On the Harbor: yacht club awards

By LEN BOSE

This last Tuesday brought in some measurable rain and enough breeze to keep me home to make sure the dog was not blown off its chain. I am joking about the dog, but what I am not joking about is the wind. Fortunately, John Sangmeister called me up the other night at 8:30 p.m. to tell me he tightened up on Horizon’s spring lines and took the boat’s deck cover off up in Cabrillo Beach where it’s blowing more than 30 knots right now.

Now my only concern is how to get the dog to go outside and come up with a Harbor story without getting wet. My first call was with Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s (NHYC) Fleet Captain Rob Rader to confirm who received the big awards at their annual meeting. Steve Sellinger, owner of the Santa Cruz 52 Triumph received the club’s Top Sailing Yacht Award for their continued efforts in Offshore events. NHYC has some of the West Coast’s top Principal Race Officers (PRO) with Deon & Peter Macdonald, receiving the Meta & Jack Going Trophy, for keeping it fun on the Harbor 20 Twilights and Winter Series this last year. I am sure they managed other events, and even though I would rather see them out sailing in the events, they both are keeping a smile on the participants’ faces well before they get to the bar

Next up was Dwight Belden for all the work he continues to do as a PRO, because this year’s Cabo race could not have been managed better. He called me up and asked what the club could do to make the race logistically easier for the participants. It was also noted that Belden continues to work at improving his US Sailing requirements while flawlessly running two Star events this season, plus he’s just a great guy who also “gets it” and keeps it fun. For all the hard work Belden does for our sport, he received the “Race Committee of Excellence Award.” The two big awards at NHYC is the Don Vaughn Award for the club’s, Offshore, Crew of the Year Award. Historically, it has been awarded to acknowledge either a sailor’s outstanding year on the water or to honor a lifetime of crewing at sea. This is the only award I know of that the recipient is chosen by previous winners. Past winners included Duffy Duffield, Brad Avery, Craig Chamberlain, Bill Mais, Tom Corkett and Nick Madigan, just to name a few. This year’s recipient is Shawn Patrick. The award that always catches my eye, when entering the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, just over to the left of the front door is the Burgee of Merit. In my opinion, this award sits on the top shelf of all our Harbor’s awards. The recipient recognized has formed or taken part in any yachting event that has brought unusual distinction or notice to West Coast Yachting. Receiving this year’s Burgee of Merit is Charlie Buckingham as a U.S.A representative in this year’s summer Olympics, sailing the Laser.

In my first November column, I left out who won the Harbor 20 Arthur Strock Award. The Strock Award is presented to members who have performed outstanding service for the Harbor 20, Fleet One organization. Past winners included Phil Ramser, Ross Watanabe, Shana Conzelman, Phil Thompson and Michael Volk along with both Debra and Peter Haynes…and many more. I participated in Harbor 20 Fleet 1 for more than 10 years now, noting that this year’s winner Gary Throne is without a doubt the most deserving. Throne has performed outstanding service to the fleet for well over the past 10 years and continues today always seemly picking up the most difficult tasks. You make the fleet fun Gary, “Well Done.”

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The Christmas Boat Parade is going on until Sunday the 19th with tonight’s forecast to be on the “chilly” side. I also checked in with some of my best sources for harbor information. The Harbor Commission will be making recommendations to the City Council in the early part of next year regarding updating the Title 17 “Harbor Code” in the city municipal codes. I strongly encourage harbor stakeholders and all harbor users to take note of the recent appraisal completed on the value of shore moorings. Anytime change, no-pun, is brought up in the city’s mooring codes most people get up in arms. With many topics to be discussed, just on this topic, I suggest you pay attention and voice your concerns before you get all bunched up that you didn’t know what is going on. Speaking of all bunched up, no I am not referring to “Grand Channel” shore mooring people, I’m referring to homeowners with additional floats tied up to their docks. It was noted this year that the harbor has a problem with marina operators and homeowners adding floats to their docks. This topic is being studied by the Harbor Commission and should be labeled on your radar screen. Tons of data is needed on this topic!

Winter is coming my friends, so remember to keep your bilge dry.

Sea ya.

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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.