By LEN BOSE
My ocean racing career started 40 plus years ago when I met Tim Richley in the quad at Orange Coast College. We were dating two girls who were friends that introduced us when Richley and I recognized that we both had a strong interest in sailing.
We would take the girls out on his father’s Newport 30 MAR for a sail and parties on the harbor. I learned that it is always better to use the companionway ladder rather than take one step down the hatch at my 20th birthday party aboard MAR.
It wasn’t long after that Tim’s father, Mel Richley, was purchasing a custom Peterson 48 naming it AMANTE.
From day one, when the keel was poured, I was never letting Tim out of my sight after finding my new best friend. I was then introduced to Tim’s two brothers, Buddy and Steve, while taking part in the first two seasons of ocean racing aboard AMANTE.
One of our area’s big sailing events was the Los Angeles Yacht Club’s Whitney Series, which we raced in for the next decade. We also won the Newport Beach Yacht Club’s Cabo race in our division three times in a row.
In 1983, I was also extremely fortunate to make the crew list for the Trans Pac Race to Hawaii. Part of the deal I made with the Richley family was that I would bring the boat back from Hawaii. That summer I had logged more than 28 days at sea, and close to 5,000 miles aboard AMANTE.
During the ‘80s and ’90s, I was a fixture aboard AMANTE racing down the California and Baja Coast along with annual YRU cruises to Catalina. Flashing back to all the different girlfriends I spent under the stars aboard AMANTE in Catalina brings a HUGE smile to my face.
Becoming a yacht broker in 1989, the experience I gained from all my times at sea was priceless. As I sold other racing boats my attention went to my new customers and their boats while always feeling like a member of the Richley AMANTE family.
Now some 40 years later, I became rather efficient at offshore sailing all due to the Richley family giving me the initial break of sailing aboard their boat.
Like any sport, there comes a time when one has to think of retiring from heading out to sea and competing in offshore sailing. I still have a good 20 years of sailing my Harbor 20 and my remote-control Volvo 70.
I might have let go of the wheel, but I still have a good hold of my tiller.
There is also a large amount of Tom Brady in me that wants to stay in the game. While attending the AMANTE 40th year party at the Richley home this last weekend, I signed up for this year’s Ensenada race.
All the photos when I had a full set of hair on my head and weighed 80 pounds lighter make me want for one more lap. Let’s just hope I remember to use the companionway ladder.
There is another part of this story that still must be recognized and that is there has been no other boat in my life that gets used on a more regular basis than AMANTE. You will see her competing in all the local PHRF racing and all the harbor races throughout each year. And, you will find her on family cruises in Catalina at Long Point and Moonstone at least six times each year.
AMANTE has kept local PHRF sailing going in our area solely on her own keel, while keeping the yacht club bars full after each race inside the harbor or outside.
I am now looking forward to this year’s Ensenada Race and, as always, the old guys will be keeping this old IOR dinosaur on track and killing fish. IOR is an old rating system AMANTE was built too, while IOR boats are often called fish killers because they are displacement boats that just get deeper in the water the faster they go.
There were also a couple of years in a row when AMANTE bumped into a whale during the Ensenada Race. That’s right – we have whale tales of stories I shouldn’t repeat to you in public. But if you’d like to come up to me at the Coral bar after the race and trade a couple of rounds with me, I promise to make you laugh until your eyes are watering while you’re gasping for air.
Wish us luck!
Sea ya.
~~~~~~~~
Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.
No comments:
Post a Comment