THE HIGHLANDER Volume LV, No. 2, April 2009 Highlander On Display at Cleveland Boat Show The Highlander Page 2 April ‟09 The Highlander Official Publication of The Highlander Class International Association President’s Corner President Ahoy! As you receive this maga- Kaiser, who Jamey Carey zine the cold dark winter months are would patiently 788 Burristown Road fading and the glorious days of sailing sit at regatta Sabina, Ohio 45169 are finally upon us again. I am cer- registration 937 725-1757 tainly excited to be preparing my boat tables across [email protected] for the approaching regatta season, and the Midwest, I know that many of you are as well. ensuring that Commodore Dick Doyne Whether we're racers or cruisers, every registrant Gastonia, NC one of the main items we need to re- in the regatta 704 864-2861 [email protected] member to do as a part of our spring was a class President,Pres Norris Jamey Bourdow Carey Vice President commissioning, is to pay our class member in John Bauer dues. Some of us have been remiss in good standing. No one begrudged Bill for New Philadelphia, Ohio this area in recent years. Over the this. He was an exceptionally nice guy Secretary Erin Spengeman course of the last three years I have performing a thankless task for our class. Louisville, KY devoted much of this column to extol- And we all knew one thing for certain, if Treasurer ling the virtues of class membership. I we hadn't yet paid our dues, we certainly Sue Bauer Westerville, OH won't bore you with those details again. would be expected to do so before we Chief Measurer Those of you who have been in the officially registered for the regatta. Mark Redmond class for years understand how impor- Annapolis, MD At our spring board meeting it was O: 703 933-6725 H: 410 991-1660 tant a strong class is to the investment the unanimous consensus of the board [email protected] you have in your Highlander sailboat. that we should take steps to ensure that Secretary-Treasurer To those newer members who may all participants in our regattas are class Bryan Hollingsworth not fully understand, I invite you to members as intended by our class rules. 410 Holiday Road give me a call, as I would welcome the Also, your board feels that "looking the Lexington, KY 40502 opportunity to personally welcome you other way" in hopes of increasing partici- Ph/fax 859 269-3130 to the class and take the time to explain pation is not the correct course and, in the benefits of class membership as Mbl 859-806-5908 fact, can in fact be counter productive. well as detailing what your class and Therefore we have taken steps to ap- [email protected] your hard-working Board of Directors prove or "sanction" all of the great family National Champions attempt to do for you. oriented regattas we have on our „09 John Bauer, Skipper Harold Bauer, Crew Your current board has focused on schedule, which clarifies that helmsmen Sarah Paisley, Crew building fun and participation, and I must be class members. This should not Directors believe we have been quite successful. be cost prohibitive at all, as all of our Dan Hopkins („07-09) We are very pleased that in spite of a memberships are moderately Euclid, OH tough economy, high fuel prices, etc, priced. After all, for just $25 an Associ- Mirek Posedel Cleveland, OH (08-‟10) our regatta participation is on the rise. ate membership entitles you to race in Mike Shayeson („07-09) We are hesitant to consider anything two regattas and the National Champion- Cincinnati, OH that might negatively impact this trend ships. Many classes require all crew Ed Spengeman („08-‟10) of increased participation. members to belong to the class, but we Louisville, KY However, we also realize that we require only the helmsman. (Associates) Bill Price („09) have been somewhat negligent in one We will enforce this 100% during our Springfield, OH area, and that is in our enforcement of „09 season. Since my team attends the Editor - Mike Feldhaus class rules regarding non-member par- majority of regattas, I have accepted the 7109 Green Spring Drive ticipation in Highlander Class regattas. task of ensuring that non members are Louisville, Ky 40241 As most of us know, our High- not scored in our regattas. As this is cer- H 502 228-8725 O: 502 495-5113 lander class by-laws specify that "Dues tainly not meant to exclude anybody, we Off (fax) 502 495-5114 shall be delinquent unless received by plan on allowing non-class members to [email protected] the Class prior to the last day of Feb- immediately join at registrations ruary each year." Further, the Rules and even at event skipper's meetings. Builder: Allen Boat Company Inc. 370 Babcock Street Governing Highlander Racing state Our great sport is "self-policing" by [email protected] that "the helmsman of a boat in a sanc- nature, and it is your board's sincere hope Buffalo, NY 14206 716 842-0800 tioned regatta must be an Active Mem- that dedicating this column to this mes- ber, a Junior Member, Associate mem- sage will be all that it takes to obtain Highlander Web Page: ber, or in the immediate family of an 100% voluntary compliance. Thanks in www.sailhighlander.org Active member or Co-owner." advance for your understanding and sup- Webmaster: Fanny Timmer I'm sure many of you remember port. I look forward to seeing you on the [email protected] former Class Executive Secretary Bill water again soon. The Highlander April ‟09 Page 3 friend Kevin with guest appearances Flt 14, „Accentuating the Positive‟ from John, Debbie‟s brother. Debbie and Rick continue to present 942 in fine form and she‟s a showroom beauty By Gary Vinicky ganizations could exhibit with compli- with varnished teak all around. It‟s one On January 16-25, HCIA continued mentary floor space. I believe this was of the best Customflex Highlanders as the oldest one-design class to exhibit directed specifically towards the one- around. Thanks again, team Robertson. at the Cleveland Boat Show. In fact, I design sailing community. So now I Debbie and Rick are one of three believe that the Highlander may have had to convince what was left of the family-crewed Highlanders in Fleet 14 been exhibited at the first Cleveland fleet that we needed to do this again. which is really a neat thing. The other Boat Show in 1957. I wonder if there are This was back somewhere around the two are Team 412 consisting of Steve, any magazine articles in our Highlander year 2000. Linda (Southam), Diana and Charlie archives that may indicate that. Well, I didn‟t have to do much con- In Don Southam‟s “History of High- vincing. Everyone was all for it; but we (Continued on page 12) lander Fleet 14,” he mentions that the needed a boat to display. Cleveland fleet was formed after a visit Just about then one of the to this boat show in 1958. If any of you „job transferred‟ outgoing out there would like a copy of this his- Fleet 14 members was try- tory, send me an e-mail. ing to sell his boat which As far as I recollect, I believe that the had been stashed away in Highlander has been shown at this event the Whiskey Island back every year except for a few in the mid- forty. Jeff Eiber and I took nineties when the Class exhibited at the a look at her and we both Annapolis Boat Show and at the Strictly felt that with some elbow Sail Show in Chicago. Back then, only grease, we could fix her up new, untitled boats could be exhibited, just fine. After that show, „and‟ you had to pay for the space. It was we were on a roll. amazing that we were able to do that for This effort continues all those years. today and from here, this After so many years at the Cleveland article is going to sound show and the interruption at the other very much like the article shows, we did not have it in us to con- that I wrote last year, tinue at Cleveland due to the expense. „because‟ just about every- Because of this, Fleet 14‟s numbers were one that helped with the diminishing a little at a time, with a job project last year helped this transfer here, raising a family there, etc, year too. etc. I suspect this was the case with the This year‟s boat on other fleets in the Ohio region. display was once again, I felt we had to do something to rein- Highlander 942 owned by vigorate the fleet. Just about then I heard Debbie and Rick Robert- that the Cleveland Boat Show was turn- son, who are members of ing into the Cleveland “Powerboat” Fleet 14 and who enjoy Show and there was a management effort crew help from their kids, to attract sailboats. The Show would now Adam and Randi, and allow untitled boats and non-profit or- The Fleet 14 gang showing our Highlander to visitors. The Highlander Page 4 April ‟09 wanted to do was to intimidate myself, so I made it a point to look forward to sail- Bauer Has a Ball at C of C‟s ing this boat with 18 other really great sailors. By John Bauer about 15 years since I‟d been on one, The first day of racing was pretty After pulling the boat out of the water and a lot has changed.