On the Harbor: The Flight of Newport

By LEN BOSE

Sunday, July 17 was the start of the 85th Flight of Newport Beach. I am sure there are many readers who remember this race as the Flight of the Lasers, Kites or Snowbirds over the years.

Five years ago, I interviewed Seymour Beek, who referred to the race as “The Flight,” because over the years, the race has been sailed in the Snowbirds from 1948 to 1970, Kites 1972 to 1973 and now Lasers from 1975 to the present. The Laser also happens to be an Olympic-class boat. Over the last four years, the Harbor 20 fleet has joined the Lasers to compete in separate classes for the Flight of Newport Beach.

In 1954, Tom O’Keefe won The Flight and I had a chance to talk to him over the phone. “At that time, The Flight was the largest one-design race in the world. I recall once I got into the lead, there was a newsreel boat filming the race and it later played in the theaters. I also remember all the powerboats in the bay blowing their horns at the finish line when I won the race. It was a big deal at that time,” O’Keefe said.

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He also recalled a story about a competitor whose boat did not measure into the rules and this person had won several different regattas that summer. There was someone who took offense to this competitor and swam from Balboa Island and tipped the boat over just before the start of the race. O’Keefe remembers the harbor department following the swimmer back to the beach he had come from. “I still have the silver-plated bowl I won as the take-home trophy that year. I will always remember all those boats,” O’Keefe said.

This year, I checked in with Alex Curtiss who had just won his third consecutive Flight. Over the last two years, Curtiss has won the H20 Flight, and the year preceding that, he won the Laser Flight – one of only two people who have won both classes. Curtiss has sailed with Robert Kinney in both of his H20 victories and shared his race with me. “After a slow start, we round the first mark in 8th place, then while sailing up the Lido Channel towards Z mark we made our gains and took the lead. The top three boats round the last mark very close together. It was Jungle Ball all the way to the finish,” Curtiss said. Brian Bissell had rounded the last mark in second followed closely by Jon Pinckney. The term Jungle Ball means throwing the lead around in any direction with the wind shifting to the left. Team Curtiss/Kinney took the checkered flag while Team Pinkney finished in second and team Bissell placed third.

Team Curtiss/Kinney

Five years ago I talked with Jon Pickney, who has won The Flight more than anyone else with seven wins. He is now up to eight Flight wins by winning the first Harbor 20 flight in 2017. Since he only finished in second this year, by a couple of boat lengths, I thought it would interesting to talk to his son, Morgan Pickney, who at the age of 15 had just won his first Flight of Newport, sailing a Laser. Morgan had a difficult start and felt he was in 15th place coming off the starting line. Keeping his composure and reviewing his observations, he continued on a port tack after mark “1” heading toward Bayshores. “I had noticed the marine layer had been burning off and expected the right shift to be coming in sometime soon. As predicted, the shift came at the opportune time for me and I took the lead going to the second mark of the race,” Morgan said.

I enjoyed talking to Morgan because the amount of information he described while sailing the course was intriguing. Another thing that I appreciated was he expressed an interest in all the names on the trophy and truly took in the history of The Flight of Newport. With my awareness decreasing with age, the task of finishing ahead of any of the Pickneys seems to be a difficult task.

Buddy Richley

I also had a chance to talk with Buddy Richley who finished second in this year’s Lasers fleet. “I had a good start that went as planned, maybe too good. I rounded the first mark with a good lead and decided to cover who was in second place and tacked onto starboard shortly after rounding the first mark. As I approached the NHYC moorings and tacked onto port, there was some kid hooked into this huge right shift and was gone. While working my way up towards Z mark there were a couple of left shifts, so I thought I had a chance to regain the lead, yet I still had to fight to keep my second place with the competitor behind me. Downwind the kid sailed away...it’s good to be young,” Richley said. I then told Richley that was a Pickney and he replied, “Pickney, that figures!” I could hear his sigh through the phone, “You mean Morgan Pickney?” Richley has placed 2nd twice in the Flight and 3rd and 5th over the years. He then asked me if I knew of any good H20s for sale.

With the Flight of Newport now completed, it appears we are on the final leg of summer sailing and I am extraordinarily appreciative of our harbor and how we all can still compete and abide by practicing proper social distancing.

Sea ya!

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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.

On the Harbor: Harbor Commission’s Paul Blank watch is completed.

By LEN BOSE

Because of the virus, I stayed away from June’s Harbor Commission meeting. This was a big mistake on my part, because a good friend of mine was terming out of his seat on the Harbor Commission after eight years.

Flashback! I wrote on June 26, 2012 the City Council selected Paul Blank as the new harbor commissioner, who will be filling “Duffy” Duffield’s topsiders. He’s very responsive, truly loves our harbor, and will make a great harbor commissioner. I first noticed Paul back in 1985, when he was sailing for UCLA and I was coaching the Orange Coast College sailing team. It was the last event of the season, and we were trying to qualify for the Pacific Coast Championships when Nick Scandone (sailing for OCC) told me he could win this event if he could stay in front of Paul.

At this month’s meeting while the commissioners were reassigning objectives, Commissioner Cunningham said, “Looks like we have to fill in all the Blanks.” That pretty much describes it. Over his eight years, Paul took on more than his share of objectives and has been one of the very few commissioners who completed their tasks. Now, please don’t take me wrong. We all understand that government moves at the same speed as a Duffy with 10-year-old batteries. Yet Blank was able to accomplish many of his assigned tasks.

I am going to go out on a limb and try to remember them all. The first that comes to mind is the public docks. Blank presented a lengthy report on the size range of boats that needed dock space and then applied this information toward the best use of the public docks. He also worked with staff on maintaining the docks, as well as creating new ones. One of the best ideas that Paul implemented was the meeting/harbor tour on the Balboa Ferry reviewing the commissioner’s objectives. He was also very involved with giving permitted harbor users the ability to exceed the speed limit. For example, sailboat races and crew races. This was a very time-consuming permit that involved several government agencies. He spent hours updating Title 17 of the City’s Municipal Codes and was extremely receptive to many of the different harbor users’ needs.

Paul has worked diligently on long-range planning and public outreach. I recall personally meeting him at least four times with many quick responses to my phone calls and emails. Over the last 12 years as the harbor reporter, no one has run a better meeting than Paul while serving as the chairman. His attendance, percentage-wise, matched Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played. Let us just say there are very few people who love and care for our harbor as much as Paul Blank does, and to that I give him a “Well Done.”

• • •

While attending July’s Harbor Commission meeting, I learned that dredging will start this fall in the harbor entrance with most of the sediment being placed along our beaches out about a half mile. The last channel dredging took place in 2003. This project will include rebuilding the boardwalk on the east jetty by raising the wall and widening it. The funding was acquired from the Army Corps of Engineers for stage 1 of the low bay dredging project. Council members, staff and harbor commissioners are all working hard to find the big pot of gold to complete the low bay dredging.

If I heard it right, progress has been made to open the proposed second anchorage in the turning basin off Lido Village. The last update I had was that a new Coast Guard Commander gave it the thumbs down along with changing those three remaining channel markers made of telephone poles that many people still run into. City Harbormaster Kurt Borsting has made contact with the Commander and reports a promising line of communication.

• • •

We had two big sailing events this past weekend with 64 boats attending the Lido Isle Midsummer Jr. Sabot Regatta. The top three finishers in division C3 was Caitie Karle from Long Beach Yacht Club in 3rd; was Olivia Corbin from BCYC in 2nd, and the person taking home the big pickle dish was Mesa Uliasz from BCYC. In Sabot C2’s, it was all Jack Bengfort from, in 2nd was Sophia Corzine from LBYC and in 3rd Kathleen Keller from NHYC. Next in Sabots C1 we had Zarrin Harvey in third from BCYC, Matt Andrews from NHYC and Victoria Messano from LBYC bringing home the gold jersey. In Sabots A/B BCYC Isaac Stone stole the show with six 1st place finishes out of nine races, in second was Caleb Everett from BCYC, and in third was Walter McFarland from LBYC. 

• • •

NHYC revived its Club Championships with a marathon event over three days. The first two days was a Harbor 20 2v2 Team Race followed by a fleet race with two divisions of Harbor 20’s and One division of Lehman 12’s. I was helping out with mark set on Saturday and Sunday and the competition was intense, to say the least. In the Harbor 20 fleet racing it had 14 boats in two divisions. With three fleet champions and eight Newport Beach Hall of Fame sailors, there was no room for blunders. I am not clear on how the scoring worked, but the turnout was amazing.

Alex/Jake/Doug/Robert/Carolyn/Clare - 67 points

Jon/Gale/Brian/Perry/Michael/ Lauren - 74 points

Justin/Andrew/Bill/Maddie/Bob/Haley - 82 points

Sea ya!

On the Harbor: The strength of the BCYC Jr. sailing program

(L-R) BCYC’s Aubrey Mayer, Steve Hunt and Christophe Killian

By LEN BOSE

There are only a few times in my life where I have used the term “Dream Team” or witnessed it. For me, it was our 2017 Trans Pac Team aboard Horizon, others have included the Miracle on Ice, the 1992 Men’s Olympic Basketball team, Team Oracle 2013 America’s Cup comeback, while in other sports the term dynasty is used. It’s been in the making, over the last couple of years, that the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club (BCYC) has now produced a “Dream Team/Dynasty” in Junior Sailing programs within our harbor.

Christophe Killian

This week I had a chance to interview BCYC junior director Aubrey Mayer. Mayer grew up sailing at the end of Long Island at the Orient Yacht Club and Shelter Island Yacht Club sailing Optimist dinghies, lasers & 420s. In high school, he attended the Milton Academy where he met his mentor Charlie Enright, skipper of TP 52 Morning Light in the 2007 Trans Pac, Volvo Ocean Race skipper on Team Alvimedica and Vestas 11th hour Racing. At Milton, they won the High School Team Racing Championships and World Team Racing Championships in 2002 in England. Mayer attended St. Mary’s College where he competed on the sailing team. He then moved on to the 2005 US Sailing team sailing a 470.

The BCYC Jr. sailing program offers instruction for kids ages 5-17. The Starfish program for youth ages 5-7 includes three accredited teachers, two sailing coaches and a lifeguard. “The teachers provide positive stimulation on land followed up with two sailing coaches that take them on the water while fostering that early love for the harbor and the sport while being around the yacht club,” Mayer said

Steve Hunt

The Novice program is next for ages 8+ with coaches taking care of the kids while teaching them the nuts and bolts of sailing, building confidence for sailing a boat alone.

As the students improve their skills, they move to the Sabot C3 program with lead coach Max Mayol who has achieved many Sabot, Optimist and Laser Radial titles along with High School Keelboat National Championships. Mayol is now sailing at the University of Charleston and has proven to be the perfect person for this job.

Once the students have placed in a C3 Sabot regatta they start moving up into new divisions from C2 through A fleet. BCYC coaching in these divisions includes head coach, Newport Beach Sailing Hall of Fame sailor Mark Gaudio, who won the Jr. Sabot Nationals along with 17 senior sabot nationals; Jake Mayol who is a two-time Sabot Jr. National champion; and Jack Flores, Ryan Simpson and Jack Blackman – all outstanding sailors.

Newport Beach Sailing Hall of Fame sailor Mark Gaudio

BCYC also offers a 420 racing program with coaches Christophe Killian who grew up near the harbor and was the last local sailor to win the Governor’s Cup and sailed for the College of Charleston. While attending Charleston, Killian won two team racing national championships and two match racing national championships. Teaming up with Killian is Steve Hunt. In 2012, Hunt was named the Sail1 Design Coach of the Year where he highlighted his “Family first, school second, sailing third philosophy,” that he learned at the College of Charleston. Hunt has achieved 11 sailing National Championships and has participated at the highest caliber the sport has to offer.

Thinking about my son, as a parent I asked what can you do for my kid who doesn’t want to compete, yet still wants to go sailing. That’s where the Junior Mariner program fits in with lead coach Berkeley Green and assistant Max Kleha, who is currently the Team Captain on the Mater Dei Sailing Team. The Junior Mariners are focused on seamanship and the love of being on the water. They do destination-type sailing where they will sail to a beach while learning about currents and wind direction.

The quality of the BCYC staff is what separates their programs from the other clubs. “Our staff really cares and makes the extra effort every day,” Mayer shared. Racing results are proving the strength of the staff with very strong results dating back to last season. This year’s Gold Cup BCYC was 1, 2 and 3 in A fleet, 1 and 2 in C2s, 1st and 2nd in C3 and 3rd in C1.

Max Mayol 

When I asked Mayer where he would like to see the BCYC Jr. program in five years he said, “Just be really effective, all our programs thrive and feed the others. The BCYC program will be noticed around the country for going the extra mile for our students. Our goal is to have people, out of the area, even at their peak want to come to us because we offer the strongest program. We are working hard every day creating a program that people want to take part in and so far, so good...it appears to be working.”

I have to reply “copy to that,” smiling ear to ear while watching my home team grow.

Sea ya!