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| BCYC Jr. Sailing Team |
By Len Bose
May 23, 2014 | 1:11 p.m.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been active at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club Taco Tuesdays race nights with the Harbor 20 fleet.
I have been coaching the fleet and setting up three-boat-length markers at the leeward mark. I've also been helping out the race committee from an active Harbor 20 sailor's perspective. I am probably more a pain in their side than anything else, but the racing has gone smoothly for the amount of breeze we have been having. Should you like to read my race reports, visit my blog lenboseyachts.blogspot.com.
While preparing for the night races, I have been impressed with the organization of the clubs' racing equipment and the maintenance of its coach boats. While checking out one of the coach boats, I had the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the clubs' junior director, Pete Dodosh.
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| Peter Dodosh |
He has been an instructor at BCYC for 10 years and has worked his way up from the docks into the junior director's office, where he has taken the helm of the program for the last two years.
This year's junior sailing program runs June 23 through Aug. 1. The BCYC program is open to kids 5 to 17. Dodosh said the 5- to 7-year-olds are entered into the club's Starfish class that runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The other yacht clubs are Monday through Thursday and only half-day sessions.
The Starfish classes include time with professional teachers, swimming instruction from certified lifeguards and of course lessons from some of the best sailors this harbor has to offer.
Last year's Sabot Nationals champion Derek Pickell has signed up for this year's coaching staff and will be instructing C3 sailors to A-fleet sabot sailors. The BCYC coaching staff is stacked with local and international sailing talent including Cameron Maclaren, Charlie Welsh, Jack Donnell, Wills Johnson, Alex Ivory, Ainsley Henderson and Shelby Gualter.
Dodosh said the coach boats have been serviced by Tradewinds Marine and all of the club's flying juniors boats, for the kids who have outgrown sabots, have had all of their standing rigging replaced and are ready for the upcoming summer.
Every year I walk through almost all of the junior programs facilities from San Diego to San Francisco while I am showing boats at the different yacht clubs in our state. Over the last 10 years the BCYC junior program has continued to improve and in my opinion is one of best values offered to introduce children to our harbor.
You can sign up at bcyc.org and then clicking on the juniors link. The program can only handle 90 participants and after Memorial Day, spots fill up quickly.
BCYC has made me the chairman of its yachting strategic planning committee to look five to 10 years into the future and come to a consensus on the direction the club should consider taking. If you notice me around town and would like to talk about ways of improving yachting in our harbor please stop me. I am always willing to listen.
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| Marshall "Duffy" Duffield |
Speaking of improving our harbor, I cannot begin to explain how pleased I am to read that Marshall "Duffy" Duffield has agreed to run for Newport Beach City Council. Over the last eight years of attending Harbor Commission meetings I've observed that Duffield does his homework and gets things done. Like what we used to say as kids when things changed for the better, "Balboa." This is good news for the harbor.
Sea ya.
LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.
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