Tim Mitchell aboard his gorgeous new Sunfish. Photo: Mike Ferring
The lake looked like glass at the 2pm start time. A flicker of breeze wafted from the west at 2:15. PRO George Tingom, screamed “Start ’em!” Okay, he probably didn’t, but the day needed some action.
Most of the Tempe Town Lake race group this Sunday (2/16) figured it might be another day of drifting, like the last day we were here. Or super light like the time before. Instead there was enough breeze to justify a few races and moving the windward mark out a distance to give the Lasers a bit more runway.
By a little after 4 o’clock the breeze had shut down entirely and the few boats still racing ghosted across the finish. Day over. Results are posted.
When Mike Ferring skipped out for a dinner reservation, Grant Younger accepted the award on his behalf. Photo: Josh Decker
Grant Younger says he did it on a whim. At 11:55, five minutes before the entry deadline, he grabbed five pictures off the AYC Instagram account and submitted them for recognition in the whimsically-named Tempe Instagrammys. Then he got an email saying that one of the pictures was picked from 1500 entries as a finalist in one of the Instagrammy categories. My picture, as it turned out.
Friday evening (1/24), Grant, Josh Decker, Maryellen and I joined a crowd of about 350 at the Tempe Center for the Arts for the unveiling of the finalists and announcement of category winners. It was a fun ceremony with lots of cheering and cool pictures, but it was running late and Maryellen and I had to skip out for a dinner reservation. About five minutes after we left, I got a text from Grant. It was short.
“You won!!!!”
The picture is of a pair of Lasers heeled to project their sails higher downwind—Scott Sharples with Paul Miachika right on his stern. The category was TTL boating.
The Instagrammy contest is an inspired promotion by the city and so well conducted that it won a national award of its own. People compete to put photos on the Tempe Instagram and their own Instagram accounts that promote the city. The city then plugs the contest winners (and so do websites such as this one) and the images are available for anyone to use in advertising that further promotes the city and so on.
The biggest AYC event of the year is days away, the three-day regatta and maximum party starts on Friday (2/7) with practice in the afternoon and a big Friday night:
North Sails Clinic – North Sails has joined our Regatta! Don’t miss their Tuning and Trim Clinic on Friday evening. Click here to sign up.
The Rum Bar will feature drinks from Leukemia Cup sponsor Goslings, and, for the first time, from Curt Naegeli’s North Woods Distillery, located in Coleman, Wisconsin. Before moving out of the area, Curt was an AYC member. Now he’s back for the Birthday Regatta. Watch for his Sunfish with the sail featuring his signature product, Smooth Sailing Rum.
We’ll fire up the grill to cook burgers and dogs, with side dishes. Beer and wine will also be available.
After sailing on Saturday, don’t miss the year’s best party:
Dinner and Drinks – Dinner is being provided again this year by Scottsdale’s premier, award winning caterer, Arizona Taste, now in their 30th year. For just $25, they’re providing a delicious $50 dinner menu in support of our Birthday Regatta. Also available: craft beer from Peoria Artisan Brewery, and fine wine from J Dusi Wines in Paso Robles, California.
Must-see Entertainment – Over dinner guest speaker Onne van der Wal will share photos from the day and discuss the making of “Sailing in America,” his popular new photography book.
Celebrate our 62nd Birthday with cake and with a little help from our friends – Arizona’s newest maritime band, The Keeltones.
“Pay it Forward” deals – Go home rich! Buy lots of 50-50 raffle tickets for the big drawing. Then after cake, auctioneer Rowlan Hill will lead our live auction to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Arizona Sailing Foundation and the Arizona Yacht Club. Credit cards will be accepted, so bring them all.
Click here to preview some of the great offers on the auction block this year, including:
See the Grand Canyon: from the bottom up with a “bucket list” raft trip.
Relax in the Caribbean: choose from 8 Caribbean vacation packages.
How about a charter aboard a 42-foot catamaran?
Golfer? You’ll have two nice golf packages to choose from.
Bid for an overnight stay at Lon’s Hermosa Inn, one of Arizona’s most romantic destinations.
Check out the competition – Click here for a full list of competitors by fleet. Our birthday regatta will include at least nine fleets:
Buccaneer 18
Catalina 22
Cruising
Laser
Merit 25
PHRF Non-Spin
PHRF Spin
PHRF Sport Boat
Santana 20
Sunfish
With all this happening, you just gotta regatta – see you at the Lake soon!
Pictured above, The Keeltones, the Regatta’s musical headliner. From left to right: Charlie Joiner (CJ) – an animal on those drums; lead singer Michelangelo Caggiano (a wayward sailor from a secret harbor); guitarist and back-up singer Steve Dolter (C-22 sailor); keyboardist Wayne Powell (New Freedom heat); guitarist Steve Grothe (C-22 sailor); and guitarist Dennis Lynde (former AYC Commodore and member for nearly 50 years). The Keeltones will feature original nautically-themed music by Michelangelo and a well-rounded playlist of your favorite sailing songs. Mamas, don’t let your children grow up to be maritime band musicians!
Brooke Miller accepts the 2019 Ruth Beals trophy during the November meeting. Photo: Deb Heisler
At the November monthly meeting, Brooke Miller accepted the 2019 Ruth Beals award for winning the annual women-at-the-helm race named for the club’s founder.
Brooke corrected over the other competitors in the October 12 race around the islands on Lake Pleasant with crew Jeff Coulter on Scott Richards’ Santana 20. She’ll get to keep the trophy until next fall’s regatta.
Coincidentally, Ruth Beals’ daughters, Maggie Lindsey and Terry Bohl, sent us some pictures of Ruth from the time of club’s founding, including this one posed for an Arizona Republic photo spread. We’ll post more pictures and information later.
A frame grab from David and Josh Newland’s instructional video on anchoring race marks.
I remember the first time I stared at a Lake Pleasant mark set bucket and wondered about that cleat bolted to the side (…and those bricks). After some instruction (and trial and error), I figured it out. And, fortunately, I didn’t lose any gear on the way to enlightenment.
Now, I’ve put together an instructional Mark Set video, with the help of my Media Productions-oriented son, Josh. My goal is to have us all use procedures that extend the life of our gear, have it ready to go for the next day, and hopefully keep me from making more buckets! On average, we fill Davy Jones’ locker with four sets of anchor gear per year.
Update on Wednesday, December 4: The campaign to raise money for Steve and Christina has reached $7,000 and the Ferrings have sent a matching check for an additional $5,000, bringing the total raised to $12,000 and climbing.
In February 2018, Steve Campo was gut-punched with a devastating diagnosis: Diffused Large B Cell Lymphoma. The treatment was as difficult and expensive as you can imagine. Fortunately, Steve is a strong guy and handled the treatment. He’s just gotten the payoff for the pain: the emotional news that the cancer is gone. Time to celebrate.
The expensive part? Not gone. No celebration here. Their insurance company ducked out on them, leaving them with dizzying debt. They’re working it through and struggling to keep their business, Sarto Pools, running. But they could sure use some help and we hope their friends at the Arizona Yacht Club will chip in.
If you were at the monthly meeting Tuesday (11/12), you saw how this hit Maryellen. She and I have agreed to match your donations to the Campos through the time of the Birthday Regatta up to $5,000. Already, several people have generously contributed. Here’s how you can help:
Or simply hand us or mail us your donation and we’ll match it and see that it gets to the Campos. (Our mailing address is 525 W Monte Vista Rd, Phoenix 85003.)
If you’re new to AYC, you might not know Steve and Christina, so let me offer a brief introduction. Steve is a second-generation member, son of former Commodore Ron Campo. (Side note: Steve’s mother died of Leukemia.)
Steve and Christina prepare dinner at the Mariachi Opening Day. Photo: Sheila Gordon
Together they raced a Catalina 22 at Lake Pleasant and a 14.2 at Tempe Town Lake. After a long search for a fast C22 (a lighter early serial number), they not only launched their “new” boat, but were the driving force behind relaunching the fleet, which had withered at the time.
Steve is a very competitive guy, a former bike racer and coach, and we’d see them out relentlessly practicing, setting the whisker pole and working on mark roundings. They went on to win the fleet, of course, and competed in the club championship.
Then they took a huge competitive step: they got a Hobie 33 and set about to prepare it for the Transpac, the 2200-mile race to Honolulu. Part way across, the rudder failed and they had to turn back. Here’s how they described the adventure in 2015.
Steve and Christina have given us a lot of joy. Time to return the favor.
Christina at the luau Commodore’s Celebration she organized. Photo: Mike Ferring
Steve and Christina rig a Thistle for the 2012 Club Championship. Photo: Mike Ferring
It was never supposed to be quite like this, but 20 years after water gurgled into the ditch that was the Salt River along the 202, the small body of water that became Tempe Town Lake is still a key part of Arizona Yacht Club sailing. Now the lake is attracting massive real estate development to twist and snuff out lake breezes, but is paying off Tempe’s gamble to spend perhaps $450 million for a bit of water in the desert.
This Saturday, November 9, Tempe will stage a birthday party and you’re invited.
Tempe Town Lake Boating Coordinator Ryan Allison reports that the 20th Anniversary Celebration will run from 11am-4pm, with opportunities to try everything from free boating activities and exercise classes to a rock wall and zipline. He says, “The lake will be staged with activities on both sides from the marina all the way west to the pedestrian bridge.”
The entire marina parking lot will be closed to all public parking from 5am-4pm. After 8am, the marina gates will open to permit parking only. If you plan to boat out of the marina that morning you will have to park offsite at the Arizona Heritage Center off of College Ave or under the 202 off Lakeview Drive.
Ryan says, “If you’re planning to take out your personal watercraft on this day, during these hours, please be patient as parking and lake access will be extremely busy. The lake itself will also be very busy with boating from Rural west to the pedestrian bridge. Boating east of rural will likely be a good option with less traffic.”
Like to know more about the history of this section of the river? The Arizona Republic has put together a nice retrospective tracing the lake from beginning to its position as the second-most-visited tourist attraction in the state, after the Grand Canyon. Click here to read about it.
Lasers cluster downwind with some of the TTL real estate development in the background. Photo: Mike Ferring
The Lake Pleasant Fall Series experienced “No” to light winds on Saturday (11/2) and the usual stronger winds early Sunday, but diminishing by late morning. The C22s were sailing Saturday, while Santana 20s, Sportboats, and Thistles were out both days, getting in two finishes Saturday and four on Sunday.
Tucson Sailing Club: Photo by Marshall Williamson
Many thanks to the large number of spin fleet folks who came out for RC both days: Paul Liszewski, Steve Nahkala, and Bob Brie did a great job handling PRO duties. Cindy Williamson Creech spent all day Saturday photographing those on the water, seeking a full spinnaker, which was a rarity.
The post-racing “social” at Spinnaker Point was a big hit, and drew a record crowd! Sponsored by AYC and Tucson Sailing Club, specialty burgers, zesty chicken, and cold beverages were enjoyed by all. Special thanks to the J/24 Jim Bird crew; Eric Whiteman and friend Sarah who brought a large pot of delicious vegan gumbo. Tom Creech contributed a tasty “Indiana corn salad” which rounded out dinner.
From high winds to no wind, from recycling to composting, and from DC to Alaska, the 2019 running of the Buccaneer North American Championship had it all! The regatta was held at Lake Pleasant, Arizona from 22-26 October. We had teams from Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alaska and of course the home teams from Arizona. The food was magnificent, the camaraderie was jovial, and the competition fierce!
Kudos and Thanks!
Regattas don’t happen without a lot of effort and volunteers. All of the competitors gave much thanks to the Race Committee that consisted of PRO Wendy Larsen, Scorer Dave Christensen, Mark Boat Driver Mike Grijalva, Committee Members Jo Grijalva, Dale Buccanan, Chuck Landis, Bob Naylor, and Lori Reger. We also had Shore Crew! Deb Heisler helped organize the on-site food, which was a homemade TACO EXTRAVAGANZA on Wednesday night, and catered-in Mexican food on Friday night, as well as continental breakfast every morning and a sandwich and snack line.
Green Team Leader Deb Heisler and all the “Landfill Trash” that we produced in five days!
Clean Regatta
This event met all the criteria set by Sailors for the Sea to qualify for the Silver Level Clean Regatta Certification. This is no small feat. There were 13 Best Practices that we chose to comply with, some easy like giving out practical gear as regatta trophies. Others were more difficult, like composting and doing “paperless” regatta management. We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Rear Commodore Deb Heisler for her efforts to earn this certification.
Racing Recap
The Tuesday practice afternoon was fluky even by Lake Pleasant standards, with the wind shifting from south to west from the 10 Lane Boat Ramp. Mostly, the practice day is just to make sure you put the boat together correctly and shake out the cobwebs a bit, so everyone had fun with it.
Wednesday morning race day came and it was all game faces. The Skipper’s Meeting came with just a few questions, and then it was go time. Four races, all in pretty good breeze, came and went, and a trend in the scores began to appear, but the real story was the forecast for Thursday.
With no wind forecast less than 20kts all day and gusts into the 40s forecast for Thursday, it was an easy, however disappointing, decision to cancel for the day. Several out-of-town groups found their way to local breweries as everyone sought shelter from the relentless wind. That night gusts were recorded over 50kts, which made Friday a tenuous decision for the Regatta Management Team. With racing set to start at 9, sustained winds in the high teens and gusts in the low 20’s, with 4 foot, wind-driven waves demanded yet another postponement.
Racing was then set to start at 10, and while the forecast had wind dissipating, those who jumped out on the water found out very quickly that mother nature had not been informed of the forecast. Now on the water, postponement with more signals ashore was decided as people took shelter at the north and south ramps and the Pleasant Harbor courtesy docks. Finally, at 11:30, after taking multiple readings on the water and reviewing several more forecasts, racing would start at 12:30.
The wind did dissipate some and the wind driven waves were in the 1-2 foot range by 12:30. The first race of the day tested skippers and crew as it was at the top end of the range for racing the Bucc 18. Everyone stayed upright and we got four solid races in as the wind continued to relent into the afternoon and overnight.
Saturday was the final day, and it started early with good breeze, but it wouldn’t be Lake Pleasant without a bit of a drifter, and the third and final race of the day ended on just that. A course that was shortened at the south mark.
Results
Joel Hurley and Tony Chapman – Bucc 18 Champs!
The Bucc Fleet has a strong history of honoring not only the winning skipper, but also the crew. On a two-person boat, the skipper and crew relationship is very important and can make or break the team. In fact, some of the owners were actually crewing their boats. The Bucc 18 Fleet Champion Trophy has both skipper and crew listed on it. In honor of one of Arizona Yacht Club’s winningest Bucc crew and one of the best sailors, either at the helm or as crew, that I’ve ever known. The Bucc 18 fleet commissioned the Crew Trophy in Honor of Dennis Martinelli. Finally, the B-Fleet trophy was created in order to encourage sailors to come out and improve their skills. But once you’ve won it, you are banished from the B’s! For all the scores, you can visit the scores page here.
The B-Fleet Trophy was awarded to Tom Gage and crew Sue Goodglick from Big Lake Sailing Club Alaska
In third place overall from Denver Sailing Association, Dave Spira with AYC crew Vanessa Wisbaum
In second place overall, from Potomac River Sailing Association, Jeff Neurauter with crew Heather Howard
Finally, in first place overall, from the Arizona Yacht Club, Joel Hurley with crew Antony Chapman. Joel and Tony had a total of 12 points over 11 races.
Additionally, we have some other awards: The Centurion award goes to the highest-finishing boat with a combined crew age over 100, which went to Dave Spira and Vanessa Wisbaum. The Oldest Boat award went to Jim Irwin for his early copy of the now revered Nickels Bucc. And the Sportsmanship award went to AYC’s own Dave Newland. His was the only boat to have a failure, which caused him to be the only capsize. It happened on Thursday morning, right after the second postponement. He didn’t let that bother him, though. He went in, fixed the boat, toweled off, and he and his crew Matt Baker got right back after it.
Thanks to Chuck Landis, Deb Heisler, Dave Spira, and Wendy Larsen for the photo gallery!
Eight women, a 32-foot Melges, good manners, humor and determination were the mix that led the Sail Like a Girl team to victory in the 2018 Race to Alaska (R2AK). Co-Skipper Haley King Lhamon was part of this history-making, all-woman crew and is joining us at the November AYC monthly meeting.
The meeting is Tuesday, November 12, at Dave & Buster’s, Tempe Marketplace (map). It’s near Lucille’s, Smokehouse. Please arrive early for dinner as our program begins at 7:00 pm. Guests are welcome.
The R2AK is a 750-mile boat race that must be completed with no motor and no outside support. Sixty percent of the teams finish. Each team has to navigate its way from Port Townsend, through the tides of the Inside Passage and finish in Ketchikan, Alaska. First place grabs the first-place prize of $10,000 nailed to a block of wood. Second place gets a set of steak knives.
With limited experience and a few novice sailors, the Sail Like a Girl team never imagined they would win this mettle-testing, endurance race, especially after colliding with a large log in the middle of the night. They just wanted to finish.
This is a race of extremes: cold water, squalls, currents that run up to 15 knots, and unyielding rain. The women’s Melges was outfitted with two stern-mounted “bikes” that turned propellers to move the boat when the wind died. And die, it did. The team ended up biking about half the time and finishing under pedal power.
Haley has been involved in racing since age eight. Listed among her other memorable races are co-skippering her J/35 Grace E on a nonstop, screaming broad reach to win Division II and the J/35 fleet in the 2002 Chicago-Mac Race and skippering a Snipe on the US team in the Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship in Uruguay in way too much wind, against Olympians.
Residing with her family on Bainbridge Island, Haley is past Commodore of the Port Madison Yacht Club. As the Sailing Coordinator at Bainbridge Island Parks & Recreation, she stays busy organizing classes and instructing. And as a volunteer, she coaches the Bainbridge Island High School Sailing Team and serves on the youth committee and board of The Sailing Foundation. Haley has a habit of saying yes because she doesn’t want to miss out on anything! I’m so glad she said yes to Arizona Yacht Club.
There’s a lot of legend and guesswork swirling in the breezes of AYC. I remember vividly listening to the argument for moving the Birthday Regatta to February, the assertion that it’s warmer then and the wind is better. Well, slightly and not really.
The State Climatologist, Dr. Nancy Selover, flashed some fascinating charts on the screen during a meeting of the Lake Pleasant Sailing Club Tuesday (10/15), summarizing data collected at the two weather reporting stations at the lake. One station is near the visitor’s center and the other on North Barker Island, one of the larger islands northeast of Horse Island (see map below).
Here’s the bottom line graph, showing the seasonal shift in average monthly wind speed at both reporting stations.
The graph shows the average wind at the two Lake Pleasant observing stations.
Of course, averages are averages and can’t capture the variations of time of day and weather fronts, but they crunch all those variables into a smooth-flowing depiction of the seasonal changes.
You want peak? I’ll give you peak! The highest wind ever recorded was 68 mph in August of 2013. One of the monsoons that clobbered the marinas in 2018 (PHM in particular) topped out at 63.
The strongest winds recorded at Lake Pleasant. The station near the visitor’s center gets stronger winds than the one at the north end of the lake.
And, true, the average temperature in February is higher than January. By 1.6 degrees. Here’s the moving average at the northern station, which is quite similar to the southern one.
Temperature averages at the Lake Pleasant North station.
You’ll note that the nighttime temperatures at the lake are considerably lower than those in the city, which are kept higher by the heat sink effect of all that asphalt and concrete. In fact, Dr. Selover found that because of urban growth, the average low (the nighttime temperature) has jumped significantly. The difference in lows for 30-year periods (1941-1970 and 1991-2018) rose 7.1°.
Also alarming, the amount of rain and snow in Arizona and other Western states has been dropping and is expected to continue to drop—and you know how that will affect our hobby!
The location of the northern observation station at Lake Pleasant.
Jerome Rand heels to port, remembering being slapped around by rough seas. Photo: Mike Ferring
Jerome Rand got a standing ovation when he finished speaking at the AYC October monthly meeting and I don’t recall that ever happening before. But then, it was quite the story he told.
The tale really needs to begin with his 2012 trek along the Appalachian Trail, beginning to end, which he described as being even more intense than sailing around the world—constantly having to look down and concentrate for 10-12 hours a day to avoid stumbling.
After that adventure, Jerome immediately began planning for the next one, that trip around the world.
He went back to work at the Bitter End Yacht Club in the British Virgin Islands and began scheming and saving. He decided to buy a Westsail 32 full-keel boat, choosing it for its history of strength and reliability. He would sail single-handed and nonstop in this 1974 boat. He had no sponsors or backers, just his own savings and his amazing drive to explore his limits.
Jerome Rand speaks to the October monthly meeting. Photo: Mike Ferring
The trip took 271 days, punctuated by the terror of being knocked down, suffering hours with bare pole in a cyclone, hanging on through pitching seas in the Southern Ocean, shivering uncontrollably during weeks of freezing cold, and running out of food after making it around Cape Horn. There was the proof: pictures of a skinny sailor, down from 190 pounds to maybe 140. Fortunately, his father negotiated a food drop at the Falkland Islands that saw him through to the Caribbean.
It was his biggest mistake, he says, confusing the term “serving” on the freeze-dry package for “meal,” which it definitely wasn’t. It left him dreaming of thick, juicy hamburgers. In fact, real food and the human voice were the things he missed most about being a civilian on hard ground.
There were offsets for the risk and the suffering. Jerome showed a video of a blazing sunset panorama framed by a rich rainbow. He lay on the bow pulpit of the boat for hours watching dolphin escorts. At the meeting, he played video of huge whales swimming alongside and, yes, under his little boat, feeling as if they could toss the boat aside with the flick of a tail.
Throughout the trip, Jerome was able to shoot 170 character digital updates to his family that his mother then posted to Facebook. (They were the PG version of his trip since he didn’t want to scare Mom.) Now he’s able to bring the story to the rest of us in talks, a feature story in Sail magazine, and a book he’s hoping to publish. Judging by the reaction at AYC, this next journey should be a rewarding one.
Excellent turnout for solo circumnavigator Jerome Rand. Photo: Mike Ferring
Jerome Rand entertains the AYC bunch with stories and pictures of his trip around the world. Photo: Mike Ferring
Jerome met some AYCers when he was Watersports Director at the Bitter End Yacht Club in the BVI. From left: Chuck Sears, Joe Motil, Maryellen Ferring, Bonnie Motil, Chris Smith, Bob Whyte, Mike Ferring and Jerome. Photo: Martin Lorch
On Saturday we gave some serious thought to giving up when the wind failed to show until well into the afternoon, but when it arrived we enjoyed some good racing, bouncing west-east on windward-leeward courses.
Sunday arrived with with strong north wind and let us get enough races in before going slack… and heading home.
Mike Hester on his Viper picked up where he left off in the spring, by leading the Sport Boats despite some stiff competition from Court Roberts and the Melges 24 team. Mike tested his new fiberglass repair Saturday by slamming into Laurent Dion’s Viper, but apparently avoided a return to the shop.
Yes, Joel Hurley was a clear first in Santana 20 and Rollin’ in the Deep kept rolling in Spin while Marshall Williamson in Shazam has shown huge improvement from past seasons (maybe it’s that new sail). You’ll find all the results here.
Photo above of spins headed to the start line was taken by Joel Hurley.
Week three of the 2019 Tempe Town Lake race series turned out to be a dandy. The racing dinghy fleets were greeted with fairly steady westerlies ranging up to the mid teens. A bit up and down but generally, we had great wind for TTL.
The good winds attracted lots of sailors and with nearly 30 boats on the water representing five different fleets, the sailing was just great.
In action were Lasers, Sunfish, C14s, and the Juniors. Plus a gaggle of ASU students showed up with their FJs and asked if they could sail.
“Of course! All are welcome… you just have to show up.”
Those ASU boats did show up to sail. They had three boats and more then six sailors so they traded teams each race. We never knew who any of them were but they got in five good starts and five good races. Great to see you guys!
Starting and racing with them were the C14s. Whether old guy experience or a faster boat, the C-14s came around the course faster then those college kids’ FJs.
The first four races the C14s had match racing with the Ferrings and Scott Richards duking it out. The Ferrings took three of the races, a few by a wide margin, though the Richards team did squeak out one good win. Dave Henning showed up to make the fourth and fifth heats.
The Sunfish also got in five heats. Gary Oberbeck was the fastest boat all afternoon with a string of bullets. Jeff Bryant took most of the seconds, with Bob Naylor once sneaking into the back-up position. Tim Mitchell battled into the tough winds all day and had a line full of well earned thirds.
We also saw three Open Bics and one Radial Laser in the Junior class. The Bics looked awesome with their sporty lines and the kids hiking out with all their weight. Colin Gibbs and Myles Danner fought neck and neck, each earning two bullets and two seconds. Likewise Michael Haggart on the Laser and Ethan Wei traded positions with two threes and two fours apiece.
All great racing, though the big class this weekend at TTL was the Lasers with 13 boats on the line. I must say it was almost a clinic as club and class champion Joel Hurley ran away with four straight wins. Paul Miachika had a good consistent day with two seconds and two thirds. Scott Sharples had a single second and a third. Chuck Norris had a nice consistent day getting a second and Mike Bernard took the other third.
We did see very impressive sailing by the leading Laser and the committee did hear words of advice from our sailing champion which I will pass on to the other sailors.
After winning one race Joel, speaking half to the committee half to no one, said, “Those other guys don’t know how to change gears. I get away from them in the light stuff. They don’t loosen everything up… they just keep it all tight.”
A few words of honest advice for all dinghy racers out there: you need to learn to change gears.
The day started with the Junior More sailing class rigging boats with new sails! (The ASF board voted to replace the well-worn original sails with crisp new ones.) The kids practiced starts, rounding the marks in the right direction and trying capsize drills (to cool off).
There was excitement in the air with the new Sunfish fleet getting a pep talk from fleet captain Bob Naylor. Bob drummed up a fleet with eight entrants this summer so he had other Sunfish to race against in his (actually his wife’s) new boat.
The wind did not disappoint! As each fleet started, the wind continued to build from the southwest, testing everyone’s skills and dumping several in the drink. Commodore Rob Gibbs assisted boats as they lay on their sides.
Many fleets were able to get three or more races in before the wind became too strong to continue. The Junior fleet played in the water while others struggled to get back to the dock, but all made it safely.
I’ve been briefed that on past Opening Days we’ve had dinner and a movie with popcorn, a chili competition, tacos and a Mariachi band, USCG boat inspections, and even a burn the summer flip-flops ceremony.
Well, this year, pull out and don your favorite, decorative, or plain old silly sailing socks and cover those summer, moisture-deprived dogs. Just for fun, fashion, or flamboyancy. And because I know you probably have a pair.
Opening Day cannon fire. Well, maybe not THIS cannon.
Arizona Yacht Club will hold our Opening Day Celebration on Saturday, September 21, at the Lake Pleasant Spinnaker Point Ramada. We’re dusting off the cannon and starting our opening day with a BANG!
When it was suggested we use the cannon, I had visions of large artillery mounted on wheels–so if for no other reason, I’m going in order to see and hear this mini military equivalent. (Note: Lake Pleasant security has been notified so no one panics when the blast goes off.)
The first race horn will sound at 12:30 p.m. and after racing we’ll have some food, drink (BYOB), fun, and live music. The music will be provided by The B-Sides, a two-man band of acoustic and electric guitars. Band leader and C22 sailor Steve Dolter says The B-Sides plays a selection of about 40-songs and specialize in the “B-side” of Beatles albums.
Here’s the day’s lineup:
9:30 Coffee, juice and a variety of homemade breakfast burritos from Big Joe and Bonnie
10:30 Fire the cannon – Start pistol? Nah, we have a cannon. Go big or go home!
12:30 First warning – Don’t be late.
12:35 First race starts with a cannon BOOM.
5:00 Dinner, BYOB drink, and live music. Enjoy a delicious meal and relive the day’s racing or talk about what you did over summer break. It’s all good when you’re with friends.
6:00 Prizes – You get a chance to go home with something unexpected and useful.
Come join us to kick off and celebrate another great season of AYC racing. This is for the entire club, whether you race at Lake Pleasant, Tempe Town Lake or not at all.
VOLUNTEER HELP NEEDED
Below are some areas where we need YOUR HELP. If you’re not racing in this event, please consider giving some time to make it a fun day for everyone. Call or text me at 602.214.2053 or email Rear.commodore@arizonayachtclub.org
Dinner: Maryellen Ferring, our preeminent party planner, is leading dinner plans and needs a few helping hands.
Show up/help with set up (9:00)
Set up food table: Breakfast and Dinner
Wo/Man the Grill (Martin Lorch- AKA Grill Master needs a helper)
Monitor trash & recycling containers (Yes, we’ll recycle at this event)
Clean up: including taking down tables/chairs and help reloading the trailer
The AYC September monthly meeting will feature North Sails One Design sailor Eric Doyle, one of the top Star boat sailors in the world and an America’s Cup veteran. The meeting is at 7p on Tuesday, September 10, at Dave & Buster’s at Tempe Marketplace (map). It’s near Lucille’s Smokehouse. Arrive early for dinner.
Eric started sailing as a kid on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, “Because it was so bloody hot you kind of had to be on the water in order to survive.” During college in Mobile, Alabama, he sailed Stars for the first time with the local fleet. “When I got out of college and was done racing small boats, I thought that the Star was just the coolest thing ever and started racing them.”
That led to an Olympic campaign ahead of the 1992 Games, and that in turn led to an important phone call.
“Vince Brun called me and said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come work for North Sails in San Diego, there’s a great Star fleet out here. I think it’ll help your career.’ So I packed up, pulled my Star boat out here, and started working for him.”
In 1999, Eric won the Star World Championship and his first Gold Star. “129 boat fleet, that was a highlight for sure.” More recently, he and crew Payson Infelise won the 2018 North Americans. “We’re feeling pretty strong right now. So, hopefully we can continue rolling along.”
Since first starting at North in 1992, Eric has done some big boat sailing as well, including an America’s Cup campaign with Dennis Conner and two with Oracle. But in 2017 the opportunity came to return to the Star—and to San Diego. Now, as Class Leader for North Sails, he’s brought his Cup experience back to help improve one design sails. “It’s taken me two years to get the [Star] sails where they are now. We have made some nice improvements.”
Racing begins at Tempe Town Lake on Sunday, September 8, and at Lake Pleasant on Saturday, September 21. Plug your ears for the opening gun at Lake Pleasant: we’re firing the club cannon this year to kick off the new season and will follow it up with an Opening Day celebration later in the day.
Looking for crew or wanting to crew? Commodore Rob Gibbs is revising the crew list system this year, so watch for his update. In the meantime, ask around and mark your calendar for a crew party on Saturday afternoon and evening, September 7.
If you’d like to know more about this game we play, consider signing up for the Introduction to Sailboat Racing class. It will be Thursday evening, September 19, from 6:30-9 at the Eisendrath House. Here’s much more about it. By the way, it’s free.
Lori Reger reflecting on sailing a Sunfish on Tempe Town Lake. Photo: Mike Ferring
Bob Naylor has recruited enough Sunfish folks to create at TTL fleet for the fall. If you have a Sunfish under cover, knock the cobwebs off and bring it out to tangle with the other fish. Here’s background on the fleet.
The Ruth Beals Cup race for women at the helm has been moved to Saturday, October 12. Here’s more on that event.
All of the Arizona Sailing Foundation sailing classes are open for registration now, but the adult class is full. Click on the “education” link.
Have you seen the movie Maiden? It’s currently showing at the Harken’s theater at Fashion Square and it’s a truly inspirational and entertaining documentary tracing the 1989-1990 all-women’s campaign in the Whitbread Around-the-World race.
A boatload of women challenged the men in this grueling event, not only finishing the race, but coming in second in their division.
How do we get more girls and women into sailing? Here are two efforts to do that.
The first is simple. Fill out a survey, whether you’re a man or woman. Here’s the link. The survey is being conducted by the World Sailing Trust and it aims to determine how both men and women are introduced to the sport.
As they put it, “Its aim is to allow us to understand more about the realities of women and girls in sailing: what attracts them, what puts them off, why they drop out, the perceived and real barriers to participation that they might face and how this varies across countries, ages, classes and competition and different elements of the sport – racing vs recreational vs officials and, how we can increase women and girls’ participation.”
The second is Debbie Huntsman’s National Women’s Sailing Association, which joining with Tumble Weed Sailing to put on a WOWZR regatta November 1-3 (the weekend after AYC’s Ruth Beals Cup Regatta). Their event includes seminars and coaching culminating in racing.
Lido 14s racing in 1962. Click to see a bigger view.
Arizona Highways magazine in the 1960s was at the height of its fame: a lavish, glossy publication that was the state’s answer to Life magazine, with splendid color photographs shot with large format film cameras. In September of 1962, Arizona Highways chose to feature the nascent Arizona Yacht Club and Arizona sailing on the cover and in an extensive inside article.
Besides the high-production photographs, there are a few hundred words of description by writer Bill Dawn, most of them steam heated. If the copy had been acting, we’d say it was chewing the scenery. Here’s a short excerpt:
“Regattas are held every other week from September to May and the rock bound Arizonan dumps the desert sand from his boots and trades them for the crepe soled shoes of the sailor. The heat of the desert is exchanged for the heat of competition, the quiet air of the city for the cooling breeze that drifts above the water. The week’s tensions of profession or trade are quickly absorbed, becoming lost in the relaxed atmosphere and easy laughter of the week-end sailors.”
There’s also some actual description of Arizona sailing, when AYC racing was being done mostly in Lido 14s at Canyon Lake and sometimes at Saguaro and Roosevelt. Lake Pleasant then was much smaller and hard to reach.
They wrote, “Much is being done to improve Lake Pleasant, on the Agua Fria River. Heretofore the trip was a rugged one, the road very bad, the ‘natural launching ramp’ bumpy and steep, and the level of the lake uncertain. The brave one who made the trip, towing his sailboat through the heat and dust over the rough road could be certain of a wonderful sail on a beautiful, uncrowded waterway, surrounded here, not by steep walls, but by gentle, rolling hills and the same strange spectacle of desert landscape surrounding a body of water.”
There’s also a description of a Phoenix sailor who did very well in what they called the “Trans-Pac.”
“Owned and skippered by A. B. “Bob” Robbs, Jr., Phoenix, Arizona businessman, ‘Nam Sang’ completed the grueling 2,225 mile run from Los Angeles to Honolulu in 10 days, 16 hours, 26 minutes and 25 seconds. She finished at night amid the glare of searchlights playing back and forth across the Basin. The victory, bringing Robbs and his exhausted but exhilarated crew the Class A and overall fleet handicap championships, came over a fleet of 41 entrants.”
Arizona sailing making history 57 years ago.
“Nam Sang” in the Transpac from Arizona Highways magazine.
By Rob Gibbs
