It has been 'epic' times in Newport Harbor

The word "epic" best describes our harbor last weekend.

The Balboa Yacht Club's "Club Championships" could not have gone any better.

"On a night like this, it is completely apparent to me why we belong to a yacht club and why we enjoy it so much," BYC Commodore Peter Bretschger was quoted as saying at the awards ceremony.

The tradition continues at BYC for coming up with innovative ideas to promote the sport of sailing.

"It's not that often when you can get 5- to 80-year-old members on the same race course," I told the crowd as the chairman.

"I really hope that the other sailing clubs in the harbor have their own events next year and add their own ingredients to this format," I continued.

This year's BYC Club Champions, and parking space holders, are Chris Nesbitt, Walker Banks and Brandon Wood. Our Masters Champions are Alan Andrews, Molly Lynch and Judi Gorski. The Family Champs are the Davidson Family with Nancy, Gary, Bayley and Ryan.

Congratulations must be given to the winners and everyone who competed in these events. I also must give a big shoutout to Alan Andrews and Molly Lynch for competing in all three events and finishing with a first in Masters, second in Family and second in Club Championships.

The Newport High-Point Series is coming down to the last two races, and it's still anyone's race.

The Radical Departure is in fourth place with 30 points. The Lickity Split is in third place with 33 points, and the Adios is in second with 39 points. That leaves John Szalay's Pussy Cat in the lead with 42 points.

I gave John a call last week to see how his crew is holding up to all the pressure of trying to repeat as the top PHRF boat in our harbor.

"We are doing fine, Len," John replied with his unique kind of chuckle.

The Pussy Cat's crew members are Carol Kokol, who has teamed up with John for more than 25 years. Other crew members are Gabriel Nestor, Jessy Rivera, Rob Daugherty and Jason Dyogi, who have been around for eight years or so. The Pussy Cat team competes in Thursday night beer cans and most of our harbor's PHRF events.

Team Pussy Cat — or "Team Kitty," as I like to call them — has won the Newport-to-Ensenada race for the last three years, but the crew will have its hands full in the Argosy Regatta. The event from Sept. 17 to 18 is the last two races of the Newport High-Point Series.

Argosy has changed venues this year with a race to Two Harbors on Catalina on Sept. 17, and returning to Newport on Sept. 18. With all the fleets sailing the same course and the results coming down to handicap times, Team Kitty is going to have to show up with its game face on and try to leave the "Microbrew Fest" early on Saturday night.

Sea ya!

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.