September 2013 Official Publication of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club Volume 86 • Number 9 beach Kathy Robinson and party Stephanie Gwinn photos un, sand, surf and sangria were enjoyed by those who attended the ABYC Beach Party on June 28. The enticing Sweather encouraged over 30 members, old and new, to dig their feet into the sand and enjoy a day at the beach on beautiful Alamitos Bay. An endless game of volleyball was played, while Mary Salef and her canine companion “Hudson” took to the surf on their longboard. Competetive rounds of Kentucky Corn Toss and Smash Ball were tirelessly played, and Lisa Little served up some tasty homemade sangria! As usual, a core group stayed until dusk, enjoying pizza and chilled white wine, and everyone agreed that somehow things just seem to taste better while enjoying a sunset on the beach. A big thanks to Ed Spotskey and Heather Meyer and her gang for a great summer afternoon! Jeff Merrill photo inside sav e the date Commodore’s Compass .................................... 2 Build Your Own Omelet ............................... Sept 8 Manager’s Corner ............................................. 2 Olympic Classes Regatta ..................... Sept 14-15 Vice Verses .................................................... 3-4 Annual General Meeting ........................... Sept 20 Rear View ....................................................... 4-5 Charity Regatta ......................................... Sept 22 Membership Report ........................................... 5 Commodore’s Appreciation Party .............. Sept 27 Junior Sailing..................................................... 6 Fall Invitational/North Series ............... Sept 28-29 Baseball & Fireworks ........................................ 7 Stag Cruise................................................. Oct 4-6 Pine Block Regatta......................................... 8-9 Ladies Day Regatta ....................................... Oct 6 Fleet News ................................................. 10-11 Long Beach Marathon ................................. Oct 13 Slate & Voting Dates ....................................... 12 Commodore’s Installation ............................ Oct 19 sou’wester • september 2013 • page 1 commodore’scompass NDIAN LONG BEACH SUMMER (It’s like regular summer, but with less June gloom.) I Greetings friends. Now that the kids are back in school, and the invitational regattas are complete, we can spend a little time enjoying the great sailing we have here in Alamitos Bay. There are a few more twilights for some of us, and we have a few more weekends to enjoy the splinters on the docks before the big rebuild starts. Friday night happy hour is still in full swing, as well as R/C racing with the Nirvana II fleet. This is a great time to enjoy time with your family and sailing friends. Looking back on the summer, we had some great sailing and some great parties around the fire pit. We also had a very successful junior sailing program, with many younger sailors filling in for the “senior” juniors, many of whom have come back to sail with us and help with the junior program instruction. I wanted to thank Matthew Beck for his excellent work with the junior program this last year. Matt is continuing on to work in his field of training in Engineering. We wish him well. My thanks also go to Jennifer Golison, the juniors, parents, and members that have helped make our junior program so successful. It’s been a fantastic year, and trust you will join me in looking forward to a great end of summer and fall sailing. Cheers, Mike manager’scorner topped by Lowe’s last night on the way home from the Club, Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations already out…must be end of summer. I say it every year, but where does the S time go? This is the time where I normally talk about how busy the club was this year, but I feel I’ve become redundant. The club IS always busy and that’s the beauty of our little gem. We hosted our usual array of fabulous Regatta’s, some really fun, unique Social events, a handful of weddings and receptions. Unfortunately, we had our share of memorial services as well. One of the most difficult things we juggle here at ABYC is the delicate balance of the calendar. The Board of Directors in conjunction with Race Committee and SAC fill in the calendar with all ABYC related activities, I then start booking the outside “non-member” events, weddings, receptions, reunions etc. These events generate substantial revenues for the club, but they also can wear and tear on the staff and facilities. It’s a delicate balance, and occasionally will wake me up at night, horrified that I may have inadvertently booked a wedding on top of a Regatta. It actually happened once several years ago, but with smoke and mirrors we pulled off both events. Thanks to our membership for your patience in “sharing” the club for these outside events, and understanding their importance in obtaining our financial responsibilities. One of our ongoing challenges at ABYC, is keeping the grounds and facility secure. We’ve tried to keep the pedestrian gate closed and locked, but during Regatta’s with many non- members around, it’s near impossible to keep the gate closed. Also, it’s easy for a non-member vehicle to Got Sails? follow a member into the yard once the gate opens. Keeping the club open to members and their guest is our mission. The Juniors are Please help us with making sure you bring your gate card or collecting old clicker with you to the club, and close all gates behind you. We have had some security breaches and minor theft sails to recycle recently, so please be diligent in helping us keep our club into duffle bags and other gear. safe and secure. Clean out your boat and garage! Kelly Whitlow Simply drop off your old sails in the designated collection bin in the junior room. sou’wester • septembefr 2013 • page 2 viceverses nother great month of sailing! ABYC hosted three class events during the month of August: Santana 20 Class Championship, A-Cat North American Championship and the AMercury 18 Class Championship. And, still found time to have some fun with BBQ Series. The Santana 20 Class Championship was a really nice event. It was a great group of competitors (that tolerated me winning several items in their impressive raffle)! Regatta Chair Bob Wright did a fantastic job adjusting the event to changing expectations. Participation was disappointing, but four competitors trailed their boats all the way from Eugene Yacht Club in Oregon. All seemed pleased with the sailing conditions in Long Beach. Several had expressed concerns with the legendary Long Beach afternoon winds (as they were lake sailors), but the wind never exceeded 12 knots and provided an even playing field. PRO Steve Kuritz had to postpone racing several days waiting for the wind to fill in. Winner of the event was Eric Knowacki, Andrew Kerr and Tom Jenkins of Mission Bay Yacht Club had straight bullets with a total score of 7 points. We had a problem with Patience not wanting to start. At the end of the day, it wouldn’t engage, so it was the “girls” to the rescue. Robin Townsend and I were running the line/gate boat whaler and were able to tow Patience up under the oil island with our mark set line. Meanwhile, the “men” Dave Rustigan and Dave Crockett Sr. devised a towing bridle and took over from the oil island to the basin. The A-Cat North Americans was the much anticipated event of the summer. Regatta Chair Todd Smith was also faced with adjusting the event to changing expectations. Final entry count was 19 boats. He did a stellar job of attracting several sponsors for the after sailing refreshment and snacks. Many thanks to Jerry Thompson for allowing the club to borrow his power boat for use as the rescue boat. We had a quirky scene at the start of one of the races. Todd Smith had noticed a swimmer getting close to the sailing area. Patience was anchored off the beach between the Belmont Pier and the Claremont launch ramp. There were two rows of ships up near the wall, so we were closer to the beach than usual to allow enough racing area for the A-Cats. Back to the swimmer…Todd put his boat Riot between the A-Cats preparing for their start and swimmer. He was concerned that the rudders would seriously hurt a swimmer. None of us on Patience had noticed as we were all on the upper deck in ...continued page 4 Sou’Wester DEADLINE Help us to Help you! Septbmber 21, 2013 is the deadline Please keep your e-mail address current with [email protected] to receive all for the October Sou’Wester. of the weekly news and events. Thank you. 2012/13 OFFICERS & DIRECTORS Commodore Mike Baumann Treasurer Nicole Peoples [email protected] Vice Commodore Jennifer Kuritz Junior Commodores Kevin Baumann/Kevin Leddy [email protected] Fleet Surgeon Karen Rice Rear Commodore Chuck Clay [email protected] Judge Advocate Tom Ramsey Jr. Staff Commodore Jon Robinson [email protected] Fleet Chaplain Don Reiman Fleet Captain Latham Bell Port Captain Dave Myers [email protected] Secretary Jeff McDermaid Sou’wester Editor/Layout Sharon Pearson [email protected] [email protected] Directors Junior Program Dave Michaelis Weekly Reader Glenn Selvin [email protected] [email protected] Membership Chuck Tripp [email protected] ABYC Phone (562) 434-9955 Volunteers Paul Anctil Homepage www.abyc.org [email protected] Email [email protected] sou’wester • september 2013 • page 3 morevice commodore ...from page 3 the midst of our starting count-down. Off went the boats, and we settled in for lunch, only to hear a lot of loud yelling .”Patience, Patience save me.” We turned around to see three lifeguards and a lifeguard boat trying to get control of the swimmer. Finally, the lifeguards were able to subdue him and get him into their boat.