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| Len Bose speaking at the Yachtsmen’s Luncheon at Balboa Yacht Club |
By LEN BOSE
Last week while attending the Wednesday Yachtsmen’s Luncheon, now at the Balboa Yacht Club, I immediately recognized familiar faces and old friends. The Yachtsmen’s Luncheon has a long history in our harbor dating back some 80 years.
Back in the day, the boys used to drink a little during lunch and quite often spend the remaining part of the day sailing or just hanging out in the Pirates Den at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. Post-COVID, the luncheon has been moved to the Balboa Yacht Club being held every other Wednesday afternoon. The meetings have held onto many long-standing traditions over the years with attendees only needing an interest in boats and boating “without requiring membership in a yacht club or proof of COVID vaccination.” The last part of the last sentence is only a pun.
Back in the early days when boys, could be boys, there was a raffle at each meeting for a bottle of gin, vodka, bourbon, Scotch, or rum with the raffle tickets selling for 50 cents each. After a decade or two of this, someone noticed that maybe that was not a good idea while referring to some sort of illegal gaming under California law. Another decade passed with the boys finally noticing that females should be invited into the luncheon. In my house, inviting the spouse is the only way I would be able to have cocktails at lunch.
Yet, before the luncheon was requested to “turn down the volume,” they had another tradition of the annual Balboa Ferry Luncheon sometime just before Christmas. One of the Balboa ferry boats would nose into the long dock where the bar, buffet table, staff and provisions were loaded aboard. This was well before there were seat belt laws or room capacity numbers, and the fun meter was pegged in the red for at least a two-hour cruise around the harbor. I recall hearing that the ferry had its running lights on one year while returning to the long dock. I would love to take part in some of that today. How many of you yachtsmen miss those days? I can already see all the yachtsmen in their Christmas Reyn Spooners, dressed up like Rudolph with their glowing red noses. Let’s ask UBER to sponsor this event for us...shall we?
Back on course Len…after lunch, each meeting starts with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, when newcomers get introduced and become a member for life. There are no dues, rules, fees, or bylaws followed by a fishing report and racing report. After this is completed, the speaker is introduced and topics run from sailing, boat designers and boat builders to cars, science and harbor politics. For me, the hour goes by quickly, and while leaving I have a rather big smile on my face. Not from the adult beverages, but rather from all the memories I have had with so many of the attendees.
Over the last two meetings, I have been invited to talk about the man overboard we had on Horizon this last summer and the Transpac race. I trust my presentations were well received and I look forward to many more in the future.
The future does have a small question mark in front of it and that’s where the luncheons will be held. It goes beyond my comprehension why the Newport Harbor Yacht Club would ever break from this long tradition by only allowing the yachtsmen to meet every third Wednesday at NHYC. I must be getting older, because this is when you see me shake my head, rub my face, follow up with more questions regarding the purpose of a yacht club? I’ve always felt yacht clubs are the guardians of our harbor’s history and traditions with the Yachtsmen Luncheon being kept in perpetuity at NHYC.
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Winter sailing starts up this weekend with BYC kicking off its Sunkist Series along with the NHYC Winter Series looking forward to both of them along with the annual H20 Fat Friday race, the Friday after Thanksgiving. My good friend Greg Newman and his crew will be running the races with more information being sent out soon. There is another trend starting to gain momentum in Southern California. Do you seasoned yachtsmen see what I did here? The Ericson 35 Mk II sailboat is making a comeback as a simple boat to sail in our harbors and maybe in a club race or two. With two very distinguished sailing teams in our harbor, refitting their newly acquired boats to the water is starting to warm up. There are two refitted boats in San Diego with another arriving soon in Alamitos Bay. This is a good thing and I plan on reporting more on this very soon.
Sea ya.
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.
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