On the Harbor: Upcoming regattas to ready for the TransPac and RC racing

 

Volvo 70's at Mason Park Irvine

                                                          By LEN BOSE 

 Alright, “Boats in the water!” We are on the clock. This is what we hear going into the starting sequence when remote control (RC) sailing. The sailing season is teed up, so let’s head out to the starting line for the 2023 season.

Every odd year is the main event – TransPac, a yacht race to Hawaii. In preparation for this, teams will compete in two big events: Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Islands and the Cabo race.

The Islands race can smack you upside the head, requiring you to be at the top of your game to start off the season with your new team. Extremely cold, hazardous conditions with large seas and strong winds will test your skill level while rounding the back side of San Clemente Island. All this shakes out your crew quickly, with skippers making the hard decision to substitute crew members going into TransPac.

Our harbor has four very strong teams preparing for this season’s offshore events.

Craig Reynolds sailing his Nelson/Marek 70 Bolt, his boat was at the builder’s for most of the off-season refitting her to make her faster. The Ker 51 Fast Exit II has been continuously upgraded, if the crew can hang on to her, she will be a contender. Speaking of contenders – Steve Sellinger’s Santa Cruz 52 Triumph is the boat to bet on. She too went through a refit during this off-season, so I’m hoping she has kept her team together and I am looking forward to seeing that team on the podium. This will not be easy with two very strong teams shaping up from the Long Beach area. My good friend Dave Clark, sailing his Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion is always strong, being one of the best-prepared boats in the fleet. These two teams, Bolt and Grand Illusion will be competing in the most competitive division in this year’s TransPac, with the odds-on favorite being Roy Disney’s Andrews 68 Pyewacket.

Back on the local front, the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club (BCYC), has completed its Hot Rum series with six on-the-harbor races over the last three months. At the time of this writing, the results have not been updated, although 14 boats have entered the series. Standouts in this series have been Dan Rossen’s Problem Child in A fleet, The Rosene Family sailing Radical Departure in B fleet and Bob Wine aboard Carioca in C Fleet. BCYC will be hosting this year’s Harbor 20 MidWinters on February 25 and 26, the Angelman Series on February 11 and the Bogart Race to Catalina on March 18 and 19, one of the best PHRF races of the year. I plan on looking for a boat to sail on for this one, as Catalina will be extra green this year.

The Newport Harbor Yacht Club is carrying the most sail area up going into the sailing season by hoisting the Winter Series for H20s and Lehman 12s, the Islands and Cabo races, along with the Spring Gold Cup for the sabots on March 11 and 12. If that’s not a full boat, let’s add in The Palmer and Baldwin Team racing regattas at the end of March. NHYC sailing director Jess Gerry has installed a pipe berth in his office, because he is going to be on watch for the next two months. 

Over “across the pond” at Mason Lake in Irvine, the Orange County Model Sailing Club (www.ocmsc.org) hosts four different classes of RC boats – the Volvo 70s and Dragonflite 95 and 65s along with the US1 Meters. On December 10 and 11, the Volvo 70s had their class championships with 15 competitors on the starting line. Looking over the results you will find many familiar names including Jim Sears, Gene Elliot, Chuck Simmons and me, who all belong to local yacht clubs. That’s just the Volvo 70s, because if you own a Volvo 70 you also should have a Dragonflite 95 (DF95s). In the last event of the 2022 season, 18 DF95s showed up. The DF95 is an international class with regattas sailing around the world, attracting many of the world’s best sailors. Locally in our harbor, Sears has made it into the top 15 nationally. Long Beach sailor Mark Golison has made it to the top nationally and into the top 12 globally.

If you are interested in sailing an RC boat, the Volvo 70s will be sailing their MidWinters on Saturday, Feb 12 and the DF95s will be sailing at Mason. One quickly appreciates the nonexistent slip fees with these RC boats. Let’s go sailing!

Sea ya.

~~~~~~~~

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

On the Harbor: Remembering Douglas M. West

Doug West with his wife, Irene

By LEN BOSE

I opened up one of those emails this week that just takes the wind out of your sails and then reminds you just how short life is. Or do you recall the last time you had the wind knocked out of you, how long it feels before you get your breath back? That’s how I felt when I opened up the celebration of life invitation for Douglas West.

I wrote a story about him back in 2013, “Digging Doug’s work on the harbor.” You can read it here.

You can find the Douglas M. West obituary here.

These two stories provide you with an overview of his life and what a memorable celebration of life this event will be.

 I first met Doug West at a yacht club meeting where he was the chairman of the club’s cruisers. There was a question brought up about the published cruisers’ schedule. West was unaware of the conflict in scheduling and the task of rescheduling was solved the next day. I quickly recognized that West got to the tasks at hand with the highest degree of professionalism.

This is how West became a Harbor Commissioner and Commodore of the Balboa Yacht Club in a very short order of time. The amazing thing is that his improvements to the two organizations are still very much implemented today. Two of the many accomplishments that West completed while as a Harbor Commissioner was creating the Commissions Objectives along with the way to ensure these objectives were accomplished. This type of management skill had not been seen before. West also recognized the need for the Regional General Permit (RGP) 54 to streamlining the dredging permitting process.

West did not only come up with the RGP 54 concept, he got very much involved. According to Harbor Resource Manager Chris Miller, “Doug would take up an active role in reaching an objective. I recall all the different times we would drive up together to all the different government agency meetings. Doug was able to relate and relay different information to me which was invaluable. Still today, I think of Doug West and use many of his techniques at accomplishing goals with attention to all the details.”

I also placed a call to Harbormaster Paul Blank, who I had recalled in previous conversations that West was a mentor for him. Blank pointed out that as a Harbor Commissioner, his professionalism and sensitivity in quietly engaging commissioners to complete their objectives was to be remembered. As a commodore, his skills at brand identity, or why people choose to be members of the Balboa Yacht Club was also a tool to keep in use.

For me, it was West’s personal touch, on topics he knew I had a personal interest in. He would meet with me for breakfast or lunch at his request. He was an extremely easy person to approach while sincerely considering many of my silly ideas. At the same time, I recall a couple of Harbor Commission meetings when he would firmly remind people when they were out of order.

As a yachtsman, West took the same professional approach to maintaining his vessel. I would find him quite often just sitting in the cockpit of his Tiara looking over the harbor…just taking it all in. We spent a lot of time discussing the different coves in Catalina and where we would go if surprised by the weather and how we would anchor at these different coves around the island.

My two favorite quotes from West were while talking about Catalina: “It’s like another world over there.” I can still see the smile on his face each time I walked up to him while he was aboard his boat, Islander. The other quote was “Staying involved with what you love is extraordinarily satisfying.”

Sea ya.

~~~~~~~~

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

The Harbor Report: Digging Doug's work on the harbor

Irene and Doug West aboard "Islander." (Courtesy Len Bose / May 16, 2013)

By Len Bose

May 16, 2013 | 3:59 p.m.

As I work my way around the harbor each week, I always look for people I would like to emulate. One such person is Doug West, and I have said this before about Doug and his efforts as chairman of the Newport Beach Harbor Commission. He wants to help and improve our boating activities and harbor. "I want to become part of our community," he explained during an interview this week. So for my own selfish reasons, I wanted to learn about the man and ask him a few questions.

Doug grew up in Michigan and, as a child, spent summers in Nantucket Sound and Martha's Vineyard. At the age of eight, he took his first sail aboard a friend's 26-foot wooden sailboat. "That's the day I got hooked on boats," he said. "I still remember that sail." He later attended Michigan State University and then spent three years in the Peace Corps in Jamaica, working in the fishing industry building boats.

On his return home, he enrolled at Michigan State's College of Law and then went to work at the Ford Motor Co. in the litigation department and product liability. In 1982, he was recruited by Toyota and continued to work his way up the food chain, where he spent his last five years in government relations in Washington, D.C. and then retired in 2006.

Doug has three children from a previous marriage and met his , Irene, in 1986 when they first moved to Newport Beach. After living in Japan for a year and Washington, D.C. for five years, he and Irene returned to Newport Beach upon his retirement from Toyota.

Ever since moving to Newport Beach, Doug has owned power boats and now owns a Tiara 36 by the name of Islander. Each year, he and Irene return to Martha's Vineyard, and for most of his boating life, he has cruised Nantucket Sound. "I have two oceans and one boat," he told me as he started to describe his boating life. "I really love coastal cruising." He and Irene have spent a lot of time cruising Southern California from Santa Barbara down to San Diego and countless trips to Catalina. While describing Catalina, Doug said, "It's like another world over there." The two of them take an annual Catalina cruise each year for 10 days and even make it to the back side of the island to spend time in Little Harbor.

People learn from their mistakes, so I asked Doug what his biggest boating blunder was. He went on to tell me about a trip from Old Saybrook, Conn. to City Island in New York. He had misjudged the weather and sea conditions, and on his return back to Old Saybrook, he explained, "It wasn't a happy day for my first mate. My routine now is to watch the weather and the sea state before heading out."

Since joining the Balboa Yacht Club in 2006, Doug and Irene have chaired the Cruisers and last year's opening day, and he now sits on the club's board of directors. When I asked him why he volunteers so much of his time to BYC and our harbor, he said, "The sea is in my blood, and it gives me a sense of purpose and a sense of focus. That's why I do it."

That sense of focus is what has grabbed my attention to Doug, and the thought of working with such a person and truly making a difference in our harbor makes a person feel good. We have a good leader at this time, and now is the time to get involved with the harbor. Think of my observation as a type of stock — insider trading, if you will. The time is now to get active and participate within our harbor.

Wish me luck again this weekend. I will be competing in the last of the Lorin Weiss Harbor 20 series sailed out of Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club.

Sea ya.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist