Volume 85, Number 8 August 2013 2013 U.S. National Laser ...

August 2013Volume 85, Number 8

2013 U.S. National Laser Championship June 27 through June 30

Over 100 Lasers came to Santa Cruz

This was truly a national champion-ship. There were 108 competitors from all over the U.S.A. and a few from Canada. They came from the following states and provinces with the number of participants in parentheses: Alabama (1), Arkansas (2), British Columbia (2), California (57), Florida (14), Hawaii (1), Illinois (1), Maine (1), Michigan (4), New Brunswick (1), New York (2), Ohio (1), Ontario (2), Texas (11), Virginia (1), Washington (7). Twelve of the sailors were from the Santa Cruz area.

The top finishers in the Laser Standard fleet of 35 boats were:

1. Luke Muller, Lauderdale Yacht Club: Luke was also the first Junior!

2. Frederick Vranizan, US Sailing Team Sperry Topsider.

3. Chris Barnard, Newport Harbor Yacht Club.4. Greg Martin, Texas Corinthian Yacht Club. 5. Steve Bourdow, Santa Cruz Yacht Club.

Steve was also the first Master.

Peter Phelan, Santa Cruz Yacht Club, finished 12th. Peter was the top Apprentice Master.

The top finishers in the Laser Radial Gold Fleet of 37 boats were:

1. Malcolm Lamphere, Lake Geneva Yacht Club.2. Mateo Vargas, St. Petersburg Yacht Club.3. Claire Dennis, St. Francis Yacht Club. Claire

was the top female in the fleet.4. Cooper Weitz, California Yacht Club.5. Andrew Puopolo, Marsh Creek Yacht Club.

The top finishers in the Laser Radial Silver Fleet of 36 boats were:

1. Jack Barton, San Francisco Yacht Club.2. Lawson Willard, St. Francis Yacht Club.3. Ty Baird, St. Petersburg Yacht Club.4. Parker Hughes, Texas Corinthian Yacht Club.5. David Anthes, Scuttlebutt Sailing Club.

Emma Drejes, Santa Cruz Yacht Club, finished 7th and was the top local Junior finisher. Michael Levy, Santa

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August 2013 sAntA Cruz YACht Club spinnAker sheet

Cruz Yacht Club, came on strong at the end of the regatta placing 3rd in the last race and finished 12th overall in the fleet.

Awards: Lovely Weems & Plath clocks were presented to the top finishers in all divisions with one exception. First place in the Laser Radial Silver Fleet was a beautiful Carl Ruhne Laser half model. Carl created the model to encourage a young and upcoming sailor to keep working to improve. It was very well received! How did all this happen? The club that had originally planned to host the event was so badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy that they had to back out as hosts. In January SCYC was asked to take over. Five months is never enough time to plan and execute a national regatta. SCYC Regatta Chairman, Beau Vrolyk, and I decided the only way we could consider accepting the regatta was if the leadership team from the 2012 Flying Dutchman Worlds consisting of Terry Drew, John Fraser, Fred Molnar, Ed Moravick, Steve Niemann, Kevin Rooney, Jim Skinner, and Gene Sofen would sign on to the Laser effort. They all said, “Okay!” And off we went. I got tagged as Re-gatta Event Chairman and Beau as PRO. Quickly join-ing the leadership team were Gail Bove, Matthew Coale, Ron Dillehay, Julie Edwards, Luis Oleson, and Barry Whittall. The regatta could not have happened without the support of the Santa Cruz Port District. This was a very busy time for the harbor. The last thing they needed was 100 plus sailors and friends competing with slip renters and customers of harbor businesses for parking, ramp use, space at end ties, etc., but working together we all made it happen. Early on the Leadership Team committed to pre-senting an exceedingly cooperative and friendly face to all visitors associated with the regatta. The team recruited

over 130 volunteers, way over 25% of the club. The lime green shirts they wore easily identified the volunteers. The “friendly and cooperative” spirit permeated every thing they did!

We created of number of functional areas:

Arrivals: Kevin Rooney’s team was the first group that competitors met on arrival in the harbor. They did a great job of establishing the “friendly and cooperative” attitude for the entire volunteer team. They assigned 108 Lasers to dry storage berths, and directed competitors to take trailers to a storage lot on the east side of the harbor. His team consisted of Bernard Bove, Barry Keeler, and Ed Moravick. Ed also managed the UCSC ramp. Coach Boats +: Terry Drew greeted all the coach boats and assigned them to end ties in the upper harbor. Along with this big job he also handled all in-harbor boat tasks including keeping order at the UCSC ramp and participating in the care of SCYC and loaned boats. If all that was not enough he kept in contact with the Velocity skippers, so the way was clear when Veloc-ity was leaving or entering her slip. Aldo’s ramp: Luis Oleson worked with Fred Molnar to remove the Jet Floats from the Aldo’s ramp to facilitate launch and recovery of Lasers. A custom made tool created by Chaz Ebel at Aquarius Boat Works made it possible to remove the shackle pins holding the Jet Floats to the dock. During the event Luis managed launch and recovery of the boats berthed in Aldo’s park-ing lot and the south portion of SCYC dry storage. He was also my right arm for all we were doing.

Boats queued for recovery at Aldo’s ramp.

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UCSC Launch Ramp: Ed Moravick man-aged getting boats in and out of the water at this ramp. Vern Wallace worked with him each day of the regatta. They handled the boats berthed in the north portion of the SCYC dry storage. About 60% of the boats were launched here. They had the additional challenge of working about the coming and going of Velocity, Char-donnay, and Pacific Yachting’s charter boats. Dolly Support: Julie Edwards. All I can say about Julie and her team is wow! Her team got the boats to and from the launch ramps efficiently and without clogging up traffic on the harbor access roads. A report on their activity follows.

2013 U. S. National Laser Championship RegattaSCYC Junior Program Report

The SCYC Junior Program showed up in force to assist with dolly traffic to and from the launch areas. Julie Edwards fearlessly volunteered to head up this effort. After Day 1, Julie realized that additional volun-teers were needed, and with great thanks to Kelli Cook for her outreach efforts, the Junior Program volunteer team nearly doubled on the remaining three days. The original plan was for 96 volunteer assignments over 4 days…what actually happened were 132 volunteer as-signments! The numbers!

• 59 individual volunteers, 4 days, 8 shifts, 340+ total hours!!

• Report from Aldo’s Ramp -- 42 boats launched on average in 45-50 minutes, average wait in line – 8-9 minutes!

• Report from UCSC Ramp – 64 boats launched on average in 55-60 minutes!

Heartfelt thanks and a major shout out go to our dolly volunteers who were both Junior Program families and Yacht Club members: Jon Badeaux, Trevor Baylis, Tina Baylis, Mara Baylis, Colin Baylis, Brian Beers, Olivia Beers, Dan Cook, Kelli Cook, Mackenzie Cook, Liz Chandler, Kate Chandler, Dave Collignon, Ian Collignon, Anna Deraco, Nicki Diaz, Jennifer Drejes, Terry Drew, Julie Edwards, Dana Foley, Trevor Foley, Brenda Greer, Kyle Hunt, Sa-sha Hawley, Tom Halderman, Jackson Halderman, Oren Herrera-Pease, Jim Jackson, Linnea Jackson, Emily Johnson, Niels Kisling, Jack Kisling, Christian Kisling,

Kristen Lenz, Andrew Lenz, Charlotte Lenz, Nicholas Lenz, Hannah Levy, Martin Levy, Buster Long, Chloe Long, JT Long, Nicole McCartney, Julia McCartney, Lin-da Moore, Ed Moravick, Steve Niemann, Casey O’Hara, Luis Oleson, David Pease, Kelly Robertson, Duncan Robertson, Malcolm Robertson, Talia Rosenbaum, Ron Salado, Cecilia Salado, Amy Steward, Josselyn Verutti, Tina Verutti, Vern Wallace and Barry Whittall.

A special shout out to Julie Edwards, Sasha Hawley, Amy Steward and Josselyn Verutti who tirelessly worked EVERY shift EVERY day! What an incredible contribution! Thank you to ONE and ALL for EVERY launch, retrieval, kind word, organizational expertise, can-do-attitude, chuckle, high 5, phone call, reporting-for-duty, helpful demeanor, and taking-it-in-stride!

Whew. What a team, Program, endeavor, and success!Mary McKinnon-Tara, Director, SCYC Junior Pro-gram

Check the following pictures to get a feeling of how well Julie’s team organized dolly management.

Dollies organized and waiting for return of the boats near Aldo’s ramp.

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Boats returning to dry storage

Working the UCSC ramp.

Food: Jim Skinner and Steve Niemann. The Food Team put in a spectacular effort. These volun-teers included 19 members and friends helping with food service that included two dinners and four breakfasts. We had expert help from KISS Catering, Sandy and Scott Dexel, with food preparation for about 525 total meals and 280 volunteer lunches over the four days. Our

foodie volunteers deserve a big THANK YOU for the extra effort in serving the competitors and family with all the great personality our Club has to offer. Listed here are the those who made the early breakfast happen on time and dinner service flow like clock work… Marilyn Comstock, Monika Comstock, Bridget Binko, Don Conant, Hilarie DeGroot, Michael de Hayhu, Carolyn Flowers, Mimi, Kurt Hoffmann, Sue Hoffmann, Patty Humecke, Jane Hummert, Lisa Kee-ler, Bob Mattson, Bill Murchison, Pat Murchison, Steve Niemann (Co-Chair), Ann Niemann. I would like to personally thank you all for making a commitment to volunteer and give your time to help make an event like this “happen”.

Jim Skinner, 2013 Laser Nationals, Food Service Co-Chair.

Marilyn Comstock orchestrating a few words on “how to” for dinner service.

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Registration: Gail Bove, Mary Jane Roskosz, DJ Tim-pany, and De Schuyler:

• Put together and distributed 118 registration packages

• Corrected lots of sail numbers• Distributed coach boat flags• Collected coach boat flag deposits• Answered tons of questions about the regatta and

the local area

Check In/Check Out: Ron Dillehay’s team assigned mast bands to boats before launch and collected them after boats returned. This was a safety measure to make very sure we did not lose anyone! Others who took their turn at the table were Elisabeth Russell, Tom Webster, Sheryl Guidera, Barry Keeler, Bengie Hodges, Rod Trombly, and Ann Niemann. This level of staffing eliminated waiting to sign in and out for the skippers, accommodated the complex recombination of the radial fleet into Gold and Silver, and accurately kept track of each skipper who went out to race.

Check In/Check Out Station with Rod Trombly and Bob Warfield on duty.

Jury: Paul Zupan was recruited to serve as chief judge. Paul selected a great team consisting of Danielle Ames, Vicky Gilmore, Greg Meagher, and Don Wieneke all from the Bay Area. He added Barry Ault from San Diego and Mathias Rebholz from Germany. They all were very complimentary of how the regatta was conducted both on and off the water. We were very fortunate to have boats provided for the judges by Dan Cook, Bruce Edwards, and Philippe Kahn. The judges in grand style: Shep and Ellen Kett made the Black Pearl Cottage available for three of the judges. Jere Patterson and Marcia White turned their lovely apartment over to two judges, while one stayed with Beau and Tracy and one with Mary Jane and me. Mark Preparation and towlines: Matthew Coale, Rachel Hoffman, Gene Sofen. All three made up and organized close to 20 mark setups. In addition, Matthew made up towlines and picket lines at the launch ramps. Race Committee: PRO Beau Vrolyk recruited a strong team including Peter Szasz from St.FYC to serve as Vice PRO and manage the finish line. Sig-nal boat people were Fred Molnar (sounds), Matthew Coale (flags), Bob Comstock (line sight), Bruce Donald (recorder), John Mizell (recorder), and Charlie Roskosz (timer). The finish line boat was staffed by Bill Lard (Main Event owner and skipper), Billie Simpson (re-corder), Rich Nesladek (recorder), Kris North (recorder).

Beau’s report follows.

Thank you for giving so much of your time to help support the 2013 Laser U.S. National Champion-ship. It was a great event, and has received nothing but a strong positive response from the competitors - even those who disliked the variable winds we suffered through. Here are a few pictures compliments of Mal

Boats approaching finish line.

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Northcott, and a short summary of the RC activities. The SCYC team put on some terrific racing for 108 entrants. Conditions were wildly variable, with races in 28 knots of wind being followed by races in 8 knots. With seas changing from 15 feet high and break-ing with whitecaps to nearly flat. Through it all the Race Committee team kept their composure, even when the fog dropped in for a visit, and provided tremendous high-quality racing for the competitors. Despite the difficult conditions for racing, numerous competitors made a point of searching out your PRO and telling him how much they appreciated the willingness of the RC team to up-anchor and move to where the wind was. “Many RCs would have let us sit. We got so we could count on you to get us racing again quickly even if it meant moving a mile or two and hauling up ten anchors.” That was your PRO’s favorite quote. Not once, during four solid days of re-setting and moving marks did any volunteer ever hesitate or complain. Our record was re-setting four times to get one race off, and we did that within less than 30 minutes - that’s terrific! A gigantic “thank you” to all those who hauled, moved, set and occasionally cursed at anchors and marks!

Here’s what we did:• 11 races for the Laser Full rig• 16 races for the Laser Radials (8 for the

Gold and 8 for the Silver Fleets)• Uncounted general re-calls (actually

about 14) • A lot of OCS and ZFP (Z-flag penalties)

for the over-eager• Over 90 anchors set and hauled (3 lost) • Over 991 boat finishes scored

The key to great racing is accurate mark set-ting, line setting and starting sequences. We nailed all these. I am particularly proud of the team for adopting the new technology of setting marks at precise latitude and longitude positions from the information delivered by text messages. I know that this involved the adop-tion of two new technologies simultaneously and some of our older eyes aren’t as keen on the little letters of a text message, but we did it. Well done! The result was that each mark-set boat could independently get to work setting their marks and we could get 10 anchors down in precisely the right place in less than 20 minutes. That’s about as good as it gets! With the marks and the line in the right place, the rest is up to the horn-honking flag-waving gang on the signal boat, and they did not disap-point. Having a tremendously over-qualified team made all the difference. We nailed the timing on 27 starts! Regardless of how well set a starting line is, competitors occasionally find a reason to “love” one end or the other. The crew of the Black Pearl deserves spe-cial mention for hanging tough at the pin-end and calling numbers. In one race, the Pearl called six sail numbers for a Z-flag start, which matched what the Signal Boat observed and provided an accurate, and fair, result to the competitors. In the picture below you can see the concentration it takes to hold position, site the line and document the numbers as 37 boats try to over-run your end of the line. Well done!

Black Pearl helping with line sighting

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As you all know, in addition to setting and haul-ing anchors; documenting mark roundings, starts and fin-ishes; and keeping the PRO informed of sea-state, wind speed and wind direction - the mark set boats are always keeping an eye on the safety of the competitors. They were all terrific. Even when the fog dropped in while the wind speed accelerated to well over 27 knots, your PRO knew that all the mark set and support boats could be counted on to slog through the chop, take the spray in the face and find those inverted competitors. We had some pretty wet team members out there - and absolutely zero complaining.

A Laser moving out!

It was tough out there. We had competitors with four broken masts, a broken boom, a badly sprained wrist, cut fingers and a half dozen cases of hypother-mia. The support and mark set boat teams were always there, always watching and always lending a hand to keep the sailors safe. Thank you! It means a great deal to the sailors to know that they can glance over their shoulder and see a sharp-eyed team keeping watch over them. You can see Whaler standing watch over this laser at the windward mark, where the bumps are big and the breeze is strong, as he heads back down to leeward.

Laser monitored at weather mark by SCYC Whaler Finally, I have to say how intensely proud I am of the entire team. Our small club put on a first class regatta in a constrained location with a fraction of the resources that some larger clubs have, for the second year in a row. You did it with less than half the notice and planning time a regatta like this typically takes. You should all be quite proud of what you accomplished. Re-gattas like this one build the reputation of a club - and ours is looking pretty darn good right now. Thank you all for everything you did and I owe each and every one of you a drink!

Beau Vrolyk2013 Laser U.S. National Championship, PRO

Registration: Gail Bove, Mary Jane Roskosz, DJ Timpany, and De Schuyler:

• Put together and distributed 118 registration packages

• Corrected a quite a few sail numbers• Distributed coach boat flags• Collected coach boat flag deposits

Support Boats: John Fraser with lots of help from Gene Sofen lined up outstanding support boats and the crews. As noted in Beau’s description of what hap-pened on the water they:

• Did the mark setting and resetting, • Assisted with line calls at starts and finishes • Rescued lots of sailors

SCYC is fortunate to have the Big Whaler, Guardian, and Black Pearl, but we could not have large regattas without members and friends willing to loan or use their boats.

1. Jim Wilson: Flying Fish

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2. Lowell Ellis: Big Red3. John and Wendy Wurster: Foreign Affair4. Kelly Nesheim: Swede5. Barry Whitthall: Mighty Duck would have

been out there, but engine problems dictated otherwise.

We are even luckier to have such competent people to crew the boats. Participating this time were Steve Aguilar, MJ Austin, Adam Borcherding, Lowell Ellis, Richard Emigh, Royce Fletcher, Jim Foley, Jack Halterman, Chuck Hawley, Ragina Judson, David Kitchen, Linda Moore, Anika Morf, Wes Musitelli, Paul Neibanks, Kelly Nesheim, Malcolm Northcott, Carl Ruhne, Jim Savattone, Rob Schuyler, Garrett Schwegler, Bruce Simpson, Barry Whittall, Wendy Wurster, and John Wurster. After the regatta John and his team worked very hard for a couple of days to return the boats in top condition.

One of many sailors that were happy to know our sup-port boats were in the area!

Freelancers: Barry Whittall and Steve Nie-mann both had other jobs, but they were great reviewing what we were planning or doing, and filling in wherever there was a need. For example, Barry came up with the idea of renting a box trailer for Coral Reef to store their merchandise at night. Steve figured out how to make the mast bands and taught us how to make them. He even jump-started a competitor’s van. I saw both of them helping launch boats. These two guys were helping all over the place! Sponsorship: The team decided not to pursue sponsors, since the MISC regatta team was busy contact-ing nearly everyone in the area. It did not seem right to

“hit them up twice” in one month. However, • Skip Ely’s Elyxir beverage distribution company

provided:o A beverage cooler trailero Pop-up tents for the “village” near the tramo Outstand signage

• Coral Reef sold nautical clothing and sailing sup-plies. SCYC will get a percentage of their net sales.

• Steve Elmore provided a tent for Coral Reef’s clothing sales and another for the “village.”

• West Marine supplied great nautical bags to hold registration materials and a discount coupon for each registrant.

• While not a sponsor, Svendsens gave a major lift to the regatta by providing Lasers for charter. They got MANY more requests than they could handle for new boats, but they helped out of town sailors get in touch with local Laser sailors willing to char-ter their own boats.

The “tent village” near the tram provided a great social gathering place. Many of us felt that the collection of small tents was more charming and nearly as useful as one very large tent. Nothing significant gets done at SCYC without the hard work and guidance of Greg Haws and Jennifer Whall, many thanks to them! Well done Santa Cruz Yacht Club! Long after the details of the racing are forgotten the competitors will remember the Santa Cruz Yacht club for the great welcome our volunteers and members extended to them. The “Little Club That Can” not only did it again but did it with great spirit that showed through to all participants!

Charlie Roskosz2013 U.S. National Laser Championship Event Chairman

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Commodore’s Report

I give praise that Dave is home and cancer free! My article this month is brief in order to help Charlie Roskosz focus on the spirit of our volunteers.

Rob SchuylerCommodore

Rear Commodore’s Report A Little Behind in my Work Good news! My report (aka “blather-palooza”) will be a little shorter than usual this month so as to allow extra space for a special article on our Club’s amazing volunteers and the very successful Laser Nationals. Luckily though, things were a little reserved at the Club in the last month, socially speaking, but the next will make up for it! Aloha!! The Luau – complete with deli-cious island buffet and live entertainment – will be

on Saturday, August 3. For(e) pros and duffers alike, the Golf Tournament will take place on Thursday, August 8 at Boulder Creek Golf Club. On Saturday, August 17, we’ll have our “County Fair” complete with wine tasting and potluck, and the next day is our annual “West-ern BBQ”. As I think about this year as your RC, now racing past, the one thing I would like to leave for my successor is an even better “bank” of volunteers willing to help out on social events. We’ve been fortunate to have had so many give of their time and toil this year, and so I would ask if you’re interested in helping on future events (the secret is that it’s pretty darn fun), please let me, Greg or Jenni-fer know and we’ll enlist you for an upcoming event. Many hands make light work!! Again, thanks for the opportunity to serve as your RC. Come on down and enjoy our wonderful Club!

Don ConantRear Commodore

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Upcoming SCYC Events Calendar

LuauAugust 3

Veeder CupAugust 3, 4

Golf TournamentAugust 8

Cruise to StillwaterAugust 8 - 11

Laser FridaysAugust 16

Fall One Design #1August 17

Wine Tasting / PotluckAugust 17

Wylie Wabbit NationalsAugust 17-18

Sunday Dinner / Western BuffetAugust 18

Fall SCORE #1August 25

WindjammersAugust 31

SCYC Members Racing Updates

SWEDEN - Nancy Rinkardt and I were in Istanbul, Turkey this month, ready to race with Morgan Larson aboard the Extreme 40 Catamaran Alinghi in Act 4 of the Extreme Series. Due to “civil unrest” in the city, however, the regatta was cancelled. We had a lot of fun, but were bummed to miss racing with Morgan! Instead of Istanbul, Morgan (Match Racing helmsman/tactician) went with his Artemis team to Marsten, Sweden to con-tinue in the 3rd event of the RC44 Championship circuit. Despite heavy 30 kt winds and driving rain, Artemis was able to garner a 1st and two 3rd place finishes in the event and ended in 5th and 6th in Match racing and fleet racing respectively. They stand 4th overall in both categories in the series.

MICHIGAN - Brent Ruhne was on Mackinac Island after finishing the Port Huron to Mac race on the 86’ maxi Windquest. They finished second to the Volvo 70 in 19.5 hours for the 210-mile race. Attached is a photo of them about to cross the finish line. At the finish, with 300 meters to go, their breeze shifted dramatically such that they had to make a quick change from the code 2 spinnaker to a jib!

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MASSACHUSETTS - Junior sailor Emma Drejes, just returned from Marion, where she competed in the Junior Sailing Women’s Championship Regatta. She sailed in the Laser Radial class, where she placed 16th out of 42 Boats! Nice job Emma!

CALIFORNIA – In the 2013 TransPac, Ian Klitza and his team on the R/P 45 Criminal Mischief, won 1st in class! Mackenzie Cook was sailing at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach California on July 20-21 in their Multihull Regatta as a tune up for the upcom-ing A-cat North Americans. He placed 4th overall and is looking forward to returning August 12th for the NA’s.

If you have info on where club members are racing, please feel free to pass along details to [email protected].

Ellen Kett

SCYC Member, Ian Klitza, celebrates with crew

Cruising Committee

The month of July was pretty good for the Cruis-ers. We had a set of 4th of July events. First was a small group of boats that Sailed to Monterey during the week of the 4th of July. The weather was great and the Mon-terey Harbor and Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club were very accommodating. The second was a 4th of July raft up in Santa Cruz near the wharf. Due to mixed swells we did not get to raft up, however there were 4 boats that all participated and anchored near each other. The weather was great and somehow even with the police screening and temporary fencing around the beaches there was still a huge amount of great fireworks to watch. Coming up is our great Wharf to Wharf raft up on Saturday July 27th at 2:00 PM. The idea here is that we have a raft up party in Capitola by the wharf. Then the people who are doing the Wharf to Wharf race can leave thier boat in Capitola on Saturday night, so on Sunday after doing the run, they can sail back to Santa Cruz and avoid the traffic and lines for the busses. If you are in-terested in participating in the raft up or doing the Wharf to Wharf run and want to sail back to Santa Cruz please contact Jason Lauer. According to my unofficial study, less that 25% of our club membes have ever anchored in Stillwater Cove. Stillwater Cove is one of the greatest gems in our area and it is too bad that so few have taken the time to sail over there. But don’t despair, our upcoming Sail to Stillwater Cove is around the corner. The wonderful event is hosted by Steve Smardan and is on August 9 - 11th. Once you’re anchored it will be a mellow weekend, with a BBQ hosted by the Stillwater Yacht Club, a trip into Carmel Village, plus lots more!! If interested in more details please contact Steve at [email protected].

2013 Cruising Club Calendar of Activities

Date Event Sat 7/27 Wharf to Wharf Raft UpAug 9-11 Sail to Stillwater Cove Sep 20-22 Monterey Jazz FestivalSat 10/26 Pirate Party Raft UpWed 1/1 New Year’s Day Brunch

If you are interested in learning more about the Cruisers of the Santa Cruz Yacht Club please contact me.

Jason [email protected]

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Sailing Skills and Seamanship Course

The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, Santa Cruz Flotilla 67, is offering a Sailing Skills and Seamanship course beginning on Thursday, Septem-ber 12, 2013. The lead instructor, Bruce Simpson, is a SCYC member and USCG Auxiliarist. This class-room instruction meets on Thursday nights from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm for fifteen consecutive Thursdays. It is a fun and educational course for beginning sailors and for experienced sailors who wish to hone their sailing skills. This is a nationally recognized course, however it is taught by local instructors who concen-trate on sailing in Santa Cruz. Students will build the knowledge and confidence that will serve as the foundation for a lifetime of sailing enjoyment. It uses a well-illustrated text to introduce fledgling sailors to the equipment, nomenclature and safe operation of sailboats. Upon completion of this SS&S Course, stu-dents receive a USCG certificate as well as a Nation-al Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) boating safety certificate. The cost is $55, which covers the textbook and class materials. The USCG Auxiliary is an all volunteer organization. The class is open to the public and is limited to the first 20 students who sign up. You may pre-register by contacting the lead instructor at [email protected] or register in person on September 5, 2013 at 7:00 pm. This class will fill up quickly. It is held in the Harbor Public Meeting room at 365A Lake Avenue. For more information go to http://a1130607.uscgaux.info/sss.html, attend registration night, and/or contact [email protected].

Bruce SimpsonSCYC Regular Member

Industry challenge: The aging of the boating population

Santa Cruz Yacht Club is not alone in dealing with the graying of membership; 62% of all sailors are over 45, and the average age of a new sailboat buyer is over 55 . How is the boating industry and yacht clubs going to ad-dress the aging population, and attract generations Y and X? As a new SCYC Corinthian member who attended the board meeting last week, the Commodores comment that very few of the Corinthian members own boats caught my attention. My husband and I have been sailing with friends on their boats for over a decade in Santa Cruz, and have discussed how it would be great to have a boat but between the cost to purchase and own a boat, and the lack of slips it has never progressed past the idea stage. After the board meeting last week I chatted with my fellow new Corinthian members, and they said that was part of their challenge too. There are multiple articles on this topic, I am cur-rently reading Saving Sailing by Nicolas Hayes and in the most recent Sounding Trade Only, they had multiple articles on the aging of the boating population and how different boat manufacturers are tackling the issues. Most of the challenges for attracting new boaters are access to boats, the cost of boat ownership, and having time for boating. Living near Silicon Valley I have had the opportuni-ty to experience growth in the sharing/peer-to-peer economy (Airbnb , Relay Rides, and many others) where people list their house, cars, power tools and more for “rent” to other people. This spring I made the leap and joined an early

start up called Boatbound , which is enabling boat rentals by owner. The start-up allows me to combine my love of boating and technology in a way that will hopefully allow us to introduce more people to boating. For those not familiar with these types of websites, they provide a platform to connect interested boat renters with boat owners; Boatbound provides insurance and towing as part of the rental to make sure smooth and safe boating. Here are a few thoughts on how

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Boatbound could work with Yacht Clubs to attract new boaters to the community: • The Yacht Club and few of its members could list their boats for rent – great way to offset the cost of boat ownership• Market locally the boats for rent to YC mem-bers who are between boats, or Corinthian members who have yet to get their first boat• Offer the boats for rent to reciprocal YC mem-bers when they visit Santa Cruz so they are able to get out on the water with their friends and family when they are visiting

Sara SwensonSCYC Corinthian Member

New members Nancy & Mike Neidig, Sara Swenson, Commodore Rob Schuyler, Tyler Karaszewski (with daughter Katie) and Robert Curtis

Membership Report

Regular 431 Non-Resident 72Junior 86 Corinthian 50Life 9 Honorary 26

Total 674

Luau Dinner/EntertainmentSaturday, August 3

5:30pm Cocktails6:30pm Dinner$25.00pp (children 10 and under $12.00)RSVP 831-425-0690 or [email protected]

19th Annual SCYC Golf TournamentThursday, August 8th

Come with one, two, three, four or more players Boulder Creek Country ClubFormat: Scramble Play Includes: Green Fees, Cart, Food and PrizesLimit 40 PeopleFirst Tee Time is at 10:00am$60.00ppRSVP at 831-425-0690 or [email protected]

Wine Tasting / PotluckSaturday, August 17 at 5:30pm Monterey County Fair Amateur Wine Makers will donate the wine. You bring a dish to share. Everyone Welcome! No RSVP’s needed.

Western Theme Buffet DinnerSunday, August 18

5:30pm Cocktails6:30pm Dinner$17.50pp (plus tax and tip)RSVP 831-425-0690 or [email protected]

Volume 85, Number 8 August 2013 2013 U.S. National Laser ...

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