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| A restored wooden Snowbird |
No. 419, a double blue new Snowbird named “Too Blue.” I knew this day would be really big. A perfect summer day in Newport, the Flight of the Snowbirds would be starting in a few hours. The Flight, a tradition in Newport Harbor since 1936, was up to some 200 participants. For competitive young sailors of that era, winning the Flight was like a gig at Carnegie Hall. Some sailed simply for the fun...others to claim rights to be the best in the bay. A good showing here was historical and word would spread rapidly in the sailing circles.
Jim Warmington was one of the finest young sailors in our town. Even before I could swim, I crewed for years with him. I weighed 45 lbs. with a life preserver on, allowing Jim to strategically move me about the 12-foot sloop like a sack of sand. His style of racing was one of perfection. The anticipation of wind changes, trimming the sail, tacking and hiking positions were part of a choreographed dance that Jim knew at a young age.
Newport Harbor’s tradition of sailing is a privilege for youth growing up with the harbor. Prior to the 1960s, Newport Beach was not known to be a premier setting on the world sailing scene. Older Newporters like Bill Ficker, Don Edler, John Kilroy, along with the finest boat builders, sailmakers and other sailors, would soon put Newport on the racing charts. K-38s, L-36s, Thistles, Stars, custom ocean-racing yachts and America’s Cup racing would soon become part of Newport Harbor’s traditions. Sabots, Snowbirds and Lido 14s were perfect training vessels for future sailors. The bay was alive with activity.
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| Dr. Albert Soiland |
Yacht clubs date back to the early 20th century. Dr. Albert Soiland visited Newport Bay in 1906 and being familiar with great ports throughout the world, he saw a potential for Newport Beach’s marshy estuary.
In 1916, he founded and became the first commodore of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. This resulted in each subsequent generation being a little more sophisticated than the previous. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new group of competitors hit the water vying for the power position among the harbor’s youth. This group included Burke Sawyer, one of the early gold “S” winners for Snowbirds; Bill Twist; Ron Merickel; Dave Ullman; and Bruce McClaire. All summer long in regatta after regatta, these and many more sailors zig-zagged up and down on the waters of Newport.
Now, this group had moved to larger boats, so I felt it was my turn. If I put everything that Jim taught me to work, I could be a contender. In the start to any race, steel nerves and a stopwatch are your best friends. A matter of mere seconds puts you in the lead, or turns a boat around to re-cross the starting line. The skipper must interpret a language of horns and flags, and anticipate the right place to be at precisely the right time. In the 60 seconds before the start, a sailor must tack, luff or jibe to ensure a good start. There was a great deal of young testosterone in the water, because the good girls, like Patsee Ober and Leslie Messenger, were still years from becoming equals in sailing.
Balboa Yacht Club opened its doors in 1922 as the Southland Sailing Club and the oft-forgotten Balboa Island Yacht Club began in the summer of 1923 when some kids talked Joe Beek into a ride in his boat. Beek saw an interest in their eyes and formed BIYC with 35 original members. Lido Isle Yacht club was incorporated in 1928 but was not operational until 1947 due to poor lot sales, the Great Depression and World War II.
At the starter’s horn, my bow crossed the line within seconds, putting me in the top 20. “Jim [Warmington] would be proud,” I tell myself, thinking this may be the passing of the torch. The fleet spread out and dominated the bay. The Flight was one of the only events that had “right of way” over the venerable ferry boats. We beat our way toward the first mark west of the Lido Isle Yacht Club. Passing some landmark homes on Harbor Island, Bay Island and the Peninsula, the boats completed the long haul into the wind at the mark. “Too Blue” executed a perfect tack and I hollered down a couple potential poachers with a loud “starboard” and kept my key position. Heading east, the little boat rocked and rolled as my crew, Al Schneider, and I sat back creating a perfect plane. Going with the wind always felt really good.
The beginning of sailing in Newport Harbor was modest at best. But after WWII, the transformation of Newport Beach was in full swing. Large sailboats like the Pioneer and the Goodwill sat impressively in the west turning basin. Other schooners tied up where the future Balboa Bay Club would be built. Sailboats like Santana, Sirius, Chubasco, Kialoa, Nam Song, Sea Drift and many more became the “holy grail” for wide-eyed young Snowbird sailors like me. “One day we will sail the Trans-Pac,” we dreamed.
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| Flight of the Snowbirds |
By the time the fleet reached the east end of Lido and passed the Warmington house, my blood was boiling with competitive juices. I was in the Top 10. It was at this precise moment that I lost control and my thoughts passed into that unpredictable mindset known as “cocky.” A Top 10 finish was well within reach, I kept telling myself. “Go! Go!”
A local yachtsman wanted to teach his son how to sail, so he created the Snowbird design. Its tremendous popularity over the next 90 some years showed that it was the perfect boat for that purpose. In 1926, the design became public and Jim Webster of the NHYC built four, which sold for $200. G.Y. Johnson Boat Works of Newport built an early wood version, Donald Douglas tweaked it a bit making a faster version and A.E. Hansen built 10 for use as rental boats in Balboa. Roland Vallely maintained one of the largest fleets of Snowbirds in the bay for his rental business. By the mid-1950s, the wooden versions were wearing out, so Bill Schock of W.B. Schock Company started building fiberglass Snowbirds. Much faster, this version of the Snowbirds became even more popular.
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| Jim Webster’s early Snowbird, circa 1930 |
Neck and neck with the best skippers in the harbor, my thoughts were speeding as we made the turn around the east end of Lido. Mimicking Mario Andretti, I chose “a straight line is the shortest distance between two points” strategy and took an inside track.
However, once in front of the large two-story homes on Lido’s east end, it felt as if I had thrown an anchor overboard. The wind stopped and “Too Blue” came to a virtual standstill. Sitting in the doldrums, I watched as almost the entire fleet took an outside position and passed us by. By the time we reached Elmer Hare’s house with his classical plank boat “Dorsal,” all had tragically changed.
I remember very little about the rest of that Flight because it was like hiking up a mountain with a broken leg. All the pride, knowledge and perceived glory I anticipated was gone. Crossing the finish line among the last 30 boats put well over 100 in front of me. So much for a great start.
“It is about the entire race and it is always the smartest skipper, not the fastest boat that wins,” Jim had taught me. As I limped home late that afternoon, this kept pounding in my head accompanied by a vision of him sailing Newport Harbor with the intensity of a high-wire walker over Niagara Falls.
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Duncan Forgey, a lifelong resident of Newport Beach, now makes his home in Hawaii. He is a monthly contributor to StuNewsNewport.
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