Opening Day APRIL 2018 ost Club members know that I am an They say “any fool can steer a ship, it’s old-school navigation geek. Paper From the knowing where to go that’s the trick.” It’s Mcharts, parallel rules, dividers, tables, kind of fun knowing that you can find your chronometers, the works. As a young man I Commodore position anywhere on the earth without the 24 was privileged to have had the opportunity to special billion-dollar satellites. learn celestial navigation from some of the Most everyone knows that in the late best teachers in the country, and in the 1970s I 1600s, when celestial navigation was just put that knowledge to use as navigator aboard beginning to become a reliable tool to find various freighters. I used it aboard yachts as one’s way on the globe, the British Navy felt well back in the ’70s and ’80s, and continue that having an accurate timepiece aboard ships today to practice the art in spite of having all was essential to safe celestial navigation, and sorts of modern electronic navigation tools, promised a fortune to the first citizen who simply because I think it’s good for the soul could solve the problem of keeping proper to know that, without any of it, and with only time at sea. Much has been written about the very basic equipment, you can find your way “search for longitude,” which has everything anywhere on the Blue Marble. to do with knowing the precise time. Josh By the time you read this, you will have Slocum, the wise, highly experienced, crusty heard about an event at the Club that was Commodore Mike Blecher old sea captain who solo-circumnavigated for conceived by Junior Commodore Ryan Janov. He wanted to hold the very first time in the late 1800s, wrote that he kept time a Nautical Fair, primarily aimed at our juniors (although not with nothing more than a rusty old alarm clock, which he told exclusively a junior event it turned out, as plenty of adults were us with his tongue planted firmly in his weather-beaten cheek, there). His idea was to have a couple of exhibits and since knowledgeable celestial navigators – and he certainly was presentations made by experienced members about nautical one – know that having the precise time makes things easier subjects of interest, and follow that with pizza and a fun game of and a bit more accurate, but is by no means necessary to find Sailing Jeopardy. your way in a slow-moving sailboat. But I digress. He convinced S/C Tom O’Conor to demonstrate some of his What is still amazing is that navigation was done by marlinspike wizardry, and Doug McClean to talk about observing the sun, stars, and planets, even in 25-knot container professional sailing. I had heard from some parents involved ships—yes, even the giant supertankers—right on through the with the planning of the event that he was going to ask me to talk mid-1990s. about celestial navigation, but I didn’t hold my breath on that, as I admit it—nowadays, I cheat. I wear a watch that gets the I was pretty sure no kids in this age of a GPS in every atomic clock time-tick, so Coordinated Universal Time is right smartphone would be even the least bit interested. As most of on my wrist. This time is accurate to a much more precise you know, getting me to talk about celestial navigation is not degree than a navigator would ever need. And, while I still use hard, but truthfully, it’s difficult for me to find an audience these printed tables because that keeps me in practice, I also have a days … when the subject comes up in the bar, members have hand-held computer that reduces sight information quickly and been known to scatter, and I have ended up stuck with more than accurately, with no chance of making silly arithmetical my share of bar tabs because of this. mistakes. And then it happened! In his best Eddie Haskell voice, Ryan And, if I get tired of all this, I can always look at my asked me if I would consider speaking to the juniors at his event, GPS/chartplotter, or even my cellphone (Arrgh!). about celestial navigation. “Golly gee, Mr. Blecher, it would be really great if you could tell the juniors all about celestial Interesting Boats navigation, because, you know, they really love that stuff, and My definition of a boat is “something that floats and also you know so much about it, and it’s so very interesting.” You get has beer holders,” so this one may not actually qualify, but I the idea. still find this device fascinating. Owned by John Hamilton, it is I agreed, even though I figured, at best, I would be talking to a paddle board made by Hosaki another nautically inclined geeky parent or two, and that would and is about 14 feet long and be about it. more than three feet wide! It’s Well you could have knocked me over with a feather, or a extremely stable. John told me sextant, or whatever. Not only were they hands-on with splicing the fellow that shapes these and with racing knowledge, but they were actually interested. I beauties has advertising photos kid you knot (see what I did there?). I was again impressed by of him sitting on top, on a how great these kids are. (Parents: If your Opti sailor says the folding beach chair. There is no Commodore told him it was okay to sail his pram to Hawaii and bow or stern—the board can be you should pack him lunch because it’s a long trip, honestly, it paddled forward or backward. was just a silly joke, and I didn’t mean it.) This whole event was John says that if balance isn’t a great success, and I applaud Ryan and his bridge for putting your thing, and you don’t like together a first-class affair. And Mom and Dad, too—Heather unexpected dunkings, this board and Jeff Janov, well done! is for you. 2/BREEZE APRIL 2018 California Yacht Club 4469 Admiralty Way Marina del Rey, CA 90292 310-823-4567 Fax: 310-822-3658 www.calyachtclub.com Volume 54 • Number 4 General Manager EVENTS Michele Underwood From the Commodore 2 Editor-in-Chief Opening Day 16 Paula Cameron CYC Burgee Travels 20 Managing Editor Photo Contest Winner 21 Vince Mattera Boat Christening 21 Editorial Assistants Sweethearts Dinner 22 Steve Edwards Nancy Kruithof Happy Hour Book Club 24 Christina Tarantola Opening Day Book Mates 27 Commodore CYC Flashback 30 Mike Blecher Vice Commodore SAIL l Debbie Feinerman a SCYA Midwinter Regatta 4 d d e F Sunset Series 2018 6 Rear Commodore a r Stephanie Weston o Team Match Racing 7 N y b Women’s Winter Invitational 8 Fleet Captain o t o Tim Clarke h Cal Race Week 9 P Port Captain SCYA Midwinter Regatta Winners Circle 9 Monica Antola JUNIORS The Breeze is published to provide n i Club 420 Midwinters 10 members with announcements of, l m and information about, Club a Race Team Results 11 H a activities. Deadline for articles is the k Junior Rowing Season 13 o d first day of the month preceding the a M Optimist Spring Regatta publication date. y b Harken Challenge #1 14 o t Contact Breeze Editor Paula Cameron o h at [email protected] for P CYCWA information on submitting articles. Optimist Spring Regatta Harken Challenge #1 Signs of Spring 19 To place an ad, please contact Paddle Tennis 25 Julia Tomich at On the Horizon 26 310-823-4567 x2765 or [email protected] MEMBERSHIP Breeze (USPS #016-319) New Members 28 is published monthly by California From the Manager 30 Yacht Club, Inc., d.b.a. California Yacht Club, 4469 Admiralty Way, CALENDAR Marina del Rey, CA 90292 April/May Events 31 Subscription price of $12 annually is Epicurean Dinner included in member dues. Periodicals postage paid at Venice, CA, and at additional mailing office. FRONT COVER Opening Day, March 10, was a rainy day, but the ships were dressed, POSTMASTER: the day was festive, and the treasure was all around us. Send address changes to: Photos by Fleet Captain Tim Clarke and CYC members Breeze BACK COVER California Yacht Club Patrick Mulcahy and skipper Ansgar Jordan (Coronado YC) placed 4469 Admiralty Way second out of 75 boats at February’s C420 Midwinter Championship in Jensen Beach, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 Florida. Photo by Kevin Mulcahy Copyright © 2018 California Yacht Club, Inc. All Rights Reserved APRIL 2018 BREEZE/3 SCYA Midwinter Regatta Opens the 2018 Racing Season By TAWNI SCHUTTER and CHRIS CALINGAERT, Regatta Chairs he California Yacht Club racing season kicked off with the 89th annual Southern TCalifornia Yachting Association Midwinter Regatta on February 10-11. Thirty-five intrepid skippers and crew participated this year, bringing the competition to another level with the J/70, Star, and Martin 242 one design classes. Saturday was overcast with light winds, leading to a two-hour delay before PRO Jr. S/C Kellie Fennessy could get the two races of the day underway. The wind started from the south before eventually shifting right to a more westerly six- knot breeze with the sun peeking through the clouds. Sunday was completely different with sunny skies and consistent wind, giving the sailors three races to challenge their skills and ending with some tight finishes in the classes.