Yacht club championships a great start to summer

On June 17 and 18, I am chairing the Balboa Yacht Club's Club Championships, which will be sailed in Governor's Cup 21s.

The original concept of this event was to have a club champion, but the event has grown into so much more.

This event brings in every age group to compete or to be a spectator.

The first event is the "Masters Championships."

All skippers must be members in good standing of Balboa Yacht Club. All crew, including the skipper, must be at least 55. This means that you do not need to be a member, you just have to be 55.

With this change, I am hoping that cross-town teammates will join each other.

I can almost hear it now: "Dude! We are putting the band back together."

For example, how cool would it be if Andy Rose, Tom Purcell and Argyle Campbell teamed up together again?

There has to be another 25 teams like this in our harbor. Like the Johnson Bros., Gordo, Dougall and Halfdeck. Good times, baby! The races will start off M mark and finish at BYC Race tower, where BYC Fleet Capt. Paul Blank will emcee the races.

I can already hear the conversation between Rose and Halfdeck on who has room at K mark going for the finish. Now if you can only see yourself on the main dock enjoying beverages, air horn in hand, screaming for your favorite team to cross the finish line while the cannon goes off for the winner.

The racing is simple with no spinnakers and there will be up to five races from 2 to 5 p.m. June 17.

At 6 p.m., we will start the "Family Championships" with the same format and fun. All skippers must be members in good standing at the Balboa Yacht Club. Crew members must be immediate family members.

This time, I will be looking for teams like the Andrews family with Alan, Molly and Betty going against teams like the Ullmans with Dave, Jacob and Charlie.

Jennifer, Andrew and I will be racing, and we hope to see your family sign up. This event is all about the fun and how many people we can get to the club to watch someone kindly requesting spouses or kids to pull in the jib sheet a little faster.

June 18 is the Club Championships or "The Race for the Parking Spot." This is the only event, all year, when you leave the house and your spouse wishes you "good luck," and they truly mean it! This event is for BYC members only and will be five races sailed outside in the ocean.

You can always tell when its Club Championship time at BYC. Members will start asking our junior instructors which kids can do the bow. Others will come up to me and ask who my crew is.

I keep my cards as close to my chest as possible on this one; I want that parking spot again some day. One of my best sailing memories is when I won this event, and Greg Newman came up to me and asked to use my cell phone. Once I handed it to him, I was on my way into the bay.

Let the tradition continue and come on down and join in on the fun. NOR's are posted on the BYC website.

Sea ya.

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