On the Harbor: 88th Flight of Newport

Photo by Tom Walker

By LEN BOSE

This week was the 88th Flight of Newport Beach, which is a sailboat race around the harbor in the middle of a summer weekend. Not only are the skippers challenged with the competition but there are many obstacles on the course.The Flight of Newport Beach has a long history with a tradition of bringing out our harbor’s best along with everyone else who wants to be a part of our harbor’s history. The Harbor 20 fleet had 40 boats entered this year, which allows the sailor to catch up with all their friends that they haven’t crossed tacks with this year. I had a chance to see my friends and say hello to Mary Bacon, Brett Hemphill, Gator Cook, Charlie Boukather, Brad Wheeler, Matt Campbell, and Kari and Peter Bretschger, along with so many others. Going through the different fleets while waiting for the starting sequence left me with a peaceful feeling inside.

Then the starting sequence begins and everyone must put on their game faces while coming up with a game plan to get away from the starting line and out of the crowd. This race is won and lost at the start if you are fortunate enough to be in the top 10 to break away from the pack. If you get swallowed up by the crowd then you might as well open up that cold beverage, and if you don’t drink…it can become a very long race. Should you be fortunate to be within the top 10 off the starting line, a huge sigh of release overcomes you.

Now you have to travel through the harbor while looking forward to the hazards and behind you, not to be overtaken by the pack. While heading forward, look for people enjoying the summer day – this can be anything from a 100-ft. boat to a standup paddleboard. If you have been on the harbor long enough, you can recognize who is in a rental boat. Rental boats can be challenging because you never know when they might do a “Crazy Ivan” to port or starboard.

On the racecourse while sailing upwind in the Lido Channel, you can fall behind your closest competitor and sail into their disturbed air, forcing you to sail an extra distance or on the wrong tack. Another challenging area on the racecourse is close to the finish as you reach the end of the Balboa Peninsula, sailing towards channel marker number 6 where the wind gets very challenging. I have seen huge leads evaporate quickly here.

This year was a good year for me, as I was sparring with my good friend Justin Law on the first half of the course for fourth place. I lost fifth place to Argyle Campbell while sailing up the Lido Channel, but I was still fighting for inside room around channel marker 6 with Campbell. Sailing in the same ZIP Code as these two leaves a huge boost to your ego. The three of us finished about one minute behind the Bissell Family finishing in third, with John Bubb in second and Alex Curtiss placing his name on the perpetual trophy again.

I am very pleased with my finish, although there is another part of me that feels next year I should throw my competitive edge overboard and bring the family, including the dog and some rosé, and just breathe while enjoying the summer day like my friend Brad Wheeler did.

• • •

An observation from this past month: Did you know that people in the rental boats are not insured and the odds are pretty good that they have no idea that if they run into the side of your boat and do substantial damage they pay for the damage? The rental company’s insurance policy does not cover renters. Talking to Craig Chamberlain of NOVMAR Marine Insurance, I found out this is a problem across the country. In Florida, this has become a big problem, so the state now requires the rental companies to offer additional insurance to their renters, very similar to a car rental. Chamberlain also informed me that there is an underwriter that offers a new program, and it only takes a couple of minutes to enroll. I brought this observation forward to the powers that be, and I am hoping action will be taken fairly quickly.

Sea ya.

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

On the Harbor: The Flight of Newport First Published in July 2020

By LEN BOSE

Sunday, July 17 was the start of the 85th Flight of Newport Beach. I am sure there are many readers who remember this race as the Flight of the Lasers, Kites or Snowbirds over the years.

Five years ago, I interviewed Seymour Beek, who referred to the race as “The Flight,” because over the years, the race has been sailed in the Snowbirds from 1948 to 1970, Kites 1972 to 1973 and now Lasers from 1975 to the present. The Laser also happens to be an Olympic-class boat. Over the last four years, the Harbor 20 fleet has joined the Lasers to compete in separate classes for the Flight of Newport Beach.

In 1954, Tom O’Keefe won The Flight and I had a chance to talk to him over the phone. “At that time, The Flight was the largest one-design race in the world. I recall once I got into the lead, there was a newsreel boat filming the race and it later played in the theaters. I also remember all the powerboats in the bay blowing their horns at the finish line when I won the race. It was a big deal at that time,” O’Keefe said.

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He also recalled a story about a competitor whose boat did not measure into the rules and this person had won several different regattas that summer. There was someone who took offense to this competitor and swam from Balboa Island and tipped the boat over just before the start of the race. O’Keefe remembers the harbor department following the swimmer back to the beach he had come from. “I still have the silver-plated bowl I won as the take-home trophy that year. I will always remember all those boats,” O’Keefe said.

This year, I checked in with Alex Curtiss who had just won his third consecutive Flight. Over the last two years, Curtiss has won the H20 Flight, and the year preceding that, he won the Laser Flight – one of only two people who have won both classes. Curtiss has sailed with Robert Kinney in both of his H20 victories and shared his race with me. “After a slow start, we round the first mark in 8th place, then while sailing up the Lido Channel towards Z mark we made our gains and took the lead. The top three boats round the last mark very close together. It was Jungle Ball all the way to the finish,” Curtiss said. Brian Bissell had rounded the last mark in second followed closely by Jon Pinckney. The term Jungle Ball means throwing the lead around in any direction with the wind shifting to the left. Team Curtiss/Kinney took the checkered flag while Team Pinkney finished in second and team Bissell placed third.

Team Curtiss/Kinney

Five years ago I talked with Jon Pickney, who has won The Flight more than anyone else with seven wins. He is now up to eight Flight wins by winning the first Harbor 20 flight in 2017. Since he only finished in second this year, by a couple of boat lengths, I thought it would interesting to talk to his son, Morgan Pickney, who at the age of 15 had just won his first Flight of Newport, sailing a Laser. Morgan had a difficult start and felt he was in 15th place coming off the starting line. Keeping his composure and reviewing his observations, he continued on a port tack after mark “1” heading toward Bayshores. “I had noticed the marine layer had been burning off and expected the right shift to be coming in sometime soon. As predicted, the shift came at the opportune time for me and I took the lead going to the second mark of the race,” Morgan said.

I enjoyed talking to Morgan because the amount of information he described while sailing the course was intriguing. Another thing that I appreciated was he expressed an interest in all the names on the trophy and truly took in the history of The Flight of Newport. With my awareness decreasing with age, the task of finishing ahead of any of the Pickneys seems to be a difficult task.

Buddy Richley

I also had a chance to talk with Buddy Richley who finished second in this year’s Lasers fleet. “I had a good start that went as planned, maybe too good. I rounded the first mark with a good lead and decided to cover who was in second place and tacked onto starboard shortly after rounding the first mark. As I approached the NHYC moorings and tacked onto port, there was some kid hooked into this huge right shift and was gone. While working my way up towards Z mark there were a couple of left shifts, so I thought I had a chance to regain the lead, yet I still had to fight to keep my second place with the competitor behind me. Downwind the kid sailed away...it’s good to be young,” Richley said. I then told Richley that was a Pickney and he replied, “Pickney, that figures!” I could hear his sigh through the phone, “You mean Morgan Pickney?” Richley has placed 2nd twice in the Flight and 3rd and 5th over the years. He then asked me if I knew of any good H20s for sale.

With the Flight of Newport now completed, it appears we are on the final leg of summer sailing and I am extraordinarily appreciative of our harbor and how we all can still compete and abide by practicing proper social distancing.

Sea ya!

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

On the Harbor: BCYC’s Junior Sailors

 (L-R) Front row: Emerson Shoemaker, Will Metzger and Tavin Beattie; Back row: Coach Mark Gaudio, Mesa Uliasz and Preston Decker

BY Len Bose

I had a chance last week to check in with several Junior Sailors from the BCYC sailing program. I’m not going to lie – each one of the sailors reminded me what I had forgotten and what I should be doing to improve my sailing performance.

Here are five quick interviews with some of the harbor’s newest yachtsmen.

Emerson Shoemaker – 13 years old

She has been with the BCYC program for six years, has owned two sabots, and is the first of her family to sail. She was introduced to sailing through family and friends. Shoemaker sails all year round and is also sailing in high school. She sails a Corsair sabot, whose name is Leeward Passage, with the same colors as Windward Passage. Before racing, she goes over her boat the night before removing any water and adding her weight to meet the boat class minimum weight rules.

“I am lucky enough to have some very nice Gresham (Marine) boards, and I like to keep them pristine and proper,” Shoemaker said. I asked her what she thinks about in the pre-start. “It’s pretty simple. I find it difficult to keep a long list in my head, so I check the angles off the starting line looking for the favored end, understand the time to sail the line, and try to get three or four pieces of information, so I am not going in completely clueless at the start.”

Mesa Uliasz – 13 years old

He has been in the program for eight years. “At 5 years old, my parents enrolled me into the Starfish program and I really liked it after a couple of seasons. My parents purchased a Phoenix sabot for me – sail number 9479.” I asked Uliasz how he comes up with a game plan. “I’m looking for pressure and looking for low-density areas on the racecourse. If I am sailing off of Lido, I’ll sail into a header a little longer to get into the Lido lift. With the dredging barge on the Lido corner, it gets a little light in there, so you don’t want to get too close. When sailing through the “bottleneck,” you do have to keep a heads up for the lefty coming through,” Uliasz said.

While sailing into the leeward gates my question to Uliasz was: “You are in second place, the first-place boat has a good lead on you with third place and fourth place within striking distance. It appears that the lead boat has chosen the favored mark, so what do you do?

“I’ll normally follow the leader because they are in phase, and I don’t want to gamble away my second place. Now if third and fourth place is well behind me I will consider the opposite gate the leader took, just in case a lucky shift comes through.”

Preston Decker – 13 years old

He has been in the BCYC program for four years and has a Corsair sabot, which he inherited from his older brother. “It’s one of the best sabots in the bay – it weighs 95 pounds,” Decker said. I asked how he got interested in sailing. “Mainly my brothers; I did not like sailing, to begin with, but I began to like it better just like my brothers did. Both of my brothers are world-class sailors.”

I then asked how he prepares for the start of the race and what goes through his head after the start. “Before the start, I look to decide which end of the starting line is favored, so I round the committee boat and then round the leeward end – whichever side I find has the best angle. I am always looking for a spot with a ton of space so I have room to accelerate. I like the port tack approach, looking for that space to start in. If my starting plan doesn’t work out, I tack looking for a lane to get back into phase with the wind. At the same time, I am working toward the favored side of the course.”

I next asked when he is rounding the weather mark and has the lead, what are his thoughts at this time. “When I am leading at the weather mark I can get rather stressed out and I have a tendency to over trim my sail which is a problem for me. I do my best to stay focused, not to mess up.” I asked the same question about rounding the leeward gates as I asked Uliasz. “I normally go to the opposite gate so that the leader can’t tack on me. I’m always looking for clean air.” My last question was what was he going to sail next. “I plan on sailing FJs and 420s like my brothers after I grow out of a sabot,” Decker said.

Will Metzger – 13 years old

He has been sailing in the program for three years. “My parents found the BCYC program during COVID because there was nothing else for us to do. I have a Corsair sabot, my third boat. I got it when I was a B sailor and the day I got it I moved up to As.” I asked Metzger how he preps for race days. “I like to sunscreen up, because I sunburn easily. I try to stay calm because once I am out there I don’t think, I don’t feel any pain I just kind of race. I try to remain calm because I do get nervous.” Then I asked if he ever feels like some days he has the mojo and when he doesn’t feel it what does he. “Most of the time I don’t feel it. I’m kind of in the middle. There are times when I feel I have it and there are times when I haven’t done that well in the previous regatta. But most of the time I feel like I am in the middle. I do tell myself that I am fast – I’m fast which builds my mojo up.”

I then asked Metzger about sailing in the five-point area of the harbor, and what are some of his do’s and don’ts. “Stay out of the moorings. That is like the number one rule, if you are starting in the south/west side of the harbor you want to start in the middle of the line and lead to the right. That Lido lift is crazy; you can gain another five to 10 degrees and lay the mark – it’s pretty good.” I asked about the current in that part of the harbor. “We do take current into consideration. I will luff my boat into the wind and see which way I am drifting,” Metzger said.

Tavin Beattie – 11 years old

He has been in BCYC program for five years with one of his younger brothers in the Starfish program. My first question was how does he came up with his game plan for the day as he looked up the course. “It’s important to look at the land and how it is shaped because the wind curves it. This creates the wind headers and lifts, and you want to sail in the lifts.” I then asked if he had a checklist for the day’s racing. “Making sure my weights are in the boat, paddle and bailer are tied down and I have my lifejacket on. If the wind is blowing eight knots you want to pull in the outhaul and make sure you have the foot of the sail a hand length from the boom,” Beattie said.

I then asked what his procedure is after rounding the weather mark. “Most of the kids like lifting up their leeboards to reduce drag. I feel jumping up to the front of the boat and rocking the boat slows the boat down.”

I asked Beattie after rounding the weather mark what he is looking at to decide if he wants to jibe or not. “Usually it’s decided on what the other racers jibe on. I want to sail on the jibe that takes you to the leeward side of the course.

Every time I do these interviews it makes me want to go sailing with these thoughts fresh in my mind. I should have written this story on Friday night rather than Sunday afternoon because I got beat up this Saturday sailing one of my RC boats. I think I will re-read this story before Taco Tuesday at BCYC this week.

Sea ya.

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