By LEN BOSE
I started this past Monday taking a huge punch in the gut, realizing that a very good friend of mine and our harbor had passed away in his sleep Saturday night. The punch lingers because Ben Benjamin was only 48 years old with a wife Carolyn and three very young kids – Liam, Ella, and Abby.
I first met Benjamin when I was the Fleet Captain at the Balboa Yacht Club while he was the sailing administrator. We worked together daily becoming good friends on and off the water. For about a year, we would meet up on Monday mornings and ride our bikes around the Back Bay. He was always competitive on the water and while we were riding, “You do pretty good for an old guy,” said Benjamin, as we ground up the Castaways hill off of PCH and Dover.
More than once, Benjamin would say to me: “I don’t think that idea is going to fly Len.” We had a strong working relationship and quickly became good friends. After Benjamin left the club and started his family, he started to show up at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Thursday Summer Series sailing a Lehman 12 with his two kids at that time, Liam and Ella. I would receive a heartfelt greeting that was engaged with a whistle followed up with a hearty “Len Bose!” I admired that Benjamin sailed with his kids and I always felt it was more to him about being on the water with them rather than winning the series.
My time with Benjamin was short and I placed a couple of calls to people that had spent more time with him than I had. My first call was to Becky Lenhart. It was interesting that Becky started our conversation exactly how I felt, “Biggest punch in the gut; the world is just different without him,” Lenhart said. They had known each other before Lenhart started working alongside Benjamin. “Larger than life personality, he could be the boss, disciplinarian, he can also be so goofy, I remember the funny Ben times more than anything else,” Lenhart said. I asked Becky how he affected her life while they worked together. “He trusted me to be in charge, he gave me the confidence to complete the job,” Lenhart said. Becky and I both recalled when Benjamin’s mother had passed away how many of his friends attended his mother’s services. We recalled the church was huge with all of the back rows being filled with sailors showing Benjamin our support for his loss. Toward the end of our conversion, Lenhart said, “Your life was just better if he was in it. This has been a huge wake-up call for me, something tells me as the wind whistles around my office windows I am going to look up and see him helping me.”
My next call was to Jacob Ullman. He and Benjamin had been close friends since the high school sailing team at Newport Harbor High. “There was word coming in from the sailing coaches that this sailor was returning to the area and he would be sailing on the team next year. His name is Ben Benjamin. I did not know who Ben Benjamin was and what type of silly name was that having the same name twice,” Ullman said. “He moved in a block away from us and we slowly became close friends realizing that we both loved this harbor, and the Grateful Dead, constantly interacting with each other from then on.”
Ullman went on to say they taught sailing together for many summers at NHYC – he was a really good sailor, Snipes, FJ, and the 505. Benjamin was a very accomplished 505 crew sailing in many world events and finishing at the top of many regattas. According to Ullman, “A couple of weeks ago, Benjamin called and asked if my daughter Skylar would like to join them for a junior sabot sailing regatta in San Diego. Up until that time, Skylar preferred not to race, yet after returning from a weekend with the Benjamins, Skylar had the biggest smile on her face. She had the best weekend and commented that she wants to go on every traveling regatta she can with them. Ben made this all happen, picking up the boat, and providing rooms and meals just as if she was one of the family. When I asked what I owed him he replied, ‘You’re Good!’ That was just the way he was. He liked kids, had patience, he was able to present himself as understanding and not intimidating. He really had that ability to relate to kids. The kids loved to be with him. I admired his generosity and commitment to his kids; I need to do more to make that happen,” Ullman said.
Benjamin will be missed. I am sure we will all be at peace with the understanding that “You’re Good,” Ben Benjamin!
Friends of the family have set up a GoFundMe page at Ben Benjamin and Family.
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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