Three Sheets in the Wind THE MONTHLY NEWSLETT ER OF THE LITTLE SHI PS FLEET YACHT CLUB (ESTABLISHED 1937) 233 MARINA DRIVE, LO NG BEACH, CALIF 9080 3 Volume 51, Issue 1 lsfyc.org January, 2016 Commodore’s Report By Rob Sonz A new year ahead… beam reach with only a Main (full batten) and Spinnaker for power. What a wonderful year Unlike the deep Ocean we sail here, Barnegat 2016 will be for all members Bay could get shallow in some locations around of Little Ships Fleet Yacht the many small islands. You haven’t experienced Club. I welcome everyone to the unexpected till you are going a good 12 knots join your fellow members and and one of your hulls hits bottom! Your boat goes participate in our many fun into a “Pitch Pole” maneuver, whereby, both skip- activities on Sea and on per and crew are shot into the air, or , mast if you Land. Our club is unique on its appeal to Sailors of dif- are still snapped into your trapeze diaper-harness. ferent backgrounds and talents. We have a core group When I was in College, I began to sail on larger vessels. On a few occasions, I raced the US Na- of seasoned veteran sailors who race their sailboats on val Academy’s 44’ Luders Yawls in Annapolis MD. the many ASPBYC events offered in the Long Beach Team work is critical to make this sailboat perform area for the entire year. properly. Sailing on Chesapeake Bay is a good Some of these skippers are looking for Crew to join lesson on “what can happen before you know it”. them. Some of our members enjoy cruising to harbors Weather conditions can change rather quickly. I along the West Coast and into Mexico. Some of our was lucky enough to have local sailors on board with me to explain what can happen before it did members are new to the “Sailing Game”; they want to occur. learn how to handle a sailboat out in the Ocean in a safe and responsible manner. Their goal is to gather Once I moved out here to Southern California in the early 80’s, I met many experienced sailors enough experience by learning from others, so that at here at LSFYC, just like the ones I knew back a future time, they can be Captain of their own water- East. Now, as the proud owner of a Cal-20, Rip- craft and Skipper their future voyages. ken, I look forward to passing on the many good I have been sailing since I was six years old on Bar- experiences I have learned on the water to other negat Bay at the New Jersey Shore. My first sailboat novice sailors. was a Moth. Constructed of marine plywood and Please join me this year on the water for many something I don’t think I could even step into today. adventures that have yet to come! Over time I sailed a wide variety of small dingy craft that are not common here on the west coast : Sunfish, GP -14, Flying Scott, 420’s, Sneak Box, M-Scow, E- “Wind is to us what money is to life on Shore.” Scow, 470’s and Flying Dutchman. Sterling Hayden My favorite boat was a P-Cat (Pacific Catamaran). I also sailed and raced Hobie-16 and Lasers too. But, nothing compared to having skipper and crew hanging out on a double trapeze racing across the bay on a Three Sheets in the Wind Page 1 Vice Commodore’s Report By Dick O’Reilly I want to thank the LSFYC members for giving me the opportunity to join the rank of flag officer after many years serving as a Director of LSFYC. Di- rectors play an important mostly behind-the-scenes role in a yacht club and it is an excellent way to serve the club. But the flag officers serve as the face of our club, led this year by Commodore Rob Sonz. I've been a sailor for more than 50 years, starting out in Denver with a Lehman 12 dinghy, in which I took my infant daughter on her first sail...in her infant seat wrapped with an orange life preserver. (Don't let the Coast Guard know.) It was more than 30 years after that before I joined a yacht club, which was Little Ships Fleet Yacht Club. I'm still here and I couldn't have made a better choice. Yacht clubs have a long and honored tradition, in all nations, which defines structure, roles, and to a certain extent activities. It doesn't matter if they have fine facilities and a wealthy membership owning large, expensive yachts, or they merely have a leased storage shed (or even no facility at all); they all recognize and respect each other as fellow yacht persons...be they old salts who have ventured to distant ports or newcomers still struggling to back the trailer of their 14-foot runabout straight down the launch ramp. We are a pretty informal club, but we do adhere to the traditional structure, which Commodore Rob Sonz explained so well in Three Sheets last year that I'll copy his words again this year: Why we all joined LSFYC... By the way, all this will come at a small price…your interest and, hopefully, your participation. Af- ter all, this is why you (and I) have joined the club...to be involved with a group sharing a common interest and to have fun doing it. Perhaps the biggest benefit of your membership is that of simply being with the other members who not only share the similar interest, but possess similar qualities as well. One of these qualities, the common thread that ties us all together, is that of success… success in work, success in family, success in life! But it’s time for us to share the fun! The club requires many tasks to keep the machine rolling month after month and your involvement would certainly ease the load. We can use your help! LSFYC is for everybody... While promotion of the club’s social programs are in mind, it is also understood that the majority of the membership consists of sailors whose interests and involvement lay solely in the harbor’s racing activities and perhaps consider LSFYC social activities with lesser interest. This is fine, as these members represent the heart and soul of small clubs such as ours and do much to promote racing in the So. Cal area. However, we will continue to invite all LSFYC members, racers and cruisers, to the club events as they occur and hope you all join us for 2016. 2016 Officer Installation Dinner and General Membership meeting Our next General Membership Meeting will be on Friday, January 22, beginning at 6:30 PM for attitude adjustment, dinner and ceremony, at Mimi’s Cafe, 6670 E. Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA, 90803. This will be the meeting to install the LSFYC Officers for 2016. I suggest that this be an opportunity for you and family to meet your fellow members and the Officers, and be- come more involved in the operations of our club. See you then! Three Sheets in the Wind Page 2 Jr. S/Commodore’s Report By Pax Starksen Ahoy, Little Shippers; Happy New Year to all! This year, 2016, we begin our 79th year as a Yacht Club, and I wish to thank the many members and Officers who have made my tenure for the last two years as your Commodore a rewarding pleasure. I particularly want to thank Staff Commodore Tom Cornelius for his guidance, Commodore Rob Sonz for his help in organizing and facilitating all the meetings, and Port Captain Larry Finley for making our race parties a success, and organizing our cruises. A big thanks goes to our very reliable Treasurer and Secretary Dick Martin, who keeps us all in check, and another big thanks goes to S/C Frank Franco, for re-designing and updating our website, while publishing our newsletter, Three Sheets in the Wind every month. Finally, thanks to Staff Commodore Ben Smith and Fleet Captain Geoff Vanden Huevel for keeping our racing program on an even keel, and Director Dave Haas for providing a conference room for our Board Meetings and being our Membership Chair. Ben Smith will also be our new webmas- ter, a daunting task, indeed! It's now my pleasure to turn over the tiller to your new Commodore, Rob Sonz, and the new 2016 Bridge Officers and Board of Directors (Please visit our new website to see all the officers and Directors). I particularly want to welcome some new faces; Directors Todd Smith and Rob West! Thank you all for your loyal membership, and don't forget to get your 2016 dues in promptly. Three Sheets in the Wind Page 3 Fleet Captain’s Report By Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel Let’s get ready to race… Beginning in April of 2016, the Long Beach Harbor Series begins with Race #1 hosted by SYC. Although many LSFYC members turn out for the Series , we want to see an even greater representation of the club not only in the LBHS races but the many other races occurring in the harbor throughout the year. See the LSFYC website for the Calendar of LBHS races and the ASPBYC racing schedule. Race Committee crew and boats Although not until June & July, we need to assemble race committees (and boats!) for the two LSFYC hosted races, and it would be very nice to have a few members step forward to volunteer their time to help us with our club responsibilities.