Spinnaker Sheet, March 2016

Volume 88, Number 03
March 2016
Contender Nationals & World’s
The Contender Nationals and Worlds are coming
to Santa Cruz! The Contender is a 16’ one-design singlehanded trapeze boat. This will be a “return engagement.”
The Contender Worlds were held here 30 years ago. The
PRO was Dave Wahle!
Pictured below is North American Contender
Chair, Stephanie Mah, blasting along on her boat. She and
SCYC member Gil Woolley are the key Contender people
helping us organize the regatta.
There are actually two regattas, with the National
Championship Regatta preceding the Worlds. Dates for the
regattas are:
1. National Championship Regatta April 19 – 22, 2016
2. World Championship Regatta April 23 – 29, 2016
We expect about 35 boats for the Worlds and
fewer for the Nationals. At the moment 30 and 17 are
registered for the Worlds and Nationals, respectively.
Three containers are coming, one each from Germany,
the UK, and Australia. We will have competitors from
the US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy,
Netherlands, and the UK.
The boats will be placed bow-in on dollies
between keelboat trailers in our dry storage yard just as
we have done in recent years with the 5o5s and Lasers.
Kevin Rooney is managing dry storage. He will need
a couple volunteers to place boats in dry storage when
competitors arrive and container unloading begins in
mid-April. Contact him at 831-359-1077 or kevin@
skyhighway.com to give him a hand.
March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
• Information Desk – not yet filled
• T-shirt distribution
Let me know if you can provide housing for
competitors or judges during any portion of the regattas.
We should all be proud of our:
• Club for agreeing to host the regatta. No one
does major regattas better that SCYC!
Fortunately, the Murray Street Bridge will not be under construction during the regattas, so we will have access
to the ramp adjacent to the UCSC docks. We will be using
both that ramp and the one close to Aldo’s. Jim Skinner is
in charge of getting the boats to and from the ramps, in and
out of the water, and managing their dollies. This area has
a critical need for volunteers – 12 per day! Call or email
him if you can spare half a day or more at 831-818-2299 or
jskinner@cruzio.com. John Fraser is in charge of support
boats. Space is needed to moor the support boats over night.
Please let him know if your boat will be out of its wet slip
and available to moor support boats any days between April
19 through 29. He can be reached at 831-212-9244 or fraserkind@sbcglobal.net. Here is a list of the Team Leaders. We still have a
couple of slots to fill. Please contact them if you can help and
note that most of the teams can use help for a single day.
• Boat Park – Kevin Rooney. 831-359-1077 or
kevin@skyhighway.com
• Containers – Steve Niemann. 831-706-7579 or
sniemann43@gmail.com
• Food – Judy and Tom Webster. 831-425-0221 or
skiprtom@pacbell.com
• Launch/Retrieve Boats – Jim Skinner. 831-8182299 or jskinner@cruzio.com
• Registration – Nancy Lenz. 831-425-5252 nanlenz@cruzio.com
• PRO – Beau Vrolyk. 415-269-4589 or beau.
vrolyk@mac.com
• Safety – Ron Dillehay. 831-423-2837 or ronaldd@
unr.edu
• Shore-side scoring – Chris Hoffman. 831-439-0809
or chofmann@gmail.com
• Support Boats – John Fraser. 831-212-9244 or
fraserkind@sbcglobal.net
2
• Members for their stellar response to our call
for volunteers and use of their homes, boats,
and slips.
• Team leaders for cutting the task into manageable pieces to get it done.
These regattas are going to make April a busy
and exciting month. Get ready to give the Contender
competitors the Warm Welcome and Great Regatta
Management for which the Santa Cruz Yacht Club is
so well known! Thanks!
Charlie Roskosz
Staff Commodore
Event Chairperson
March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
From the Commodore
It is interesting to be Commodore of a yacht
club where no one can sail. But I know the SC Harbor
is doing everything possible to dredge out the sand.
I hope many of you can come to the Commodore’s Regatta Sat. 4/4/16.
I want to thank Barry & Lisa Keeler for suggesting the survey of our membership, and putting it
together. Joe and Suzy Altmann, John Mizell and my
wife Hilda and I all reviewed and made minor edits,
making sure there were no leading questions. I should
have sent it out to the board before the board meeting,
but did not and I apologize.
The results are extremely helpful. There were
several comments by members that they liked to be
asked their opinion. Barry plans a much more detailed
summary in his article for the spinnaker sheet. Some
replies will be addressed by your flag officers. Others will be sent to the P&D Committee, as some will
require significant money and time to accomplish. We
need to set priorities.
Some asked why we did not enlarge the main
clubroom when we remodeled. We would have loved
to but the planning commission did not allow that
option. Another was why boats are not stored at the
bottom of the stairs. Again the planning commission
requires parking there. (Don’t ask me why).
The Wednesday Night Seminars have been
very well attended. Thank you John Mizell.
It is great to see the social activities in full
swing. The Scholastic (high school) parents and kids
have been very resourceful, even going to Monterey
to practice. The El Toro program is very active. The
beginners and intermediates go to Pinto Lake, the
advanced Richmond Yacht Club, and Lake Merritt in
Oakland.
If you can help with the Contender Regattas,
please volunteer.
Chuck Murray
Commodore
Commodore Chuck & Hilda Murray
enjoying Valentine’s day Dinner
3
March 2016
Vice Commodore Report
I would like to express a sincere thank you to
all club members o the survey this last month. We
had over 80 responses, and though this may seem like
a small number compared to the total membership, I
feel that these responses are an accurate representation
of how the members feel.
The answers received confirmed many things
that we already knew. Most responses were from
regular members and 55% of these had been members
for more than10 years. 89% joined the club for sailing interests. Of these sailboat racing was the primary
interest of 67% of respondents and 58% were cruising
sailors. 73% of all members currently own a boat and
53% said the club fulfilled their expectations. Members are very happy with the use of resources at the
club with both social and regatta functions. Roughly
80% of people had no interest in bingo nights or
date nights where they could drop their kids off for a
movie at the club.
People were very positive on the Wednesday
WISS seminars. Thanks to De Schuyler for starting
this program and to John Mizell for his excellent continued stewardship in keeping it going. Not much of
a surprise that 85% of our members would like to volunteer to help at the club, many offering their e-mail
so we could contact them. On education, 60% of the
respondents say they would be interested and would
pay for a coast guard class to get either a six-pack or
better certificate.
Though the survey collected much information about the club and confirmed much of what we
already knew about the club, the real gold mine was
in the answers to the open questions. This opened the
floodgate with many suggestions. It is frequently said,
“you cannot keep everyone happy” but when multiple
people come up with the same ideas and suggestions,
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Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
it is clear that we have some changes to make. Some
suggestions are easily implemented, others will take
more time and effort. The members have spoken and
the board will do everything it can to facilitate these
changes to try to keep more people satisfied with the
club.
We all have special talents: painting, electrical
work, cleaning and weeding. Here is your opportunity
to display your talent. The next house day is Sunday
March 13 starting at 9 AM. I have participated in many
of these events and I will say, “work” does not describe
what you are doing. It’s more like a party with everyone sprucing up the grounds. The payment is the satisfaction you get from helping the club. Additionally
we get doughnuts for breakfast and burgers for lunch.
Please put it on your calendar. The harbor probably
won’t be open. You can’t sail so you may as well help
at the club!
As if the prior paragraph was not enough of
a shameless plea for help. One area we will tackle
on this cleanup day is the downstairs rec room. This
room has become a collection point for various sundry
items. Back packs, different art work, pieces of wood
and even paddles. We will be tackling this room on the
cleanup day on March 13. Anything you have stored
there that is of value to you, please take care of it or it
will become landfill. Thanks for your cooperation on
this. See you at the club!
Barry L Keeler
Vice Commodore
365 Things to do in
Santa Cruz California
EvEnts & LocaL
HappEnings
Get to Know Santa Cruz
Like a Local
BRE#00546439
Mike Schweyer • 831-419-6004
March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
Upcoming SCYC
Events Calendar
WISS
March 2
Crab Feed (sold out)
March 7
Santana 22 Team Racing
March 12
Work Day
March 13
First Wednesday Night BBQ
March 16
St. Patrick’s Day Themed Dinner
Friday, March 18
Midwinter #5
March 19
From the Rear Commodore
With the harbor entrance shoaled over, no Midwinter racing or even day sailing on the Bay, Social activities
kept the Club busy this month.
The Sunday, January 31st Potluck featured Staff
Commodore Chuck Hawley presenting “Cruising the
Canals of France and Italy”. This is a different type of
bareboat cruising and the folks attending were left dreaming about a leisurely cruise down the Canal du Midi. How
about a Yacht Club Flotilla anyone? The potluck was
capped off with a delicious baked ham prepared by Dorie
& Rick Green. On Wed, 2/3 the first ever Beer Tasting Event
hosted by Bridget Binko & Fred Molnar was well attended with over 35 double IPA bottles of beer to taste. 1st
place went to Meryl Wilsker with a bottle of Stone Brewing: Sorry Not Sorry Double IPA. This looks like it may
become a regular event.
On Sunday, 2/7 the Club was awash with over
75 Super Bowl fans watching the action on 3 big screens.
The potluck was amazing, from Suzy Altmann’s deli-
Easter Brunch
March 27
Children’s Easter Egg Hunt
March 27
Catalina BBQ
March 29
Champion of Champions
April 2
Valentine’s Day Desserts. Yummy!
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March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
THOMAS L. LEGAN, D.D.S.
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cious Pulled Pork Sliders to Stefan Berlinski’s tasty
grilled beans and coleslaw to Vance Landis-Carey’s
famous layered caviar topped dip, to a wide assortment
of yummy dishes. There was something for everyone
including an exciting Super Bowl finish. Thanks to all
who attended.
Valentine’s Day had the main dining room transformed into a flower and candle filled romantic dining
getaway. A delicious dinner was served by Kiss Catering followed by dancing with music provided by De
Schuyler. This was a sold out event. Thanks to Mary
& Stefan Berlinski, Dan and Nancy Larsen and Social
Chair Suzy Altmann for the terrific decorations and desserts.
Coming in March: our Crab Feed Fundraiser on
March 6, St. Patty’s Day Dinner, Friday, March 18 (don’t
forget to wear your green), and Easter Brunch, Sunday,
March 27th followed by a Kids Easter Egg Hunt at 2pm.
Word has it that they’ll be an appearance by the Easter
Bunny so don’t miss it.
See you at the Club.
Judy Webster and Susan Altmann enjoying Valentine’s
Day Dinner at the Club
Joe Altmann
Rear Commodore
Packed house at the wine tasting
First place Linda Hughes, Second place Jan Hadley.
Shown with event coordinator Jack Gordon
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March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
SCYC Members Racing Updates
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – in Dubai for five days
of practice racing and training, was Morgan Larson,
who is returning to the Extreme Series in 2016 as the
skipper on team Oman Air. The Extreme 40 catamaran
has been replaced with a hydro-foiling GC32 catamaran.
Including Morgan, the crews will include veterans of 13
Olympic campaigns and 22 America’s Cup campaigns.
Between them they also hold 27 World Championship
titles, 27 European Championships and 106 National
titles.
CUBA – As part of Key West / Cuba Race Week, the
Conch Republic Cup was the first time US Sailing
Yachts have legally competed. Brent Ruhne was there,
racing on the RP69 Trebuchet in the Miami to Havana
Race, a 210-mile race through the Gulf Stream to Cuba.
They reported having great conditions. While light
at the start, it filled from the north west, to the mid 20
kt. Range. They arrived in a little over 19 hours. They
finished 1st in class and 1st overall IRC, as well as setting
a new elapsed time record! Brent’s team then raced a
short coastal race in Havana on the following Sunday
in 28 knots of wind. The Race Committee shortened the
two-lap race to one lap and they placed 1st in that race
too! Chris Watts was also racing in the Conch Republic Cup, in a different race, the Key West to Cuba Race
on the J111 Perseverence. After a one-day delay due to
too windy conditions, they raced to Varadero, Cuba, and
finishing 4th. Following that race, they had a buoy race
in Varadero. The next day, they sailed from Varadero to
Havana, where they had another buoy race. Chris explained, “In the buoy race, the boats finish time would
be their start time for the race back to Key West. We had
taken all our offshore gear off the boat and we were not
prepared to leave Cuba. Our total finishes were 4,1,6,1
and DNF. This was good enough for 3rd overall in our
division and a couple of nice daily awards for first in the
buoy races. The racing was incidental, it was about being
able to experience Cuba and we did that!”
CARRIBEAN – the RORC Caribbean 600 started yesterday, so we won’t know how it ends till later this week,
but Paul Allen is out there again with his team on the
MOD70 Phaedo3. Phaedo3 finished today, the 23rd, and
so far they are 1st in their MOCRA division.
FLORIDA – Brent left the racing in Cuba, to fly back to
Miami for a week of racing on the C&C 30 Loco in the
Miami Ocean Challenge regatta. They had a few days of
practice, then three days of great racing in good breeze,
“the results did not quite go our way and we ended up
4th, just two points out of 3rd and a few more out of 2nd “.
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March 2016
CALIFORNIA – 368 boats were entered in the 2016
Three Bridge Fiasco. The race was 21.67 miles,
where a boat can start and finish in either direction,
racing around 3 points, Fort Point, Red Rock, Yerba
Buena Island. SCYC had lots of representation, in
the Moore 24 fleet, Evan Diola and Boris Baggerman on Mistress Quickly,, Matt Dini on Penguin,
Sydnie Moore on Nobody’s Girl, Hilary and Scott
Walecka on Adios, , Scott Nelson on Lowly Worm
2.0, Scott Sorensen on Flying Burrito Broth, Stephen Bourdow on Moorgasm, Bruce Donald on
Cadenza Philippe Kahn on the Nacra 20c Pegasus
MotionX , Howard Turner on Symmetry, Ian Klitza
on Rocket 88, Zhenya Kirueshkin-Stepano on Insolent Minx. Sounds like everyone had fun, if I missed
you, let me know!
If you have info on where club members are racing,
please feel free to pass along details to Bucciel@aol.
com
Ellen Kett
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
Catalina Nights
We are all looking forward to the beginning
of the sailing season, especially the Wednesday night
fun sails starting on March 16. There is no doubt that
Wednesday night sails are a great social event and a lot
of fun. If you own a Catalina, there is an alternative.
Why not Catalina Tuesdays?
Nobody buys a cruising boat, like a Catalina,
to race it. However, if you raced against other Catalina’s you might just learn a thing or two about sailing.
Catalina Tuesdays might just be what you are looking
for. You would be amazed how much fun it is sailing
in an informal setting with just a little structure.
Informal with a little structure? Informal, as
in no committee boat and nobody to call you “OCS”
(Over the start line early). A little structure as in
predetermined courses that are announced over radio
(VHF channel 69) with a start time. We have even had
horn signals for those without stop watches or GPS’s
for the correct time.
As on Wednesday nights, the good times don’t
end on the water. We meet at one of the local restaurants for discussions about tactics, rules and anything
else observed on the water that night. It’s a great way
to get introduced to racing and learning about sailing.
It’s also a great way to learn from other Catalina owners about boat maintenance or improvements. Once a
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8
March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
French Canal Talk with Don Johnson
A follow up to Chuck Hawley’s WISS
month we even use the barbecue at the yacht club after
racing. After the night is over, there is a recap on the internet that covers the evenings racing (sailingpairadice.
blogspot.com).
I encourage you to set it as part of your routine:
Tuesday nights around 6PM out on the bay. Monitor
channel 69 for the course and time of start. If you do not
have a course card, it can be printed off the above blog,
or let me know you are interested in a laminated copy
when you see me around the club.
PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR: MARCH 14 IS THE
FIRST CATALINA TUESDAY! (Assuming the harbor is
open)
We had our own boats for the cruises. First was
a boat we bought in Cannes and went up the Rhone into
the Saone and vicinity. Sold that boat and the next was
buying a boat in Yorkshire and crossing the North Sea
into Belgium and over to the Linssen yard in Holland.
We had a boat built in Holland cruising around the North
of France and Belgium, wintering in London where
Anne Marie Johnson was living, then sold that boat.
Next was buying a new boat from Linssen and doing
about 400 locks in Holland, Belgium, and up the Rhine
and down to San Juan de Loane on the Saone.
I have no idea how many kilometers and locks
we did but it was a lot of fun doing it. The French were
so welcoming to us with yells, honks, whistles, train
blasts, etc, whenever they saw the US FLAG.
I know the charter firms have geological boundaries as to where you can go in their boats. There are
some private boats and small firms that do not have
those restrictions.
Becky Niven & Tommy Smith have a boat they
charter in the South. They have an agent who takes care
of it.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair-A-Dice
Cruising
The Cruising Group met Saturday, January 30th
for a 2016 Kickoff Potluck and planning event session
for 2016. Thanks to all the cruisers who showed up, and
brought yummy food! That’s one thing about cruisers,
there are some great cooks in this group!! Thanks! After
some noshing and quenching our thirst we went over
past events, and some ideas for some new events. It
will be a fun year for sure!! I would like to extend my
Thanks to all those who volunteered to host events.
A shout out to the rest of the club, new members, Corinthians and anyone who enjoys good food,
good conversation, a nice sail be it in the bay or beyond, we cordially invite you to come to some cruising
events!! You don’t have to have circumnavigated to join
us! We welcome all yacht club members interested in
having some fun!!!!
Katie Wohlstattar
Cruising Chair
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March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
There is a charter and sales agent called H2O
in San Juan de Loane who is very good.
I would encourage anyone to try the canal trip as it
is totally different from a motor train trip. Belgium
and NW France are interesting historical places from
WWI, Verdun and many other places from that era. The
Rhone has several old Roman sites.
And, you can’t beat mooring at the Bastille in
Paris!
Anyone interested and would like to talk about
it can reach me by phone (898) 348-5185, or e-mail.
We sold our sailboat in New Zealand and have
a Linssen 380 in La Conner, WA. Another great sailing/
motoring start off point in the world. Good sailing,
Donald Johnson
New corinthian member Eamon Sisk
2nd Annual Monterey Bay Leukemia Cup
June 4, 2016
New members introduced at the last Board meeting.
From left to right: Sponsor Sydnie Moore,
corinthian member Kip Wanaselja, regular member
Judy Laing, Commodore Chuck Murray and
Vice Commodore Barry Keeler
Membership Report
Regular
Junior
Life
Total 704
436
106
6
Non-Resident 70
Corinthian
62
Honorary
24
On June 4th SCYC will host the second annual
Monterey Bay Leukemia Cup in collaboration with the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Last year, in the
inaugural event, our goal was to raise $10,000. Due to the
enormous generosity of SCYC members, we raised over
$27,000 with more than $12,000 of that raised by Beau
Vrolyk’s Team Mayan.
I encourage everyone to enter this event, especially
if you do not regularly race. The event is open to everyone
and if you do not have a Monterey Bay PHRF rating you
will be assigned one by the race committee. The format
will be a pursuit race with staggered starts—which always
makes for an exciting finish as boats are scored in the
order they cross the line. Besides benefitting a good cause,
everyone who participated last year had FUN! This year
we are working to improve the event by enlarging the silent
auction, improving the after-race party and inviting the
participation of boats from the other Monterey Bay yacht
clubs. I would especially like to encourage the big boats to
attend the event, as we only had two A fleet boats last year.
Entries may be made online or on the day of the event. We
are still working out some IT issues with LLS, but the link
will be announced on scyc.org and in email.
If you would like to volunteer to help at this event
or if you or your business would like to contribute items to
the silent auction, please contact me at dre@alum.mit.edu.
Dave Emberson
Staff Commodore and Leukemia Cup Event Chair
10
March 2016
Back in the old days…
I get some of my best ideas from my children.
One morning when I was taking Christian to school
he asked if I would coach him this summer to teach
him how to surf. I readily agreed. Then he asked me,
“Didn’t you once surf in the harbor mouth at night,
dad?” Well, yes I did and now that it is winter and
cold as heck in the mornings, I felt it was time dust off
this article and reprint it. It’s been six years since it
last appeared and I hope you enjoy reading it as much
as I enjoyed “polishing it up” and reliving the experience. My smile lasted all day.
Back in the old days, The Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for dredging the harbor mouth.
A rough winter with early storms meant the harbor
mouth might completely shoal and be impassable from
November until April. I remember at least one year
when the mouth silted up so quickly that the outermost
channel buoys became buried in place.
Keel boats could not use the entrance for many
months and powerboats would often crash in the dangerous surf. As a kid I saw numerous close calls, dozens of boats smashed on the east jetty rocks with some
boats ending up on the beach in front of the Crow’s
Nest and O’Neill building.
In some years the sandbar reached all the way
across the harbor mouth at low tide. You could walk
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
across the entrance from the tip of the east jetty to the
tip of the west jetty, past the two buried entrance buoys
sticking out of the sand, without even getting your feet
wet! After enduring months of no boating outside the
harbor, the dredge, always a welcomed sight would
finally arrive from Morro Bay around March or April.
It wasn’t until the early 1980s that the Army
Corps of Engineers cut us loose, forcing the Santa Cruz
Port District to buy our own dredging equipment and
hire a dredge crew. Once the Port District bought the
dredge Seabright the harbor entrance could be dredged
on a maintenance basis all year long, but especially
during the fall and winter months. This means that
except for periods of extreme or extended storms, we
all enjoy a channel entrance that is usually dredged to
navigable depths year round.
Having our own dredge has improved our
chances for boating in the winter, but the surfing break
between the jetties has suffered ever since.
As you can imagine, or may remember, the surf
break in the entrance once offered world class surfing
conditions. The Santa Cruz Harbor break often graced
the covers of many surfing magazines in the 1970s.
The old jetty light had a sign posted on it that read, “No
surfing between jetties.” Sometimes the shoaling was
so bad that the rule was not enforced by harbor officials
because boating between the jetties was impossible.
Other times though Steve Scheiblauer, the Harbormaster, who was also our high school swim coach and
a very strong swimmer would put on his swim fins and
swim out into the break to personally confiscate surfboards from those breaking the rule.
On some good days there would be 12-15
people, or more, in front of the jacks waiting for good
waves.
(As a side note, I don’t even recall if “No
Surfing between Jetties” is even posted on the west
jetty today because we have enjoyed a decade of ‘clear
sailing.’)
My best friend in the 1970s was Paul Wilson.
He was Hugh and Jacquie Boyes’ nephew and they
owned a Santana 27 on A-dock called Wide Load. As
restless teenagers, Paul and I would sometimes spend
weekend nights on Uncle Hugh’s boat. Paul and I
surfed together a lot in the early 1970’s, and the best
surfing experience I ever had in the harbor mouth was
on a full moon in the wee hours of an extremely cold
December morning in 1974.
On this particular night, Paul and I were having
trouble getting to sleep. Even fully dressed and fully
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March 2016
zipped up in our sleeping bags, we shivered from the
cold. Our parents had warned us that it would be cold,
but calling them in the night to come get us was out of
the question—we’d be admitting that they were right.
Paul was always ahead of me and a freethinker so he suggested that we try sleeping in our
wetsuits to get warm enough. We both kept wetsuits
and surfboards on Uncle Hugh’s boat because A-dock
was conveniently close to the harbor mouth and other
surf spots that we liked. In those days the San Lorenzo river mouth offered a really great winter break that
was often featured in surf magazines and we were also
close to Cowell’s Beach and Steamer Lane.
After putting on my wetsuit I was just getting settled into my sleeping bag again when I heard
Paul get off the boat followed by a splash in the water
nearby. I popped my head out of the companionway
and he said with a goofy grin, “Surf’s up!” We’d been
listening to killer surf all night, the tide was right and
the full moon was out to light the way—perfect surfing conditions for two restless teenagers. It was well
past midnight, but being easily influenced, I rose to the
occasion by grabbing my board and jumping into the
harbor after Paul.
We paddled from A-dock around Aldo’s Boat
Rental (there was no restaurant yet) and went ashore
on the sandbar. We walked to the harbor entrance
along the beach inside the West Jetty that formed at
low tide. In those days the sandbar often started at
Aldo’s, extended fifty to a hundred feet into the channel off the West Jetty, and continued all the way up to
the harbor mouth. As we walked in the foot-numbing,
cold December sand, we could see the most perfect
sets peeling past the eastern-most jack that we called
“Gilligan’s Island.” The surf broke all the way across
the mouth and continued past the east jetty. Gilligan’s
Island is what we called the one jack that stuck out
the west jetty into the channel—it still sticks out there
today. You must clear it when you take off on a wave
in front of the jetty.
With our wetsuits on we were warm enough
for the brainless teenagers we were, but the cold and
wind chill still numbed my face, hands and feet. After
each wave, falling back in the water again actually felt
warm compared to the outside temperature. The water
was at least 20-30 degrees warmer than the outside
temperature, but paddling through every closeout
wave sent fresh, cold and unwelcome water down my
back.
The nighttime visibility was great—the full
moon lit the waves, sandbar and jetties. Needless to
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Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
say, Paul and I were the only ones in the water. I was
never as bold and as daring as Paul, so I did not even
paddle out in front of the jacks, but I did get some
good rides that night. I remember that once we got
back to the boat, got dried off and back into our sleeping bags fully clothed, sleep came right away.
I don’t think I regained feeling in my feet until
well into fourth period at school on Monday, but I
know I had a smile on my face all day from surfing the
harbor mouth on that full moon in December. And,
this is how some of us sailors kept from going crazy
when the harbor mouth used to be closed for months at
a time, back in the old days.
Niels Kisling
Co-Historian
This photo from the 1970s shows surfers in the harbor
entrance. Several appear in this photo standing up in the
channel. The east jetty appears in the upper left.
Georges McCormick Photo
Current Dredge refueling 13,500 gallons of fuel
at the loading ramp
March 2016
Santa Cruz Yacht Club Spinnaker Sheet
This photo, provided by the harbor office, shows a
fishing boat hard aground in shallow water just off
the east jetty. A surfer rides a wave behind them and
the surf fishermen in the foreground don’t seem too
bothered at the sight of the stranded boat.
Manager’s Report
Aldo’s Beach is seen here stretching from the west jetty
all the way to the pier on which Aldo’s Boat Rental
sits. The two buoys seen in the picture were both buried in the sand one year. Georges McCormick Photo.
You might have noticed I have not written an article in a while. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say,
everyone knows I talk a lot, but that the Board and volunteers do a fantastic job of informing the membership.
In addition, with the mass e-mails I am able to spread
the word more timely. If you are not on the mass e-mail
list or would like to add someone else to the e-mail list
please let me know at greg@scyc.org.
As you can see, in the picture, Sidney is growing up fast. She just turned 11 and is attending 5th grade
at DeLaveaga Elementary. Next year it’s off to middle
school. The photo was taken at Beaches Ocho Rios,
Jamaica while vacationing last November.
I would like to thank all the members and Board
of Directors for the generous gift for my 25 years of service to the Club. I don’t want to sound corny but I really
couldn’t do it or want to do it without all of you. I would
also like to thank my family, Jennifer, and Samantha for
all their support.
2016 looks to be another great year with a new
Board and volunteers. Jennifer and I look forward to
serving you this coming year.
Greg Haws
Club Manager
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