AYC MAINSHEET

Commodores Report: CINDY SCHLAGETER

Commodore’s
Report / 1

Vice Commodore’s

Report / 2
This n’ That / 4
Youth Activities / 6
Training / 8
Pirate Justice / 9
Birthday
Celebrations / 10
Calendar / 11

It is with pride and humble thanks, that I write to youthis month.

The year has certainly flown by and now it's time for me to "pass the torch" to our most capable leaders, Ira Bigeleisen, Joe Underwood and Doug Fajardo.

Let's all pitch in to assist them in any way we can next year! I know you will and thank you in advance.

Iso appreciateeveryone who helped make our 40th anniversary year such a special and memorable time. As volunteers, let's congratulate ourselves for the energy, momentum, pride in what we put our AYC name to, including the excellently run races, organized business practices of my Board of Directorsand thegood times that were had by all of us.

I had a ball representing AYC and the events were too many to count, but as I reflect back at the whirlwind year, there was one underlying feeling for me. We are a vital club with longstanding friendships and this year more than ever, I felt we are like a family who truly care about each other. Can you ask for anything more than that.

This will be short as I'm tearing up....you know when I said "see you at the club" I really meant it....and so too,you were there, providing that vitality in your effort and support and with a smile on your face. I salute you! Please know ithas truly beenan honor to be your Commodore.

Let's make 2008 even better. Happy Holidays, lots of love, lots of laughter, good health and not "good-bye" and I looked forward to mingling with you soon...so as promised I will see you AT THE CLUB .

Vice Commodores Report: IRA BIGELEISEN

The end of the month of November concludes our Friday night dinners for the year. Thanks to Laura and Crosby Swartz, and Kitty and Jan Frallic for such wonderful evenings. More than that, I would like to thank each of you for your contributions of time and energy throughout the year, week in, week out, to make the dinners, Wet Wednesdays, and parties at the club so successful. These events are the lifeblood of the club (aside from the races) and, as a volunteer club, we rely on each other to make our club the welcoming, comfortable, fun place it is.

December

December’s events are all on Saturday nights at the beginning of the month: the Season’s Party on December 1, 2007, and the Parade of Lights on December 8, 2007.

The Season’s Party will be a potluck dinner followed by Chinese Gift Giving: purchase a gift for between $10-20. Everyone gets three times to “steal” someone else’s gift, after which you are the proud owner of whatever you have last (that lava lamp you always wanted in High School). Below is a list of dishes we would like you to bring for 6-10 people. Please RSVP to me at or 818-783-6146.

The Parade of Lights is the highlight of the year in the club. Drinks and supper beginning at 6:00 p.m. Followed by the best view of the boats in the harbor! Admission to the Club will be an unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots See you there.

Ira Bigeleisen

This n’ that Jr. Staff Commodore David Randle

I’d like to add my congratulations our newly-elected 2008 Bridge and Board! Commodore-elect Ira Bigeleisen has been in the forefront of AYC happenings for many years now – I can’t imagine a better-qualified hand to have on the helm of AYC. Vice Commodore-elect Joe Underwood smiled so much the evening he was elected that I fear he may have broken his face; seriously, that level of energy and enthusiasm is sure to serve our Club well. And Rear Commodore-elect Doug Fajardo has proved his mastery of race planning and management over the last few years, experience that stands him in good stead in his new role. With these gents leading an equally stellar Board of Directors in the coming year, I am confident that 2008 will be our best yet!

Boat of the MONth

I have been remiss lo these many months, because one of our foremost sailing yachts has merited recognition as AYC Boat of the Month since early in the summer but has yet to be so honored. Well, I intend to fix that now. The yacht in question has sailed in the last two Wes Golemon Memorial Races and has been extremely competitive both times, even though she has been sailed short-handed with a crew of only two in 2006 and three in 2007. Nevertheless, the eye-watering performance of this racing machine, coupled with the exceptional sailing talent of those aboard her, have led her to finish in the money on both occasions, even though this is the only event she has entered in either year! I’m referring, of course, to Staff Commodore Pete and Gloria Casamassima’s Cal 20 Done Deal, finally receiving her due as our Boat of the Month for November!

The Cal 20 was designed by C. William Lapworth in 1960 and went into production in 1961. It quickly became the most popular of the Cal line of fiberglass sailboats and 1,945 of the boats were built. Though production ceased in 1975, the Cal 20 is still perhaps the most common boat you will see in marinas on the west coast of the U.S. For her 20' length, the Cal 20 is one of the most practical boats imaginable. The cockpit is nearly 8' long and is self-bailing. Below she has four bunks, a head and storage bins. The Cal 20 holds great appeal for anyone who wants an active, simple, inexpensive one-design class boat that won’t be outdated by the next measurement rule change, and as a result Cal 20’s caught on quickly in many areas across the country. Today there are approximately twenty-five active Cal 20 fleets in the National Association; fleets from California to the East Coast, Hawaii, on various lakes, and a fleet in Canada. Cal 20's have always been actively raced and with the large number of boats around and the strong fleet associations the racing is very competitive.

Of course, Done Deal is the heart of the Cal 20 fleet in Channel Islands Harbor, and her shining performance in every race she enters is testimony to the standout qualities that make so deserving of this honor. So, please join me in congratulating Done Deal as AYC Boat of the Month for November!

Report from the Racecourse

Two Harbors Fall Series Race #2 was held on October 27, and it proved to be a challenging, often frustrating, but ultimately rewarding event for Team Coyote due to the extremely light and shifty winds through most of the day. Aboard were Mary Ho and Rick Barrett, two of Coyote’s regulars, along with Legendary AYC Racer Jerry Roth and Yours Truly. Our competition in Spinnaker B were the two Olson 30s Perfect Balance and Bikini Machine (apparently all Olson 30s must have two-word names), Wind Dancer (the Catalina 42, clearly thinking it’s an Olson 30 and therefore adopting a two-word name), and Fusee (the

Beneteau 38s5, which apparently knows it’s not an Olson 30). At the start, the wind was blowing out of the southeast at about five knots, so the RC selected Gina-Gail-R2-Ventura Finish as our (21 nm) course, in spite of the forecast calling for light winds all day. Jerry correctly chose the pin as the favored end of the line and called for a port tack start there, and that’s what we did. That tactic turned out to be hugely favored, and put us well into the lead right away. In the light airs, the three little boats (Coyote and the “Olson Twins”) had the advantage, and the only boat that threatened us up the first leg was Perfect Balance. Playing the shifts, we were able to maintain our lead over PB almost all the way to Gina. The wind was all over the place — for a short while we even had the spinnaker up — but it died away to almost nothing as we approached the platform. (As we approached Gina, I was ready to retire and DNF, because it had already taken us 2.5 hours to cover just the first 3 miles of the 21 mile course. However, the rest of the crew, led by Mary, insisted we continue, at least for a while longer. As you will see, that turned out to be excellent advice!) Just prior to Gina, PB got a puff we didn’t get, and they zoomed out ahead of us and got around the platform well before we even got to it. Once we finally rounded Gina, however, we found some right-shifted breeze out of the southwest as we headed out, and it held for us all the way out the long close-hauled port tack course to Gail. Approaching Gail, it was looking like we were going to need to put in a short hitch on starboard to clear the white mooring can to the left of Gail, when voila! We got a magical 40 degree (no exaggeration — it may have actually been more) left shift that lifted us right up to it. Amazing! Rounding Gail, we once again set the chute, but we were only able to carry it for about 30 minutes; another huge shift suddenly descended upon us, and we found ourselves once again on a port-tack close reach heading toward R2 and the Ventura Harbor finish. PB was still way ahead of us, with Bikini Machine and Wind Dancer safely behind us; Fusee had DNFed on the way to Gina, unable to get much going in the light airs. Since the boats behind us owed us time, we had them beat if we could just stay ahead of them, but we figured we needed to finish within 5 minutes of PB to still be able to correct out over them. Alas, as we approached the shore we estimated that they were 10 minutes or more ahead of us. Surprisingly, as we passed R2 and rounded the Ventura detached wall, we saw PB sitting inside the harbor, totally becalmed, struggling to get across the finish line. We appeared to be bringing what little breeze there was in with us, and lo and behold we wound up almost catching up with them, finishing just over a minute behind them. That lucky turn of events was enough to give us a 1st place in Spin B! Unbelievable.

Race 3 on November 10 was not quite so kind to us. After an uneventful start we embarked on the Gail-Gina-CI Finish course, and in a light but steady breeze we did our best to stay with the Olson Twins, who set the pace all the way out and gradually opened up a substantial lead. We went the Wrong Way at least twice and missed two major shifts, which put the Olson Twins even further ahead. The wind really piped up out at Gail, and once we rounded Gail we had a lovely spinnaker run to Gina. After executing a nice jibe rounding Gina, we scooted on in to the finish in a dying breeze, but we weren’t quick enough to correct out over either of the Twins. We did, however, manage to make it in before Wind Dancer, so we wound up in 3rd for Race 3.

PCYC’s TGIS #4 on November 18 was a hoot. AYC was well represented with Larry Listing and Gary Goodman on Leona Kai, Jerry Roth and Dave Gorney crewing on Mike Lorenzen’s blue J/30 Rambunctious, and Yours Truly aboard Coyote among the competitors. We all gave the race chair grief at the skipper’s meeting for selecting the shortest course on the chart – a 3.5-mile marathon from the start just outside CI Harbor, all the way down around Hueneme buoy, and back up to the finish just inside the detached wall – complaining that it would be far too short. Well, his choice turned out to be inspired, as there was next to no breeze for most of the day, I presume because of the thick overcast and cool temperature. This being an inverted start race, and Coyote having the second-lowest handicap of the day’s fleet, we were scheduled for the next to the last start. But due to the short course, all the start times were compressed, so our start was only 6 minutes and change after the first (highest-handicapped) boat’s start. In little more than a zephyr we all started jockeying for the start line, with the big heavy cruisers basically parked, and the little boats (Coyote, Rambunctious, and – with apologies to Larry, since normally I wouldn’t consider her a “little boat” – Leona Kai) better able to generate forward motion than the bigger, heavier boats. With a lot of congestion still on the line as our start time approached, we were just able to squeeze through a small gap (roughly 1 Coyote-width) between one of the “parked” boats and the pin, just ahead of the aforementioned Rambunctious and LK. Both of them gained on us during most of the leg to Hueneme, but not by quite enough to catch us, and when we turned the corner at Hueneme and headed back upwind for the leg to the finish, our light weight allowed us just that extra turn of boatspeed to get the gun at the finish. Notably, Rambunctious finished second, with Leona Kai in third, so AYC-crewed boats swept the top three finish places in the race! Way to go, Team AYC!!

We still have one more Fall Series race to do yet this year, along with one more PCYC TGIS race. By the time we get through those, it will be Christmas & Hannukah time, which means hoisting Xmas lights to the masthead and hanging icicle lights on the lifelines. Good thing my marina hasn’t installed electric meters yet…as far as I know…