2019 in Racing Updates

Light wind punctuated with some nice breeze offered a pretty good afternoon of racing for the Laser, Junior and C14 fleets March 24. The Portsmouth crew presented RC and Clay Poulson’s smorgasbord of Sunday afternoon treats. It’s Clay’s signature: bringing a charcuterie spread and other goodies to keep the RC smiling. Nice idea, right?

With just two weekends remaining in the spring series, the standings are firming up.

Here are the scores from Mark Howell.

Emily helps Grandfather George Tingom point the C14. Photo: Debbra Heisler

Scenic Tempe Town Lake. Photo: Debbra Heisler

Buildings rising on the north edge of Tempe Town Lake to challenge our ability to judge the shifts. Photo: Debbra Heisler

George Sheller’s Account of the North American Laser District 23 Championship

By on March 22, 2019 in Racing Updates, Sailing News

By George Sheller, AYC Fleet Captain and Regatta Chairman

The Arizona Yacht Club hosted the North America Laser District 23 Championship on March 16-17 at Lake Pleasant in Arizona northwest of Phoenix. There were 13 registrants, 9 from Arizona and four from San Diego.

The day started with a one-hour postponement due to high winds (gusts to 30+ mph) and two-foot waves with whitecaps. Five races were run on Saturday, the first two in winds gusting to 15 mph or so. The last race was in light wind. This made for a complete range of sailing skills, including boat capsizes and righting!

Day two began with winds in the 10 to 15 mph range but after a huge wind shift and time to re-set the marks and line, the last race was in near 0 to 3 mph wind. Therefore, only 2 races were run. Typical Lake Pleasant racing.

Saturday evening the exhausted but happy sailors, some wives, the committee crew and a few friends enjoyed a meal and drinks at a ramada overlooking the lake with light winds and 70-degree weather. We believe all enjoyed the venue and the racing. We look forward to hosting the event again in two years.

Click for the official Overall Results and the Master’s Results. View more pictures on this post.

Most of the Laser District competitors pose with their pal Saguaro.

Laser District Rumble at Lake Pleasant

By on March 17, 2019 in Racing Updates, Sailing News

The sailing weather was ideal for the Laser District Regatta at Lake Pleasant, March 16&17. Lots of wind under sunny sky with comfortable temperature. Even the water temperature wasn’t too bad, according to the Laser sailors who tried it out.

Ten boats competed, including four entries from Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego, running long w/l courses at the south end of the lake. After two days of racing, the California Laser racers dominated the Master’s category (aka older guys), taking four of the top five spots. Overall, AYC’s Joel Hurley took second on a tie-breaker to MBYC’s Dave Leuck.

This event was a George Sheller production: George has wanted to stage a district event for over a year and pulled it off this time, with lots of help, including from PRO Wendy Larsen, boat driver Mike Grijalva, and a troop of Sea Scouts. Kara Newland gets credit for the BBQ dinner Saturday night.

Read George’s account of the event.

Here are the overall results. And the Master’s Results.

The Laser starts were typically very close, with various general recall and OCS flags. Photo: Mike Ferring

Local Laser ace Joel Hurley finished second in the Laser Districts. Photo: Mike Ferring

Tight windward mark rounding. Photo: Mike Ferring

Mike Bernard deep in thought during a pause between races. Photo: Mike Ferring

Trying to stay in the front row in the bunched start. Photo: Mike Ferring

Paul Miachika downwind. Photo: Mike Ferring

David Newland figuring out this Laser stuff. Photo: Mike Ferring

Lake Pleasant Scores

By on March 13, 2019 in Racing Updates, Sailing News

Lake Pleasant threw a variety pack of wind at us the weekend of March 9-10: you know, the no-wind, lots of wind, shifty wind, and (thank you) nice wind. Just to see if we were paying attention.

The scores for Week 3 of racing at Lake Pleasant are posted on the results page, or click here.

Paul Liszewski and the Rolling in the Deep team widened their lead in the PHRF Spin fleet. Mike Hester hammered the rest of us in the Sport Boat fleet. And Skip Kempff stayed out in front in the Thistle fleet.

Club Champion Scott Richards has decided to move from Thistle to Santana 20, joining the fight between Joel Hurley and Martin Lorch that Joel is so far winning. Scott brought his “new” Santana out for the first time Saturday to break her in and begin to tune her with the expected result: watching the other two from third place. This could be interesting.

End of the day fireworks light up Larry Green’s Bonne Chance. Photo: Mark Trainor

Laser Light Show at TTL

By on March 5, 2019 in Racing Updates

Will Zornik heads upwind inches ahead of Joel Hurley in the closely-contested Laser fleet. Photo: Mike Ferring

The 19-boat Laser fleet continues to be the headline entertainment at Tempe Town Lake after four rounds of the spring series.

Joel Hurley is leading the pack, with an 8-point lead over Will Zornik after 15 races. Rob Gibbs is in third with Mike Bernard close behind in fourth.

Newcomer Dersen Eddowes and Ryan Zornik are chasing Colin Gibbs in the Junior Fleet, the two tied just five points behind Colin after 11 races.

Here are the scores.

With favorable wind Sunday (3/3), the Lasers didn’t want to stop racing and got in seven before the 5:30 deadline.

Things are not nearly as close in Portsmouth, where the scores are based on who shows up that day. Sunday it was Clay Poulson in his Fireball, but Cindy Pillote continues to lead the series.

Look confusing? A typical scrum before the start for the Lasers at TTL. Photo: Mike Ferring

A serene afternoon at TTL, with Lasers in a knife fight. Photo: Mike Ferring

The lake sparkles for the Laser light show. Photo: Mike Ferring

“Dog Watch” Happy Hour – Four Peaks in Tempe!

By on February 25, 2019 in Events, Social Events

Hey everyone!

This week we’re bringing it back to Tempe. Tomorrow 26 March – Four Peaks Brewery 1340 E. 8th Street, #104 Tempe, AZ 85281. Come hang out with your sailing friends, relive your best (and worst) moments on the water and plan your next moments on the water! 5:30ish to whenever they throw us out.

Regatta Extra: Dave Perry Critiques Your Sailing

By on February 13, 2019 in Member Interest, Photos, Racing Updates

Dave Perry spent Birthday Regatta Saturday, February 9, buzzing around Lake Pleasant on David Newland’s powerboat, shooting video of your sailing with simultaneous commentary. Scary, right? Well, yes, and fun. And highly educational.

The video is on Google Drive, so it’s best to view it on Chrome. I encountered a limit to the number I could view until I downloaded the vGet browser extension. That seems to work.

Click here to go to the video.

Here’s a log of the clips:

Dave Perry watching as Vipers approach the start line during the 2019 Birthday Regatta & Leukemia Cup. Photo: Mike Ferring

Fun Shots

3 – Introduction

6 – Lotta people

68 – Kids

64 – Dogs

11 – Fred!

12 – Full chute

69 – AZ pride!

23 – RC at work

Starts

4 – Viper

7 – Santana

9 – PHRF

16 – PHRF non-spin

17 – Laser

18 – Laser

22 – Catalina

24 – Etchells

71 – PHRF

76 – Santana

92 – Viper

Dave Perry holds his small video camera, shooting the action and offering commentary. Photo: Mike Ferring

Upwind Trim & Tacks

5 – Viper

10 – PHRF

13 – Buccaneer

15 – Buccaneer

20 – Laser

25 – Etchells

29 – Viper

30 – Viper

32 – Viper

34 – Viper

40 – Santana

41 – Santana

42 – Santana

61 – 63 – Multihulls

73 – PHRF

Upwind Tactics

8 – Santana

14 – Buccaneer

19 – Laser

31 – Viper

33 – Viper

38 – Viper

43 – Santana

72 – PHRF

Windward Mark

26 – Etchells

35 – Viper

79 – Buccaneer

80 – Etchells

83 – Santana

85 – Rule 18.3, Tacking in the Zone

86 – Rule 18.3, Tacking in the Zone

David Newland chases around the race course to capture Dave Perry’s video. Photo: Mike Ferring

Downwind Trim & Gybes

28 – Catalina

36 – Viper

44 – Laser

87 – Viper

Downwind Tactics

39 – Santana

50 – PHRF

89 – Viper

Leeward Mark

37 – Vipers

45 – Laser

46 – Laser / PHRF

47 – 52 – PHRF

53 – Gaggle of boats

54 – Catalina

55 – Viper

57 – 58 PHRF non-spin

65 – Buccaneer

66 – Buccaneer

Finish – 70

Vipers in action at the 2019 Birthday Regatta & Leukemia Cup. Photo: Mike Ferring