Home Work Email
Commodore: Chris
Hardenbrook
Vice Commodore Jaime Cantu
Jr. Staff Commodore: John
Choi
Fleet Captain: Phil
Habegger (818)
884-4511 PHabegger@aol,com
Directors: Chuck
Spear (818) 399-1226 seaspear@yahoo.com
Brian Rademaker
Frank
Ross (714) 491-8712 franklin.d.ross@aero.org
John Glaister
Nancy
Samovar
Rod
Percival
SOLO Editor Chuck Spear
PSSA Website www.pssala.org
A Bird’s Eye View
Commodore
Chris Hardenbrook
Those
who attended the workshop meeting in August gained some valuable information
for the September race to Paradise Cove.
Doing well, for most involved, meant reefing the main as we set out into
increasing wind emanating directly from our destination. The seas were choppy to boot and progress for
Herald Bird was a chore. More than once our leeward rail dipped into
the irregular ocean sending buckets of salty wash water down our decks and
occasionally into the cockpit.
Close-hauled in this wind, which peaked near 30 knots, was just
unproductive. We should have been going
faster, but to get speed we had to bear off and slack more sail than usual to
keep from being blown over. This was
classic Reefing Time and I wish I’d thought of it sooner. It is always better to reef earlier than
later.
Only
three boats chose to anchor overnight: Phil and Katie Habegger on Thriller, Mark Keller on Got Wind, and Leslie and I on Herald Bird. Paradise Cove is a good anchorage with mostly
sandy bottoms. Watch out for the kelp
beds and remember you will be doing a full swing and there are few
problems. Shore access depends on the
surf and your tolerance for excitement.
Leslie and I were bushed from the uphill slog so we stayed put on Bird, and enjoyed a visit from Rick
Morgan who lives on Point Dume and paddleboarded out to greet us. We learned who lives where in the Cove as
Rick pointed out Barbra Streisand’s
“compound” (she has three houses overlooking the Cove), Dick Clark’s
place, and the late, great Johnny Carson’s house. Rick used to be Director of Public Works for
Malibu and now has the same position for the City of Hermosa Beach where he is
my boss (and a good one, I might add).
I’m
really looking forward to our next two meetings because we have great speakers
coming. October 9th new members Eric and
Robin Lambert will talk about finding your way to San
Miguel Island. Seems we
always end up on Catalina so it will be great to hear about some other options
for a multi-day trip. In November, Nick
Barrens returns to tell us about being sunk by a whale (really) on the return
trip from Hawaii after his son raced in the TransPac this year. Incredible!
We
also have to start thinking about Changing the Watch for 2007. We’ll go over the procedure for picking our
Officers and Board of Directors. We’re
very democratic in this procedure; the only given is our incoming Commodore who
is always the current Vice Commodore.
The Change will be made, along with the big trophy hand-out at our
December potluck . You’ll hear more
about this also in time.
The
last race in the three-race series of the Southern California Singlehanded
Championship is coming up this month.
The race is the Frank Gurnsey Challenge sponsored by the Redondo Beach
YC. Get your entry application from them
to participate. I hope to see you there!
Our November Speaker
November, that’s right, advance notice so you can’t
complain that you heard about it too late, the story of Nick Barran et al and
the whale. Nick Barran, who lives an
exciting sailing life and comes by every once in a while to speak to our
members, has had some recent excitement, a confrontation with a whale in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean. And this
wasn’t some casual nudge, some brushing against a sleeping giant. This was a whale with an attitude who didn’t
appreciate the sailboat’s intrusion and sent it to the bottom and Nick and crew
to the liferaft. Want to hear more? Of course you do. Second Monday in November. Put it on your calendar.
And For October’s
Meeting
“Do you know way to San Miguel”, that’s what we’ll be
hearing at the next meeting of the Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association,
not a Dionne Warwick retrospective, but instead a presentation by new members Eric
and Robin Lambert regarding cruising the Channel Islands with a particular emphasis
on San Miguel Island.
The Upcoming Race – Ship
Rock Layover
By popular demand, a shorter, possibly more friendly
course in the last of the Dave Wall races for 2006, the Ship Rock Layover. How have we done this? We’ve changed the starting line from its
traditional Marina del Rey location to the vicinity of the R10 buoy. This will certainly have one positive effect
and possibly two. The first will be a
shortened course. Forget “twenty-six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is waiting
for me”. The course distance for this race is just
nineteen miles. And the start of the
race is at Noon, so you’ll have time to get to the starting line and maybe the
wind will move to the west for the second positive effect, a gentlemen’s
course, a reach to the island. And then
there is the season ending barbecue, on the beach, to the right of the pier as
you head toward Doug’s Reef Club. Bring
your own food.
October 21st. Here’s
the course:
From the starting line in the vicinity of the Palo
Verde Buoy “R10” proceed to Ship Rock.
Finish within 0.5 nm of Ship Rock when the light atop bears 70 mag. From
the helmsman’s station. The skipper
shall take his or her own finish time.
Handicap distance 19 nm.
Race Three of the
Singlehanded Championship
The Frank Guernsey
Challenge
Each year the Redondo Beach Yacht Club runs a race
called the Frank Guernsey Challenge in honor of Frank Guernsey, a well-known
sailor and advocate of single-handed sailing in the Santa Monica Bay. Frank, a Redondo Beach Yacht Club member, was
lost at sea during a singlehanded trip from Marina del Rey to Capetown via the
Horn. A speaker at our meetings, Frank
was a big supporter of our activities.
We have selected the Frank Guernsey Challenge as the third and final
race of the Singlehanded Championship Series.
October 21. Look for details at
redondobeachyachtclub.org soon.
The Paradise Cove Race
As seen by guest driver Patti Hulsey
I drove Chuck Spear’s Twelve Bar Blues in the
Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association’s Paradise Cove Race on September
16. While I have raced with Chuck for
several years, I have never been in a PSSA race. I have driven the boat for short stretches
of time, but this is the first time I have driven an entire race. And what a race it was. I have to say that it is one of my best
sailing experiences.
The balloon in the water, rabbit start was
easier than I thought it would be.
Hearing it described to me by Chuck, I said “so one end of the line will
be moving at the start?” We positioned
Twelve Bar north of the balloon and watched Thriller do a lazy turn and then
come back to the line. I thought we had
a great start but I guess the right end of the line was heavily favored because
we crossed right between the balloon and the transom of Thriller and we had
speed, so we tacked over and thought we could cross the entire fleet. We almost did, except for a little yellow
boat that we couldn’t get to.
We had enough wind to get the boat
moving. Thriller finished rabbit duties
and joined the fray and held with us for a while. Prankster, the Olson 30, moved into the shore
as the wind speed increased. The J133
was ahead of us and moving well. We got
a few shifts and tried to take advantage of them. Halfway to Paradise Cove we felt pretty good
about our position.
A J/105 sailing at its class rating can only
carry a small jib. As a result, if the
wind is light the boat is at a disadvantage upwind. In a windward leeward race, however, the boat
can use its spinnaker to advantage and make up for the lack of upwind sail
area. A one way, upwind race is
generally a problem for a J/105. But
sometimes the wind isn’t light. In the
Paradise Cove Race the wind got really heavy.
In that weather the small jib was an advantage. We saw twenty knots and we were heeled over
with the main flogging but we were still moving along in the high sixes. We took more water over the bow than I have
ever seen. Chuck usually doesn’t go
forward of the mast when we do crewed races so he was ill prepared for the
conditions and had no foul weather gear.
He changed three times and then just gave up. Eventually we furled the jib and sailed with
the main only, just to keep the boat under control.
We turned the finishing mark and headed home,
the seas and the breeze at our back. We
were tired, but we’d had a great day racing with the PSSA fleet.
|
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Singlehanded *
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Finish
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Corrected
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Yacht
|
Skipper
|
Rating
|
Time
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Time
|
Place
|
|
Tenacity
|
Gil
Maguire
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12
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14:19:30
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14:16:06
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1
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|
Ginger
Lee
|
Greg
Rosenkrans
|
138
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15:05:12
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14:26:06
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2
|
|
Prankster
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Frank
Ross
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96
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15:06:02
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14:38:50
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3
|
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Got Wind?
|
Mark
Keller
|
222
|
16:00:09
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14:57:15
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4
|
|
*
Doublehanded *
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Yacht
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|
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12 Bar
Blues
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Chuck
Spear/Patti Hulsey
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84
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14:28:03
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14:04:15
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1
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Runaway
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Eric/Robin
Lambert
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123
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14:43:40
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14:08:49
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2
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Thriller
|
Phil/Katie
Habegger
|
126
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14:55:22
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14:19:40
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3
|
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Herald
Bird
|
Chris /
Leslie Hardenbrook
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242
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17:09:45
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16:01:11
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4
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*
Mariner *
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Finish
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Corrected
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New
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Yacht
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Skipper
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Rating
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Time
|
Time
|
Place
|
Rating
|
|
12 Bar
Blues
|
Chuck
Spear/Patti Hulsey
|
84
|
14:28:03
|
14:04:15
|
1
|
54
|
|
Runaway
|
Eric /
Robin Lambert
|
134
|
14:43:40
|
14:05:42
|
2
|
105
|
|
Tanacity
|
Gil
Maguire
|
12
|
14:19:30
|
14:16:06
|
3
|
-8
|
|
Genger
Lee
|
Greg
Rosenkrans
|
138
|
15:05:12
|
14:26:06
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4
|
127
|
|
Thriller
|
Phil /
Katie Habegger
|
103
|
14:55:22
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14:26:11
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5
|
92
|
|
Prankster
|
Frank
Ross
|
98
|
15:06:02
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14:38:16
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6
|
98
|
|
Got Wind?
|
Mark
Keller
|
175
|
16:00:09
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15:10:34
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7
|
203
|
|
Herald
Bird
|
Chris
Hardenbrook
|
247
|
17:09:45
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15:59:46
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8
|
319
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Former President Jimmy Carter Comments
On PSSA Election Procedures
Yes, yes, it is soon
to be November and that means the big election, new officers, a new Board, a
new Commodore. The behind the scenes
positioning has already begun, the spin the press releases, the PR. And out of nowhere comes former President
Jimmy Carter, who comments on the fairness of election procedures and has
noticed the way the PSSA runs its election process. We vote for eight board members – the ninth
is automatic, the elevating Vice Commodore.
We do this by casting eight votes for our first choice, seven for second
choice, etc. President Carter has
noticed that our members are reluctant to begin the vote casting process with
the first name they see and instead read down the list before making a
commitment. As a result, the first name
on the list is in a disadvantageous position.
We have always used the alphabetic listing procedure. This year we’ll use a random name generator
to list the candidates. Ballots will
arrive at your home soon. Return them
promptly.
Note to Secret Service Detail.
The Jimmy Carter reference isn’t serious. President Carter has probably never heard of
the Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association.
